How hard are the academics at Irvine?

<p>Well, the title says it all. How hard are the classes, especially ones like Chem 1A, Bio 93A, HumCore, etc? My high school was a extremely competitive one and I'm just wondering how much effort I have to put in to get a 4.0 here? Will it take hours upon hours of work, or is it pretty easy sailing?</p>

<p>People always say that UC classes are very different from high school classes, and your high school performance can't fully guage it. If you load yourself up with too many classes, you'll need hours of work to get that A. If you pace yourself with a reasonable amount, you'll do fine. It's hard to beleive, but a 4.0 is pretty unrealistic.</p>

<p>damn i went to uci because i thought it was a kick back school</p>

<p>really a 4.0 is that hard huh? i was figuring i'd study ahead before class started and just study pretyt well, but that woudln't cut it?</p>

<p>people... you will be very thankful to pull a 3.0.</p>

<p>You have to realize that your class isn't going to be a small 30ish amount of people, where in about a month or two you can guage everyone's abilities. Class sizes are in the hundreds and chances are if you think you have the upper hand over the rest of the class, there's a dozen other people with that same advantage. The curve used in classes dictates that you have you be in the top 17% of your class for some form of an A. For a solid A, you'll probably need to be in the top tier of that percentage.</p>

<p>That being said, good luck to everyone gunning for a 4.0. It's not unheard of, it's just rare.</p>

<p>whatever UC i go to, my aim is a 3.7 GPA.</p>

<p>^ Same here.</p>

<p>News flash: you're not in high school any more. Don't think you can take the same approach to classes. A lot of people had poor study habits in high school but still got good grades. For 99% of you, it's not gonna work in college, whether it's UCI or Harvard. In fact, your chances of getting good grades are probably worse at UCI, since Harvard has grade inflation and the UCs don't.</p>

<p>There were people I knew in college at UCI that didn't have to study and still escaped with 3.8 and 3.9 GPAs, but chances are you won't be one of them. Not to sound mean, but that's reality. In college, there aren't as many stupid people as there were in high school. There are a lot of distractions, and the allure of skipping class is hard to ignore.</p>

<p>I will bet my life that you won't get a 4.0. I'm not being harsh, that's just the reality of it. Every year, there are maybe 10 (and that's being generous) out of 4,000 graduates that make it through with a 4.0.</p>

<p>well this is my really pressing question; is getting a 4.0 or some high gpa like that just directly based on your work ethic and your ability to follow lectures study in advance etc? or does the douche factor of your professor count as well? i did make sure to ratemyprofessor.com eveyr prof i signed up for, but i've always figured that getting a 4.0 is achievable at any level with enough work and perseverance. right or wrong?</p>

<p>Professors could mess it up. Some professors just don't really give As..or give VERY few As..depends on the prof. Like Alicantekid said, coming out with a 4.0 will be extremely difficult and not very likely, but a few people do do it. Just don't get too upset when you get Bs.</p>

<p>How much do you think is needed to transfer ot UCLA? dont tell me about "its hard" just your views on the gpa required.</p>

<p>Getting a 4.0 is a combination of intelligence, study habits, and luck. The luck comes into play when it comes to professors liking you and also your health. If you aren't feeling well during one midterm and you do poorly, there go your chances at a perfect GPA.</p>

<p>Take it one quarter at a time. IMO, a 3.7 will get you to where you want to go, whether it's grad school, med school, law school, or a great job. Don't set yourself up for disappointment by expecting a 4.0.</p>

<p>Intercampus UC transfers are hard, and that's a fact. And especially seeing the current issues of the UCs barely being able to accomodate incoming freshman and CC transfer students will make it even more difficult. Intercampus UC transfers are possible, I won't deny, but it's not as realistic as transferring from a community college because you're already in a 4-year institution.</p>

<p>You're going to have to really stand out if you want to transfer to UCLA, and moreso if your major's impacted there. At the very least you're going to need a high GPA to show that you are capable of doing well there. Anyway, if you're at all serious about transferring out of UCI, it's best to just head over to a community college instead.</p>

<p>You'll need a really good reason to transfer from UC to UC as well. I think it's the opinion of the UCOP that if you're at one UC, then you shouldn't need to transfer to another one unless you have a great reason. One reason could be that the UC you're currently at doesn't have the major you want. For example, if you want to major in business but they don't have it at UCI, then you could try to transfer to Berkeley. But if you're a bio major at UCI and want to transfer into bio at UCLA, that's going to be a tough sell.</p>

<p>I agree with Aerolite. If you're going in to UCI knowing that you want to transfer out and go to UCLA, you might as well just go to a JC. It'll be cheaper and easier.</p>