<p>The 4 year graduation rate in Berkeley is about 60% according to sources (i'll provide them if you ask or don't believe).</p>
<p>Im enrolling in Berkeley in the fall, and planning on double majoring in PoliSci and EnviSci.</p>
<p>The fact that only 60% of the class graduate in 4 years is SCARY. This is extremeley low for any top tier school. Considering, that I plan on doing double major and getting involved with jobs and clubs, it is even more scary.</p>
<p>So, current students and alumni, tell me and the other students, what you think the deal is here? I don't understand what keeps 40% here. </p>
<p>For cash straped students, this is a huge issue and needs to be talked about, because idk if coming to Berkeley is the right choice with this data.</p>
<p>Well, for starters, it’s pretty much impossible to double major and graduate in four years. If you want to graduate in four years, you need to pick one or the other or else you’ll be there at LEAST one extra semester.</p>
<p>Well your 60% graduation rate in 4 years sounds about right but a lot of people CHOOSE to stay an extra semester in order to double major or finish a minor. I just finished my first year at Berkeley and trust me MOST majors can be finished within 4 years (actually 3) as long as you don’t party all day. I mean it is NOT HARD to PASS classes at Berkeley and most major requirements actually allow a lot of space for electives and/or catching up.
That being said the budget cuts have made certain classes hard to get into but even if you lag behind you always have the option of taking classes over the summer if you really want to double major within 4 years. The bottom line is that graduating isn’t really a problem its graduating with good grades and good internships that is going to require hard work.</p>
<p>i guess it has something to do with having a lot of transfer students. somehow, transfer students don’t graduate on time. again, this is just a guess.</p>
<p>Well, I’m getting a simultaneous degree and I have to do an extra 5th year semester because of scheduling conflicts. Your core classes for both majors are bound to overlap at one point.</p>
<p>I’m just reporting what I heard during a special Undeclared Engineering presentation during CALSO. The speaker made it quite clear that engineering majors were required to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>^^^ haha… You aren’t ignorant. It’s no big deal. :-)</p>
<p>lol what… it really depends on your own caliber.
I have TONS of seniors graduating from UCB with a double major in 3 years (but maybe that is because they have majors with overlapping classes like Biz+Econ so that makes it a bit easier) but really, I don’t think it’s all that hard especially if you have a major in mind when you are entering cal and have some foresight to start planning your schedule ahead of time. If you’re going to shop around and take random classes for 2 years and then realize that you haven’t completed a lot of classes you’re supposed to take for your major then yeah…obviously you’re either going to have to cram or take extra semesters.</p>
<p>It’s also about how much you can do and how much you push yourself, actually. I have seniors doing 20 units starting freshmen year so they can graduate SUPER EARLY and they came out unscathed so… idk. It’s definitely NOT impossible. Far from it, in fact.</p>
<p>Double major is doable. I can prob. graduate with one major in a year if I choose to. But I am going a double major with econ and MCB, so it gets a little tougher. But it’s definitely doable. </p>
<p>The sciences are pretty intense. But both of your majors should be fine. As long as you don’t slack off too much and don’t end up spending wed, thur, friday, and sat night at frats, you should be more than fine to graduate in 4 years. </p>
<p>The 60%. Let’s just say there are some dumb people here as well. Transfer students also adds to the number, but not their fault. And the a lot of double major stays an extra semester to finish classes off. I also know people that are staying to finish their honor thesis. But there are a lot of reasons.</p>
<p>I dont think Poli Sci and Envi Sci are much related, but their not like hard majors either. I hope to do real well and graduate within 4 years. I’ll be taking 17units this semester.</p>
<p>I was in Landscape Architecture, a program that can take 5-6 years to complete if you want any decent amount of sleep in any given semester. I skipped sleeping and finished in 3.5 years (started with 2.8 AP units, took classes every summer, graduated with 120.8 units). A friend who started at the same time as me graduated from Architecture in 3.5 years by foregoing sleep as well.</p>
<p>I am actively involved with alumni groups in Southern California and I have met Cal alums who have double, triple, or quadruple majored. Most double majors have completed their degrees in 4 or 4.5 years. Majority of the alums who took more than 4 years confessed to taking their time to finish their degrees for various reasons (recession, didn’t want to get a job, financial aid was still available, etc.).</p>
<p>Whether you graduate on time (in 4 years) will depend largely on how well you manage your courseload/schedule. Berkeley is not that type of school to hold your hand every step of the way (like some private colleges); you learn to swim or you drown. It’s a great (perhaps a bit brutal) learning experience to not have everything handed to you because you will know how to fend for yourself when you go out to the real world.</p>
<p>The stats are kind of mystifying, since they suggest that a large number of students are going over four years to graduate, yet nobody here seems to have encountered any of them. The only cases reported are double or more majors, who take about an extra semester, not years, and the occasional person who changed majors radically, late, and often. </p>
<p>Then with the colleges imposing rules on adequate progress and maximum units, registration is blocked and requires special exceptions from the college to even continue. L&S - once you hit 130 units, you can’t register for any more courses without approval from the college. L&S also flags anyone who has less than 30 units (including AP) by start of 2nd year, less than 60 at start of 3rd year, and less than 90 at start of senior year - normal progress. Not a hard barrier like the 130 units as enforcement depends on them noticing this and taking the effort to intercede. [College</a> Policies-Unit Guidelines](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/collegepolicies/unit.html]College”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/collegepolicies/unit.html)</p>
<p>With all this, the statistic seems so out of sync with what everyone here experiences and with all the regulations that there HAS to be something subtle here, not simply the supposition you would reach that almost half the students need to take extra years just to finish up.</p>
it really depends on your own caliber.