<p>The image I have contrived after viewing various posts is that the prestigious Berkeley is a depressing and grade-deflated institution. How bad is the workload though? Do you have time to sleep and attend other activities? How difficult would it be for someone planning to major in molecular bio?</p>
<p>very bad…</p>
<p>People really overestimate the workload. I took 11 AP tests last year (6 AP courses in high school and self-studied 4; keep in mind this is in one year alone), and my college workload isn’t nearly as cumbersome. You have a ton more free time in college, especially considering that school isn’t 7-9 hours a day as it is in high school. And although I’m a freshman, I’m taking a pretty challenging courseload (2 honors courses, 1 being upper division, 17 units total) and can say that it’s not as bad as high school.</p>
<p>The concepts may be harder to grasp, but given a sufficient amount of time to spend on, you really spend less time on say 4 solid courses than 6 AP courses in high school simply because there’s so much HW involved in the AP courses due everyday (at least for me anyways). As long as you’re organized and make sure you do all the work on time in college and you prioritize studying, you’ll be fine. Given time, nothing’s really tough. If you can’t succeed in say 3 graduate courses, cut it down to 2 and take some seminars or something for example.</p>
<p>i like the workload a lot. i hate classes where all you do is write papers and have a final, though. they’re so boring… i enjoy classes with lots of hw and quizzes and midterms and all that jazz where the teacher posts grades a lot. idk, it’s just it makes it easier to get motivated for these classes. + it makes getting the A more satisfying. especially when you look back and see how many people you had to crush to get it >=D me likey competitive classes…</p>
<p>I agree with 187, but a lot depends on the individual and your major as well. MCB wouldn’t be easy by a long shot, but I think the difficulty of Berkeley in general is kind of overrated. Then again, like I said, your mileage may vary.
I personally think that it’s completely possible to juggle between academics, extracurricular stuff and sleep. Some of my friends are doing fine as well, while others are having some problems managing. I wouldn’t call us a ‘depressing and grade-deflated institution’ - it’s not a cake walk by any means, but everything you read on CC should be taken with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Totally depends on your major and the classes you take. I’ve yet to meet a student who didn’t have enough free time to have a social life though…</p>
<p>Seriously, stop listening to the whiners on CC. Most people at Berkeley are perfectly happy and have a very active social life. </p>
<p>I’m an MCB major and I have still never pulled an all-nighter. I pretty much never start a homework assignment until the night before it’s due and skip classes if I don’t think they’re necessary and I still have about a 3.8 GPA. I’m actually surprised by how much free time I have after taking 4 hard classes and working in a lab over 15 hours a week.</p>
<p>Most college classes aren’t like high school where you have daily homework that you scramble to complete before class. The only times where the workload gets tough is when a paper or project is due and that is only 1-2 times per semester (per class). There’s no requirements all other times. It’s up to you whether you want to relax daily or study rigorously, and of course the latter is better, but there’s nothing required to do. You can pretty much determine your own workload.</p>
<p>A general “duh” answer is if you are smart and good at managing your time then Berkeley is not too tough. If you are stupid and can’t manage your time then you may be overwhelmed at Berkeley if you have difficult classes.</p>
<p>Like demoz said, YOU determine your own workload.</p>
<p>I agree with demoz. In college, part of your workload is determined by you. Some people choose to keep up with weekly readings and lecture slides, others do nothing during the week but spend the one week before finals cramming with webcasts and such…</p>
<p>While I agree that classes at Berkeley are not that hard as long as you keep up with the material and don’t cram, I would say that this is often easier said than done. When you have a big project/exam coming up, you tend to get behind in other classes and end up having to play catch up. Think about how many Bio 1A kids are going to be watching those webcasts (for the first time) this week… I would say at least a third of the class.</p>
<p>Whosthat has it right pretty much id say</p>
<p>The workload is manageable. As a freshman, I took 13 units my first semester, and I have plenty of free time. HOWEVER, people say you don’t NEED TO READ EVERYTHING. think about this before you act on it. I have a class where I really did not need to read anything till he gave the assignment questions or test questions out but I had another class give us surprise quizzes because he knew people didn’t read. be smart and read for the classes u need to read for. that being said, the workload wasn’t too bad. I had a lot of free time and enough time to study as much as I want before deadlines. You don’t have to be stuck in your room all day if that’s what you’re asking. And if you are, you need to manage your time better because you need breaks to function.</p>
<p>Honestly, it’s just an adjustment.
Like everyyyyybody else said, lots of free time 
But that is a total double edged sword
you can get caught up in a fabulous social life, go hard and hit the books, or be like me and just figure out a way to combine the two lol (actually everybody ends up doing this i’m def not unique!)
it’s not nearly as bad as you’d think-i mean, yeah, they expect a **** ton from you…but there’s always ways to not do the reading because it’s just bs reading you know? You just have to figure out a system for yourself (wow that soundsl ike tyra bank shaha…)
but seriously. Just come on down, figure it all out, and just breathe. not too bad And at the end of the day, we still have enough time to write long posts here, so it can’t be all thaaaaaaaat bad</p>