<p>I have heard that at many california schools, so many classes have been cut that one must graduate in a minimum of 5 years? Is this true at Berkeley? Has the budget cuts made any other major impact at Berkeley?</p>
<p>Not true at all for Cal, in fact it remains frowned upon to take more than 8 semesters (four years) to graduate. Minimum numbers of units required per semester are also unchanged.</p>
<p>Budget cuts have had an impact. Fewer lab sessions for a given semester and fewer classes means that sometimes you have to go to plan B and take courses in a different sequence than your on-paper plan. You may not get into a class that fascinates you in the semester you want. You may be on a waiting list until the first week of class for the most sought after classes. On the other hand, if you search the spring semester classes (i.e. they are already half over and as full as they are going to get), you will find plenty of classes that never filled. [Search</a> Spring - Online Schedule Of Classes](<a href=“http://schedule.berkeley.edu/srchsprg.html]Search”>http://schedule.berkeley.edu/srchsprg.html)</p>
<p>Pain in the rear, frustrating, but not so draconian that people are forced into an extra year.</p>