<p>Hi everyone. I'm an entering freshman. I've taken 17 AP's, all 5's, and am wondering if anyone has any advice on selecting classes so I can graduate in three or maybe even two and a half years. I plan on majoring in applied math and according to the L&S AP credits website, I'm bringing in 57-ish credits to Berkeley. Does anyone have any advice?</p>
<p>The other factors that determines whether you can do this in three years are the requirements for the degree itself and the host of L&S/Cal/UC requirements like breadth courses, AC, etc. You should look at these two sites, write down all the courses you will need to complete after crossing off all that were waived due to AP credits. [Degree</a> Requirements-Summary of Degree Requirements](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/intro.html]Degree”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/intro.html) and [Course</a> Requirements: Applied Mathematics - UC Berkeley Department of Mathematics](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/undergraduate_major_require_applied.html]Course”>http://math.berkeley.edu/undergraduate_major_require_applied.html)</p>
<p>You will find things like the seven breadths and AC are not reduced by AP credit and still need to be taken.</p>
<p>Try taking classes at CC and if you are absolutely sure about what you want to major (most people change their mind), I think 3 years is doable.</p>
<p>Take PoliSci 1 and History 7B. Both of those classes together kill the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>AC requirement</li>
<li>AH requirement</li>
<li>AI requirement</li>
<li>Historical Studies breadth requirement</li>
<li>Social and Behavioral Studies requirement</li>
</ul>
<p>2 and a half years is absolutely doable, but you should plan now. Create an Excel sheet with all the college, university, and major requirements and plan for which classes you need to take to satisfy the requirements you haven’t yet satisfied. As others have said, take classes that knock out more than one requirement at a time, if possible. Good planning is key. You may want to take summer classes, because they are often easier to register for and give you more flexibility.</p>
<p>[Degree</a> Requirements-L&S Seven-Course Breadth and R&C Search](<a href=“http://ls-breadth.berkeley.edu/search.php]Degree”>http://ls-breadth.berkeley.edu/search.php) This is your friend, also.</p>
<p>I’ve taken a look at the link you posted and at the required courses for a degree in applied mathematics with a cluster in economics. I think I only need to take 22 courses to graduate, which seems comfortably doable in three years and perhaps even two and a half years without summer classes.</p>
<p>I actually drew up an abovementioned excel sheet a couple months ago 
Yep I’m intending to double major + minor in 3 years. </p>
<p>Also, @ManBearPig, you can’t fulfill more than two requirements with one course. Therefore each course can only be used to fulfill a maximum of two requirements, and just to note, you can’t satisfy more than two breadth reqs with courses from the same department. So therefore you can’t satisfy 5 reqs with 2 courses, unfortunately ): Otherwise it would make my life much easier…</p>
<p>You can definetely do it and even less if you do summers.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you want to accelerate it that much. APs aren’t at par with most classes at Cal.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that the statement “APs aren’t at part with most classes at Cal” is true.
There are many easy APs, but there are also many many easy classes at Cal. APs are designed to be equivalent to first year college courses and Berkeley is no exception. Most universities of Berkeley’s caliber offer placement if not credit to those with good AP scores. If there really is a discrepancy between APs and classes at Berkeley, then Berkeley would at least be wise enough to not offer credit. Not only does it offer credit to those with good enough AP scores, it also offer credits to community college courses which, at least from my personal experience, are significantly less rigorous than well taught AP courses. That being said, I honestly think that if I’ve been getting 5’s on 7 or 8 APs a year for the past two years, I should at least be at the level of an average Berkeley sophomore.</p>
<p>AP Physics C is not even close to the difficulty of Physics 7A and 7B
AP Chemistry is hardly related to Chem 4A.
AP Calc BC is nothing compared to Math 1A + 1B.
AP Stat is not an indicator how well you’re gonna do in Stat 20/21.
AP Bio is definitely nothing like Bio 1A, even though it’s the same book.
AP Comp Sci definitely cannot replace CS 61A.
AP History classes are a joke compared to what you have to read here.
… anything else? I’m tired of bashing the APs b/c i really do think they don’t tell you how much prepare you for Berkeley after taking ~12 AP courses and getting 5’s on all of them.</p>
<p>Eloriel, I respectfully disagree. I completed my AI, AH and Historial Studies breadth requirements by doing History 7B. Or at least it showed up that way on my DARS Web and student profile in bear facts.</p>
<p>Ah the joys of being an innocent freshman…Don’t worry you will get wiser with the years. </p>
<p>And yes, you can do it in three years. Create a schedule for yourself for 3 years, and see how you fulfill all the reqs. Then get your schedule looked over by in advisor in the math department. Your ap credit will help with telebears, but thats pretty much it (besides the experience of course). You might get some gummy bears if you show your AP scores at smart Alec’s. Kiddin.</p>
<p>@ManBearPig Oh really? Thanks for your reply by the way. Oh because my advisor said you can’t, and so did the website. I think for your case they might have counted AH & AI as one requirement (after all, it’s often mentioned together). I’m not too sure about that specific example though. Anybody who managed to fulfill >2 reqs with one course (with the exception of AH&I?) I would be very interested to know since it’ll probably help me graduate earlier (hahaha).</p>
<p>“I honestly think that if I’ve been getting 5’s on 7 or 8 APs a year for the past two years, I should at least be at the level of an average Berkeley sophomore.”</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>wow that’s a very bold thing for you to say, “i should at least be at the level of an average berkeley sophomore”</p>
<p>college classes are way different from high school classes, and for schools as academically competitive as berkeley, you really can’t even make a comparison between any sort of AP classes to the actual courses offered at Cal</p>
<p>i took a bunch of APs/IBs/JC classes, and they don’t stand a chance, don’t even come close to the difficulty of classes at berkeley, especially the Math and science and engineering. even if you get A+'s and all 5’s, berkeley courses are still way harder. and for math science and engineering, high school APs/IBs/JC classes don’t cover all the materials we learn in berkeley. AP calc ab/bc can NOT compare to math1a/1b.</p>
<p>like what upmagic said, you could have done all the things you said you did, but that doesn’t qualify you as in “the level of an average berkeley student.” you might be top 5% of your incoming class, but other than that you’re probably nothing more. sorry to disappoint.</p>
<p>last thing, just fyi undergrad years are usually the best years of many ppl’s lives, and that being the case, you might want to reconsider about graduating early…why do you wanna shorten the best thing that will happen in your life? anyway it’s none of my business, but just a thought…if it’s not for financial reason or otherwise, most ppl i know do not even wanna graduate after four years</p>