<p>I'm entering Berkeley as a freshman this fall, and am a pre-med, considering majoring in CS. I might try to switch to the CoE though.
What do you think of this schedule:
Physics 7A
Math 53
CS 61A
an r&c "b" course</p>
<p>I got a 5 on the English Language AP, so I can pass out of the r&c "a" requirement. Can anyone help recommend what would be a good "b" one? (I also got a 5 on the calc BC exam which is why I'm skipping math 1A/B)</p>
<p>I want to start the chemistry series in Spring semester, do you think that's a bad idea?</p>
<p>Also, as a premed I need another english class in the future, so can anyone recommend one of those also, preferably not too difficult to get an A in?</p>
<p>And which of these classes should I pick first at CalSO?</p>
<p>Haven’t taking Physics, but I’ll give you my two cents.</p>
<p>I’m assuming from the 5’s on the Calc tests, you’ve an affinity for math, so Math 53 shouldn’t be too bad, although don’t get behind (advice for any class). Good idea to skip out of 1B. CS61A isn’t too hard, especially if you have prior experience programing. However, it can become a time sink depending on how quickly you get the homework/projects done (and how good your partner is).</p>
<p>If you’re planning on taking another writing class, you might considering just starting with an R&C “a” class. If you got a 5 on the AP exams, you shouldn’t have any problem getting an “A” in any R&C class as long as you put in the time.</p>
<p>Altogether, I’d say that schedule is a tad ambitious for a freshman–not impossible, but you might consider finding switching out one of those for a less time-demanding class. You may very well be able to handle it (depends on time management, experience/abilities with math, physics, programming, etc.) but you probably won’t have time for much outside of school work, which isn’t much fun, especially your first semester.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input! Yeah, I like math/physics/programming, and I’m not really completely sure with regards to the major, so I thought I would take some classes in topics I’m interested and decide from there.</p>
<p>Do you have advice for any good r&c series then? I’ve looked into a few, but none really stand out as particularly interesting (and I can’t seem to find reading lists for any but the English R1A/B series).</p>
<p>I took Rhetoric, which I’ve heard is one of the harder ones, but didn’t really seem to be. We ended up reading Frankenstein, as well as some Descarte, Kant, and Kafka. I’d recommend it, but that may not be your thing. It’s hard to determine which class reads which books before the semester starts. It’s kind of hit or miss. I don’t know if they list the professors, but if they do, try to find out what they taught in the past.</p>
<p>If none of the R&C courses look interesting to you, then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just find the English or Comp. Lit. R1B courses that have the most interesting reading lists; that’s what I did. You can find the Comp. Lit. descriptions here: [url=<a href=“http://complit.berkeley.edu/?page_id=8590]Comparative”>Comparative Literature]Comparative</a> Literature » 2013 Fall Courses<a href=“Though%20in%20retrospect,%20the%20linguistics%20course%20looked%20potentially%20interesting%20too.%20But%20that’s%20just%20me.”>/url</a></p>
<p>Your schedule looks fine. Register for Physics 7A and your R&C course at CalSO; these tend to fill up quickly. Physics 7A is especially important to register for early, since it has no waitlist. Even though CS 61A can fill quickly too, pretty much everyone gets into 61A even if you end up on the waitlist at first.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link!!! I found an interesting looking one~ Hopefully it’s not filled by the time of CalSO, haha. But it’s an R1B course, which means again I need to find another English class to take (probably fall of next year). Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Your schedule looks similar to that of an EECS frosh (though perhaps with higher or lower math placement). Note that L&S CS does not require physics or Math 53, although it does require Math 54.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve seen the Math FAQ. I can answer most of the questions, and I’ve taken a version of math 53 (multivariable calculus) in high school, so I think it should be all right. </p>
<p>I’m taking physics because, well, premed requires it, also I’ve never taken any CS classes (although I’ve done a bit of programming on my own) so physics is also a major that I’m considering. </p>
<p>Anyone have suggestions for non-r&c english classed to take later on in my college life though? Thanks to everyone who’s giving feedback, it’s really helpful~</p>
<p>If you need a second R&C course for pre-med purposes but don’t want to “waste” a course, you can take Classics R44 to cover an L&S breadth (AL, HS, or SBS) as well as to count as an R&C course.</p>
<p>You may also want to check the MSAR to see if any of the upper division College Writing courses (the ones with R&C B as a prerequisite) are allowed by medical schools that require more than one semester of English composition course.</p>
<p>Hmm, I took a look at the MSAR. I can’t seem to find any details about the English requirements though, besides that one year is required of expository writing.</p>
<p>Can’t other English classes besides R&C could fill that requirement though? (Don’t all of them include writing?) A lot of the classes I’m planning to take in the next few semesters will require telebears phase 1, so I’d rather choose an english course that doesn’t- and it seems that all the r&c ones fill up really quickly.</p>
<p>You probably have to go to each medical school’s web site to see what they consider as acceptable for the English writing courses.</p>
<p>Non-R&C English courses include writing (like many other courses), but their focus may be more on literature than writing. English 141 and 143* may be more focused on writing.</p>
<p>Even on the medical school websites though, they really just say “college English”, “expository writing”, "etc., or don’t even say anything about English (only listing reqs for the sciences and math). Nothing very specific, so I’m inclined to believe any English course where there is writing involved will do? </p>
<p>Do you think that the English courses that are more focused on literature won’t fill the requirement…? :/</p>
<p>For example, something like English 45 or one of the upper division literature-related English courses…? They still include writing, but might not be primarily focused on it.</p>