Give it to me straight- Will I hate my life as an EECS major?

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>So, I'm a transfer, admitted to Cal for Fall '11 EECS
I seem to be getting the sense that it's a nonstop, dog-eat-dog, cutthroat cluster****, where your life is studying, and you sacrifice all happiness to maintain a 2.5 gpa, desperately slaving away in the dark, windowless engineering rooms. I realize that this is probably something of an exaggeration, but it really does worry me a bit. I also got into UCLA for EE. I'm thinking of going there, just because I think that I might be able to have some inklings of a social life in-between studying.
Any thoughts? Any fellow EECS transfers as apprehensive as I am? Because seriously, I am terrified of Cal's EECS.</p>

2

<p>UCLA EECS is no cake walk. A friend of mine got in straight from HS (she graduated last year from UCLA.) She had a 4.65 in HS and is incredibly smart and a hard worker. She barely managed a 3.2 GPA.</p>

3

<p>is your life miserable now?</p>

4

<p>@nero not yet. Than again, I don’t go to Cal yet…</p>

5

<p>I really don’t think EECS is going to be drastically more difficult at Cal relative to UCLA.</p>

6

<p>You will get more meaningful replies if you post this thread in the ucb subforum. There are quite a few eecs majors in there.</p>

7

<p>Do you enjoy both EE and CS? My roommate was an EECS major and ended up dropping because of how much he disliked the CS component. I can also tell you that EECS at Berkeley will be more difficult than at UCLA simply because it’s two majors in one. That being said! There are plenty of EECS majors with social lives, but most of them aren’t girls.</p>

8

<p>I like CS stuff, although there are times when I can’t find that bug in my program and I just want to demolish my computer with a sledgehammer. I think that’s how everybody feels from time to time though. I’m not a genius, by any means. I just work really hard. I suppose that it’s a bit intimidating knowing that I will be competing for a grade against people who work really hard, but are also geniuses. This decision is getting more and more difficult. Ugh.</p>

9

<p>Wow, just reread my post a few spots above. I can’t believe that I typed “than” instead of “then.” <strong>facepalm</strong></p>

10

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<p>Yes, but Berkeley EECS gives you free choice to emphasize any subarea of EE or CS in upper division. The only catch is that the lower division prerequisites for both must be completed (CS 61A/61B/61C, EE 20N/40), so you’ll have to take at least some EE and CS in lower division. Transfer students typically need to take some of them as soon as they enroll, since some of these courses are not commonly offered at community colleges.</p>