Hi everyone!
I come from a regular international school (in Eastern Europe) that doesn’t offer AP courses or an IB program. Therefore, I have 0 
credits from advanced classes.
I wanted to know if I will be at a big disadvantage compared to my peers that will probably have lots of AP credits and will use them to skip entry-level classes and prereqs?
Will I even be able to graduate in 4 years? My major(planned) is CS in L&S. Will I be able to keep up with other CS students? Is there a way for me in Berkeley?)
Is taking more courses gonna help me(is this even doable :-/ )? Maybe summer courses at UCB…?
My other college choice is a Duke University. I feel like I would be more comfortable in Duke bc AP credits almost do not matter and everyone is basically equal. But at the same time I REALLY want to attend UC Berkeley for multiple reasons.
I hope somebody can give some insights or recommend something regarding my question. Thanks in advance!
You can graduate in 8 semesters without AP credits. Just take full course loads (15 units average for 120 units in 8 semesters) and be sure to choose courses that work toward your major(s) and breadth requirements. Note that L&S CS does require a 3.0 GPA in CS and math prerequisites to declare the major.
An example first semester schedule for an intended L&S CS major without AP or other advanced credit would be CS 61A, Math 1A, a reading and composition A course, and a course that can be a breadth elective and/or help lead to an alternate major.
@ucbalumnus Thanks for your response!
Is 15 units average per semester a lot compared to what other student usually do? That’s approximately 5 classes per semester, right?
Would you recommend me doing a Freshman Edge program at UCB in summer in order to get a few units? If yes, what courses would you recommend taking?
Thanks for the sample schedule by the way. But I’m still actually soo confused with all the requirements :-/
15 units per semester average is typical. Most courses are 4 units (including most CS courses); the next more common size is 3 units, although there are courses ranging from 0.5 to 6 units.
Doing a summer session is not necessary if you average 15 units per semester and stay on track with the various requirements for your major and the College of Letters and Science. If you do decide to do Freshman Edge in the summer, obvious course candidates would include CS 61A, Math 1A, or a reading and composition A course (Asian American Studies R2A, English N1A/R1A, Native American Studies R1A, Near Eastern Studies R1A).
See http://summer.berkeley.edu/special-programs/freshman for a list of available courses. A summer session is 6-8 weeks (versus 15 weeks for a regular semester), so that courses move much faster (so a normal course load would be 6-8 units – about 2 courses).
@ucbalumnus Thank once again!
But do you think I would be able to declare the CS major at the normal time?
I wanted to know if its true that majority of students would have AP credits that they could use to fill the humanities , math requirements, etc(prerequisites, breadth reqs)?
What does this exactly mean to me? Would I be at a big disadvantage compared to them?
Thanks in advance!
I appreciate your help!
Don’t worry about it. Suppose your schedule looks like this (15-16 units per semester):
Semester 1: CS 61A, Math 1A, R&C A, breadth
Semester 2: CS 61B, Math 1B, R&C B, breadth
Semester 3: CS 61C, CS 70, Math 54, breadth
Then you will be ready to declare the L&S CS major, if you have the necessary GPA (see http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/csugrad/#petitioning ). You will then have five more semesters to take upper division CS courses, EE 16A, remaining breadth requirements, and any free electives to make 120 units.
Here are some other sample schedules for incoming frosh: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/csugrad/freshman-samples.pdf . Even the “slowest” one (with CS 61A in the third semester after CS 10 in the second semester) declares the major after the fifth semester, leaving three more semesters to complete remaining course work. So don’t worry about being “behind” as you are now.