How important is workload?

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>You can give me a general answer, or specific/personal ones if you want to read all the stuff below.</p>

<p>I'm planning to apply as an EE major to LA, SD, and Berkeley.</p>

<p>Up until now, I've been taking between 10-14 units per semester and 4 units per winter & summer intersessions, but I had been working 20-25 hours per week. It was at my mom's place so it was pretty much like working 10-15 hrs/week half of the time though, and I wasn't an official employee. Will the schools be running an employment check? =p</p>

<p>I stopped working by the end of 2010, and this had been/will be my workload and (grade):
6-week winter 2011
8 semester units
critical thinking and writing (Withdrawal)
discrete math (A)...useless since berkeley doesn't accept this anymore :(</p>

<p>Spring 2011
14 units
multivariable calc (A)
general chem I (A)
engineering physics - thermo, electricity, magnetism (A)</p>

<p>6-week summer 2011
4 units
critical thinking and writing (A)</p>

<p>Upcoming fall 2011
17 units
linear algebra & deq
C++
data structures & algorithms</p>

<p>Upcoming winter 2012
6 units
us history
intro to philosophy</p>

<p>Upcoming spring 2012
17 units
general chem II
circuit analysis
engineering physics - optics, fluids, relativity, etc
some art GE</p>

<p>I'm worried about spring of 2011 and 2012. My workload for spring 2011 looks weak right? I'm thinking I should have taken a GE. I'm hoping the schedule will work out so that I can have that art GE next spring...the only other GE I need is biology, but that is gonna be a killer 18 or 19 unit schedule. Now I'm starting to think even my upcoming fall is weak...Do you think the workload for the upcoming fall, winter and spring are satisfactory? Do you think they'll overshadow the 14-unit spring 2011 and the past 10-14 unit semesters?
My transferrable GPA after spring 2012 with all As will be a little over 3.93, and the two Bs I have are from an irrelevant philosophy course that isn't even on the IGETC and general physics--but it shouldn't matter since I have As in the engineering physics courses right?
I'll have been in my community college for 3.5 years by the end of spring, because I started in spring of 2009 (will be explained in personal statement) and I had some catching up to do since I was stupid in high school.</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

<p>You’re overthinking this lol. Also, you can definitely include working for your mom on your application.</p>

<p>And I feel like I’m the only one who’s going to answer at 3AM since my dumb*** is still awake.</p>

<p>On a sidenote, last Fall I took 25.5 units (Organism Bio, Ochem 1, Physics - Mechanics, Calc 2, Spanish 1, Engl 2) and I survived (though I got a B in Ochem Lecture- 3 units). My Spanish and English classes were a joke so I guess you could say I had 17 “real” units.</p>

<p>This past Spring I took 22 units (Evo/Eco Bio, Ochem 2, Physics - Thermo/Light/Rel, Calc 3, Span 2) and got 2 B’s in Ochem Lecture and Physics (7 units). I started with 24 units but dropped an 8 week Biochem class because I was just too busy. I was pretty disappointed by my grades though because I felt like the B’s in Ochem were solely because I didn’t have the time to memorize the reactions so on every test I’d be JUST under an A.</p>

<p>I took Diff Eqs and Lin Alg this summer in an 8 week combo class and depending on your teacher, it can be a lot of work. The problems aren’t hard per se, but there is little to no math and a lot of worthless memorization. Gen Chem labs are very time consuming, (though I didn’t find them particularly hard) but it takes a huge amount of time from your schedule.</p>

<p>EECS at Cal has a pretty high admission GPA. If I were you, I would try to keep your GPA where it’s at now and not bother taking BS IGETC classes.</p>

3

<p>I don’t think you should worry about workload. Just finish your pre-reqs and keep your GPA high. Your spring semester doesn’t have to be a tough load. My brother got into UCB CoE and took 12 units spring semester. I don’t think it matters, as long as you get your classes done and with a good GPA.</p>

<p>Since we are on the topic of tough loads my hardest at CC was:
O-chem 2
Physics 2
Biochemistry
Molecular Biology
English 2
Anthropology </p>

<p>All A’s too ^^.</p>

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<p>Good you didn’t take the class because it is probably the hardest lower division class at CC.</p>

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<p>I guess I’m another dumb** still awake also.</p>

4

<p>Yeah, Biochem was only transferable to UCI and UCLA and since I didn’t end up going to either of them, I guess it didn’t matter.</p>

<p>I’m actually awake because I have to take the ACS for Ochem tomorrow morning at 8 AM T_T</p>

5

<p>OMG at these workloads. Aust, you even have winter and summer semesters booked to the gills. I had 14 unit once and it was really hard for me to tell you the truth. I never go below 12 though, well because that’s considered full time. You three are superstars in my eyes, I need to hang out with yall!</p>

<p>As far as working, IIRC, you should put down your work schedule you had at your mom’s place even if it is under the table kind of deal. My UCB rep told me that even if I worked off the books its still important to put down my hours so the school has a better idea of my schedule. Just make sure to talk to a college rep when you get a chance.</p>

<p>3.93 gpa with a “crazy” workload. On top of working for your mom. I’d say you have nothing to worry about in that aspect. Keep up the good work!</p>

6

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<p>Good luck. Remember to get some sleep and SET YOUR ALARM CLOCK. </p>

<p>I am still awake because of the HP tablets…</p>

7

<p>This thread is right down my alley of what I was looking for. I’m currently enrolled in 22 units because this is my last semester that’s going to count on my application and I wanted to give my GPA as big a boost as I could (at 3.85 right now). Does a 3.9 really look that much better than a 3.89? I’d appreciate any answers you guys have</p>

8

<p>Check whether the schools and majors in question allow IGETC or if they have their own breadth requirements.</p>

<p>Also, lower division EE and CS courses transferable to Berkeley are fairly difficult to find in community colleges. Normally, the lower division Berkeley EECS major courses beyond math, physics, and breadth (English writing, humanities, and social studies) are</p>

<p>CS 61A, 61B, 61C, 70
EE 20N, 40</p>

<p>Of these, CS 61B is the most common, but only a minority of community colleges have it (see [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) ). One community college (Diablo Valley) has CS 61C.</p>