<p>So I am most likely going to attend Berkeley in Fall 2012, and I had a few concerns regarding the sheer number of people attending and the way it impacts the college experience. In particular, Im worried about</p>
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<li><p>Registering for classes: How hard is it to get a class you register for? Im planning on majoring in Statistics, so are there any specific classes I should watch out for? Are there any ways to increase my chances of getting the classes I want?</p></li>
<li><p>Internship/research opportunities: With the big undergraduate position, how competitive are research and internship positions? Again, anything I can do about this? (besides get good grades, etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>Interaction with teachers: Ive always been pretty good about working solo and not needing teachers help for anything, so access to teachers for homework/project help isnt really that important to me, but it would still be nice to have the opportunity there if I wanted it. More importantly, however, is good teacher recommendation letters and networking. How hard is it to get to know your teachers on a personal level at Berkeley? Would they be annoyed at attempts like this because theyre dealing with so many students on a daily basis?</p></li>
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<p>Much thanks to whoever answers my questions! :)</p>
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<li><p>If you plan on majoring in Statistics, getting the classes you need should be fine. You will need Math 1A and/or 1B, and those classes are the only ones I see that have at least two different lectures in a semester, since a lot of people need those classes. I believe you will also need Math 53 and 54, which should not be too hard to get into if you sign up for those during phase I. There is really not anything you can do to increase your chances except hope you get an early appointment for Telebears.</p></li>
<li><p>For internships/research opportunities, apply early and apply to several to increase your chances of getting one. You could also try looking on <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/</a> for more, and maybe apply during the middle of the semester when most students are busy studying for midterms. As for competition, it varies I suppose.</p></li>
<li><p>To get to know your professors, show up to office hours and talk with them. There may be a lot of people who wish to speak with the professor. I have not tried. </p></li>
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<p>Registering for classes can be a crap shoot but its fine if you just manage your schedule appropriately. As for internships and face time with teachers this is really up to you. It is up to you to be proactive and take the initiative. Yes, Berkeley is a large school and you won’t be handed opportunities. Students who take the initiative are rewarded.</p>
<p>Each semester, you are allocated two 24 hour timeslots for registering in classes. The first, for Phase I, is when you can sign up for the first 10.5 units of classes. Once your time comes up, you register and you can go back and adjust things through the rest of that phase. When Phase II begins, you have to wait until your second assigned timeslot, then you can add the rest of your units and as before you can go back and make changes for the rest of Phase II and afterwards. The two phases are intended to a more fair access to classes, otherwise someone with a very late telebears appointment might have found all the classes filled. </p>
<p>As far as getting into classes, it is easy to graduate on time. You might find a class filled in a given semester, maybe because you got a relatively late telebears slot then, but there are plenty of classes you need and may want to take. You just shuffle things around, take the class that is open, and try again the next semester for the one you missed. If in L&S, you have the seven breadths to take, there is the American Cultures class, each major has a list of pre-req courses and a list of options as classes to complete the major. There are also plenty of units left over after you take all the required courses for the major, which you will use to take classes that are interesting to you. Those could be taken any time, you just keep a mental (or written) list of the classes you might want to take. When registration comes up, you can definitely fill your 15 units average per semester that is needed to graduate in four years (eight semesters x 15 units = 120 unit min requirement for a degree). Any AP credit, any summer courses, any extra courses you take above 15 and you move ahead, buffering you further. Waitlisting in classes that are not hugely overbooked works well, with many getting into classes even though they appeared full at registration time. Extra sections open up, people drop to shift to another class, sometimes the prof even lets extra people in.</p>