Getting into upper division cs courses

<p>I'm a current sophomore, wanting to take 170, 172, and maybe 174 sometime in the future. I've toyed with the idea of being a cs minor, but I don't really want to take 61C as it's 1) not a prerequisite for any of the classes I want to take and 2) not something that will be particularly relevant to the field I want to go into. However, the wording on the cs website makes it sound like that it's pretty tricky getting into upper division classes if you're not a cs major or minor. Does anyone have any experience with this?</p>

<p>It also says that applied math majors have some priority for 170, 172, and 174.</p>

<p>Looking at the current and past schedules, it looks like 170 tends to be the most full, while 172 is somewhat less full, and 174 was nowhere close to full last fall.</p>

<p>Papadimitriou is actually really generous when it comes to 170. Usually if you’re trying to get into the class, you’ll get in. Even if the waitlist is like 75 over capacity, he finds a way.</p>