<p>I got admitted into Berkeley but I've heard Berkeley grades students really hard. How true is this, as in, what % of students in CS (especially Letters and Sciences) get As, Bs, Cs?
I've also heard that due to the sheer number of students, there's not a lot of care from the school or faculty and it's hard to register for classes. How true is this?</p>
<p>You can view past grade distributions here: <a href=“https://schedulebuilder.berkeley.edu/explore/department/FL/2013/53”>https://schedulebuilder.berkeley.edu/explore/department/FL/2013/53</a></p>
<p>To declare L&S CS, you need at least a 3.0 GPA in the lower div pre-reqs.</p>
<p>Registering for classes is starting to get better, yes the major is expanding and there are a ton of students. There are new policies in place to try and help with that, and courses are getting bigger to accommodate more students. CS61A was really big last semester, it had 1000 students enrolled.</p>
<p>It’s only the lectures that are huge, though. Classes also have sections and labs… those are smaller (technically ~35 students, but usually end up being 5-20). They’re led by GSIs/TAs. They might not be professors, but they’re still really smart and helpful, so you’ll get one-on-one time then. GSIs also hold office hours, so for big classes there are tons of office hours to go to for help. Resources like Piazza and tutoring also help with the huge class sizes.</p>
<p>Also, tip for registering: If a class has sections, the overall waitlist doesn’t mean anything… it’s the section waitlist that matters. That means picking unpopular sections (early/late ones) or sections with small waitlists will increase your chances of getting in. Most professors try really hard to let in as many students as they can, provided they’ll fit in the lecture room and they have enough GSIs.</p>
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<p>Okay this may be a stupid question but for CS61A, there are actually 1,000 people sitting together in a single lecture hall? Or are the students enrolled divided amongst 2 or 3 professors in different halls?</p>
<p>Wheeler Auditorium is the largest lecture hall on campus, with capacity of 732 or so. So there must have been some arrangement to accommodate the overflow.</p>
<p>I remember during fall, apparently 1,000 people went to the first cs 61a lecture. It changes drastically though. People drop the course, and eventually people stop going to lectures since the lectures are recorded and posted online. </p>
<p>I’m taking cs 61a right now, and only about half the auditorium is full nowadays.</p>
<p>You also have to take into account that cs 61a is the first pre-requisite class for CS/EECS, but lots of people with other majors also take these courses. A good half of my friends in cs 61a aren’t even majoring in CS/EECS.</p>
<p>61A last semester put lecture videos online so that everyone, regardless of whether or not they fit into the room, could watch the lectures. Here’s more about it: <a href=“Increased CS course demand leads to overflowing auditorium”>http://www.dailycal.org/2013/09/02/increased-cs-course-demand-leads-to-overflowing-auditorium/</a> John DeNero is a really good instructor, but I don’t think even he can completely fill an entire auditorium consistently, so I don’t think having enough room is a problem.</p>
<p>^ The article mentions they’re capping CS again? Is this true??</p>
<p>CS is capped in that you need a 3.0 GPA in the prereqs (Math 1A/B and 54, CS 61ABC and 70) to declare the major. You can add upper div CS courses to this if they help (this is not mentioned in the official literature, but you can check with advising to confirm).</p>
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<p>Does this make it difficult to major in the field for a lot of people? Also if we fulfilled the CS 61B requirement with AP CS during high school, does that mean that this course won’t contribute to our GPA? If so, should I take it anyways to increase my GPA (since I think I’d do well in it, looking at the course syllabus)?</p>
<p>PS Sorry for hijacking this.</p>
<p><a href=“CS Transfer Prerequisites & Sample Programs | EECS at UC Berkeley”>CS Transfer Prerequisites & Sample Programs | EECS at UC Berkeley; indicates that AP CS does not fulfill CS 61B since the AB version of AP CS has been discontinued.</p>