<p>Hi everyone, I'm a rising senior looking toward going into the engineering field and heard that the EECS program at Berkeley is very prestigious, but also extremely difficult (both difficult to get into and difficult in terms of the workload). Can anyone give their opinions about the difficulty and the culture in EECS? </p>
<p>I've heard stories about the culture being very cut throat and the classes being extremely difficult to get an A (I heard only 10-20% of the class gets an A). I want to get into a prestigious program, but I also want to have that college experience. I don't want to be stuck in my dorm studying all day,</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>EECS is hard to get admitted to.</p>
<p>Engineering and CS tend to be higher than average workload majors anywhere.</p>
<p>Note that L&S CS is also available. L&S admissions is somewhat less difficult to get admitted to, but you then have to make a 3.0 GPA in the CS prerequisites to declare the L&S CS major.</p>
<p><a href=“Berkeley Frosh Class of 2018 decision summary - #10 by ucbalumnus - University of California - Berkeley - College Confidential Forums”>Berkeley Frosh Class of 2018 decision summary - #10 by ucbalumnus - University of California - Berkeley - College Confidential Forums; summarizes decisions reported on these forums for the recent admission cycle.</p>
<p>Ok thanks for that info. I was wondering if I could get some information on EECS specifically?</p>
<p>It is not cut-throat as we are all trying to survive. It is more or less a necessity to work on problem sets together and regularly do small-group studies in preparation for exams.
The only hard courses that might be hard to get into are the discussion or labs you want for math and physics and other fundamental courses in your first 1~2 years. It is usually not a problem when you start to take the technical courses in EECS.</p>
<p>It is true that only 10-20% get A’s, but if you do what you’re supposed to do, then getting a good grade is within reason. I cannot say it will be straight-A’s, but it’s certainly not like everybody is studying 24/7 and still not get A’s because there’s plenty of procrastination and other distractions just like any other college students.</p>
<p>I just want to say engineering has a set curriculum under the ABET and there are certain topics and materials you will learn no matter which university you attend; it will be hard wherever you go. Perhaps you will get a higher grade at other college for the same effort, and if that matters to you a lot, then that’s fine too. However, do know that getting the best grades is not as important as high school and it is much more important that you are able to retain the information and learn what you want whether you wanna get a job after college or go to grad school. </p>
<p>I think Berkeley is one of the best regarding offering the most variety of courses and helps you to find and shape your interest along the way. Grades, yeah, they’re tough, but you will realize there are more important things.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great reply!</p>
<p>Are there any other students or people that have an opinion?</p>
<p>EECS is unusual in the College of Engineering in that specific upper division courses are not required. For upper division courses, a minimum of 20 units in EECS are required, within a total of 45 units of CoE letter graded courses required (including EE 20, 40 and CS 61A, 61B, 61C for 20 of those units). At least one upper division CoE course must have a major design experience.</p>
<p><a href=“EECS Major Information | EECS at UC Berkeley”>EECS Major Information | EECS at UC Berkeley;
<p>This means that each student can easily tailor his/her upper division course work to his/her within-major interests.</p>