@icantgiveup
No, I don’t have any opinion about the OP’s question as whether Berkeley is worth OOS tuition. I just want to give a data point on this:
My D graduated Berkeley EECS after 3 years. She entered as a freshman and was granted 17 (I think) AP credits. She had taken many college-level physics & math courses at Stanford EPGY but did not use any of them to fulfill degree requirement at Berkeley.
There is no “3 yr. option” and you don’t have to ask anyone. Just take enough classes to graduate.