<p>
This is very contrary to what I’ve heard from current students. You can ask these questions directly on the Berkeley board and search for threads of current student experiences. Berkeley is very generous with AP credits.</p>
<p>Transfers are part of the California Higher Education Master Plan. The system is a model for public education worldwide and been in place since the 1960s. The admission rate for transfer students is very competitive and Berkeley claims transfer students do well and graduate at same rates as freshman admits. Highest quality education accessible to the public is Berkeley’s model. State disinvestment in higher education has caused Berkeley to shift and look for new sources of revenue…increasing number of full market rate pay out-of-state students is one plug.</p>
<p>Berkeley may be ‘generous’ with AP credits, IF they get 5s and IF they are in certain majors. But if the students cannot get the required courses in their major to stay on track, they are forced to take summer sessions if they want to graduate in 4 years. I personally know people who had taken at least 20 AP semesters in high school who are still forced to take summer sessions at Berkeley. Not all AP test scores receive credits. It depends on your major, too.</p>
<p>5s may be required for classes within your major, but general breadth requirements can usually be satisfied with 4s.</p>
<p>I also know students that have graduated in 3 or 3.5 years without summer sessions. So, that’s some anecdotal info to counter your anecdotal info.</p>
<p>Summer sessions are mostly lower division general breadth requirements.</p>
<p>@UCBChemEGrad - Just curious about how current your experience with Cal is. I have no firsthand info, but it sounds like much may have changed recently with deep budget cuts.</p>
<p>^ I’m not a current student. Like I suggested, you can go ahead and post a new thread in the Berkeley forum for current students to answer your questions directly. However, I know several current students attending and I’m a frequent poster on these boards. I have not seen many (or any, really) threads of kids complaining about impacts from the budget cuts.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to a thread I made last year asking your questions about budget cut impacts:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1334389-getting-classes-graduating-time-budget-cuts-myth-reality.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1334389-getting-classes-graduating-time-budget-cuts-myth-reality.html</a></p>
<p>The biggest impact has been to increase the cost of attendance, unfortunately. But the stories of kids not getting classes and graduating on time are, I believe, blown out of proportion by people who don’t attend the school and used as scare tactics to push their own school. </p>
<p>Berkeley has cut costs by streamlining back office functions like purchasing and HR. I’ve read Berkeley has added sections of critical courses, not eliminated them ([Berkeley</a> Adds Foreign Langugage Courses | BrainTrack](<a href=“http://www.braintrack.com/college-and-work-news/articles/berkeley-adds-foreign-language-courses-11021601]Berkeley”>http://www.braintrack.com/college-and-work-news/articles/berkeley-adds-foreign-language-courses-11021601)). Berkeley has also been very successful in private fundraising and retaining professors. Passage of Proposition 30 in November has stabilized state funding, but federal government sequestration remains a challenge. The situation is not as dire as it was in 2011 and early 2012.</p>
<p>Berkeley publicly posts its CDS reports. It lists 6 year graduation rates. The rates have increased/held steady despite the budget cuts - this seems to indicate kids are graduating at even better frequency than before.</p>
<p>2005-6: 87.1%
2006-7: 88.9%
2007-8: 88.1%
2008-9: 89.6%
2009-10: 90%
2010-11: 91%
2011-12: 90%</p>
<p>[Common</a> Data Set](<a href=“http://opa.berkeley.edu/statistics/cds/index.html]Common”>Common Data Set | Office of Planning and Analysis)</p>
<p>It is my opinion that NU has a slightly better academic reputation that Berkely, but Berkeley would be funner (socially speaking) to attend…Better weather too! lol…</p>
<p>MomCares,</p>
<p>One indication of NU’s focus on undergrads is the innovation they made to the first-year engineering curriculum back in 1997. They could have easily kept the old curriculum that most schools still follow these days. The fact that they went through the trouble to plan, survey, rewrite a curriculum (it’s even trademarked), and continue to fine-tune it shows the kind of committment they make to undergrads.</p>
<p>[Engineering</a> First ® Program | McCormick School of Engineering | Northwestern University](<a href=“Undergraduate Programs | Undergraduate Study | Academics | Northwestern Engineering”>Undergraduate Programs | Undergraduate Study | Academics | Northwestern Engineering)</p>
<p>^ First by McCormick and Schmick’s? :p</p>
<p><em>just teasing, Sam</em></p>
<p>A recent Chicago Tribune article related to the freshmen engineering design:
[Northwestern</a> students design penguin bootie - chicagotribune.com](<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-northwestern-penguins-20130329,0,4148528.story]Northwestern”>Northwestern students design penguin bootie)</p>
<p>I doubt this is meaningful or useful to anyone (I’ve looked at other info here and some looks WAY off), but I just saw this “revealed preference” tool which suggests that when faced with a choice between Berkeley and NU, 56% choose Northwestern while 44% choose Berkeley.</p>
<p>[Compare</a> Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.](<a href=“Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.”>Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.)</p>
<p>For all I know this is driven by a very small or unrepresentative sample, and in real life I assume it varies GREATLY by major and by OOS/IS (for Berkeley) etc. Plus I assume it changes over time and I have no idea how current their data is.</p>
<p>^the sample size is too small; finance could be driving many of the decisions (HYPS define “needs” more generously while others shower admits with merit-based scholarships).</p>