<p>I was admitted to L+S and I'm |--| this close to deciding on matriculating at Berkeley. The only thing that I'm a little nervous about is the rumors (or facts?) of 700+ person core classes. I come from a small private school and the prospect of dealing with such a large class is daunting, to say the least. So, I guess my question is, How big a deal are these large classes? I've read that it's pretty easy to get attention from TA's (GSI's?) from office hours, so...Should I be scared of these large classes, or are they not that big a deal?</p>
<p>Depends on what your major is... Polysci lower divs are big, bio/sciencey classes can get HUGE. This is a big school so your classes WILL be large. 130 seems like a small lecture for me. But, you have section, and yes, you can make good connections with your GSIs. BUT, make sure you get a GOOD gsi then. If you don't like your GSI the first day, try to switch out. Or, just go to the other GSIs office hours.</p>
<p>EECS lower division classes are about 50 to 200 people, and upper division classes are about 50 (maybe less?) to 100 people. Sections are about 15 to 30 people, and all EECS classes have sections (and sometimes labs).</p>
<p>EECS prerequisites include a few Physics and Math classes, which can breach 200 people, but usually not 300. They all have sections, too.</p>
<p>I came from a very small private school, and class size has never been a problem for me. You get used to it, and you participate a lot during section.</p>
<p>The class sizes are really exaggerated. I would have a very hard time finding a class that's above 300 students. Mostly your class will be around 50 - 150 students for lower divs, probably, and smaller discussions.</p>
<p>you can think of it as the class size is only as large as the number of people that sit in front of you. If you sit near the front, it can feel much smaller and personal. Even in such large classes, it isn't hard to get close with the professors. My first semester at Cal, I knew all my prof's on a first-name basis. You can make the classes seem as small or large as you want.</p>
<p>Yeah, but "Percentage of classes with fifty or more students" isn't really that accurate of measure when talking about large core classes. Berkeley's biggest classes will be 500+ while Brown's might be like 300+. (Yes, I realize I'm not making a case for Berkeley in this statement, but I felt like I needed to point out the discrepancy)</p>
<p>I'm sure you're right, but to me the difference between a 500 person class and a 300 person class is smaller than the actual number. Really, once you pass a certain number (maybe 150 people?), the class isn't going to be much different no matter how many people are in it.</p>
<p>and realize, it is only your first year that you will have such huge classes, generally. Next year (my soph) the max number student i'll have is like 100, with the smallest being 30 or below, like in high school.</p>