<p>I'll be an incoming CS major in the college of Letters and Sciences this fall. CS is my primary major that I hope to start a career with, but I'm also into physics and I've aced AP Physics C in high school. I planned out a schedule that allows me to graduate in 4 years with 3 classes first semester freshman year and 4 classes per semester after that, if I take Math 53 over the summer after freshmen year and one of the 7 course breadth some other summer.
1. Is it possible to do an intern and take one summer class at the same time over the summer? I'll imagine most CS interns are in Silicon Valley so it shouldn't be too far from Berkeley, and I see people take 2 or 3 classes during the summer, so one shouldn't be much at all on its own. Math classes aren't known for high workload and the breadth I can do pass/fail.
2. My bigger concern is if 2 upper division CS and 2 UD physics is too much to handle However, it will only be one semester that I'll have this load during the last 2 years. The other 3 semesters of my last two years, I can deal with one UD cs, one breadth, and 2 UD physics classes. Is that still too much work?</p>
<p>This sounds like a doable plan. I’m not familiar with whether CS internships allow you to take a class simultaneously, but if they do not, perhaps you could do research in a physics/CS lab at Berkeley/LBNL for one summer? That would allow you to get your summer classes out of the way so that you can do internships during your other summers. </p>
<p>In my experience, physics upper division courses are not a horrific amount of work (but I am only a physics minor so I don’t have to take the lab, which is probably a lot of work). Two CS+two physics UD sounds pretty tough, but there are a few CS classes that have math-like workloads, such as the CS 170 series (as opposed to the super heavy project courses). Taking such courses may make that courseload manageable. 1 CS + 1 breadth+ 2 physics should definitely be doable.</p>
<p>What AP credit do you have coming in?</p>
<p>CS requires 15 courses; physics requires 15 courses. However, they have a 4 course overlap, so you need 26 courses combined. If you have AP calculus credit (preferably with a 5), that covers one of the courses, leaving 25 (2 courses if 5 on BC, leaving 24 courses). Obviously, 1 course out of the 7-course breadth is covered, leaving 6 others. R&C may add 0-2 courses, depending on AP English credit. So you would need 30-33 courses, which should be doable without needing summer sessions.</p>
<p>It is probably not a good idea to take two CS courses with programming or projects and Physics 111 (advanced physics lab) all in the same semester.</p>
<p>What about double majoring in CS and History? How hard would it be to take 2 CS and 2 upper division history major courses for 2 out of the 4 semesters for the last 2 years? I have enough AP credits to skip out of enough classes to graduate in 4 years, so that’s not a concern at all. For example, If I take an upper div CS programming, a “math-like” CS class, and 2 history classes, should that be doable. I understand that history classes have alot of reading and writing so that should be a pretty significant workload.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the history curriculum, but my guess would be that certain history courses are harder or more time consuming than others. As long as you look carefully at the specific courses, you should be fine.</p>