<p>Ok, I know I asked this before and some of you already helped me a lot so I'd like to HUGELY thank to those who did.</p>
<p>So anyways, I am a full-pay international student who is going to enroll at Berkeley this fall. I am thinking about doing the physics major in 3 years for financial reasons. </p>
<p>However, even though at first I wasn't scared of this idea as I was turning down arguably the toughest engineering program in my country (6 courses a semester, very computer-intensive and hands-on projects which I hate, notorious for "no social life"), I realized that 3 years at berkeley is going to be just as intense (mostly from realizing how many breadth courses I have to fit in and how hard it is to get into good ones). What I'm worried about mostly though, is the fact that I'm going to need to fit in a decent amount of research while graduating early.</p>
<p>Although I am willing to study my butt off, I am not sure if one and a half years is enough to have research under my belt for grad school. I say this because I plan to start research in my second year, and that leaves one and a half years until grad school apps are due. In the summer after my first year, I am going to be taking summer courses (physics 7C so that I can jump right into upper div physics courses in my second year) so I don't think I can start research then. So far, absolutely no physics major at berkeley has replied to my questions and I couldn't find any international physics majors in the program (if you are reading this and you are an international physics major, PLZ HELP LOL). If ANYONE in the physics program could elaborate on how possible it is to do well/get research done in 3 years, that would be great.</p>
<p>Also, this is for anyone who is taking a rigorous courseload. How did you find the transition from H.S to rigorous courseload at Berkeley? I know one Calso advisor I talked to on the phone strongly advised me not to take 5 courses in my first semester, as he said that he did that and he failed. I'm additioanlly scared as I didn't have my high school schedule filled with like 8 AP/IB courses a year like many international kids did; our school didn't even offer AP/IB courses. Is it possible to transition well into a rigorous load at berkeley if you came from an average, fairly rigorous high school in Ontario?</p>
<p>For anyone curious this is my <em>dream</em> first semester schedule</p>
<p>Math 54
Physics 7A
Korean 10AX (I'm korean lol. Btw, this WILL fulfill my foreign lang requirement, right?)
Integbi 35AC (will take P/NP)
Asian American Studies R2A</p>
<p>The various ways of satisfying foreign language for L&S at Berkeley are listed here:
[Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: Foreign Language](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/fl.html]Office”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/fl.html)</p>
<p>Contact the East Asian Languages and Cultures department to see if you can take a placement exam that will fulfill the L&S foreign language requirement. (It appears that if you place into Korean 10A or 10AX or higher, you will be past the second semester course that the L&S page says fulfills it.)
[East</a> Asian Languages and Cultures](<a href=“http://ealc.berkeley.edu/]East”>http://ealc.berkeley.edu/)</p>
<p>Also, since you are from Canada, did you take at up to third level of high school French?</p>
<p>You’re not taking Physics H7A as an intended physics major?</p>
<p>I think you can get research in your first year too, as long as you show interest. From what I know about physics professors (my dad is a physics prof at a different university), they LOVE having undergrads that can commit to a long period of research, even if they are presently unqualified. So basically, you should go through the list of professors and their research interests, and email some professors. Tell them your situation, and you could easily have a position for this fall. That would allow you to spend a year learning about how the lab works, and you can start LEGIT research in your second year. If you wait until your second year, then that may not be enough time to get something meaningful done by the due date for grad school apps.</p>
<p>I’ve never seriously considered physics H7A as I thought it would be really hard/time consuming and really hard to get an A. So I thought why not take 7A, which is already hard enough and I presume is easier to get an A in?</p>
<p>Although, speliotopoulos is teaching 7A this semester, and looking from ratemyprofessor reviews it seems like he gives out insane tests which are hard to do well in :S. He seems like those worst kind of teachers, those teachers who gives out tests that are not “legitimately” hard, but tests that are just hard in the wrong ways, like having poor wording, too time consuming, etc. So it does seem kind of iffy taking my first physics class with him :/.</p>
<p>And no, unfortunately I did not take French for three years.</p>
<p>I sent an email to the professor of Korean 10AX asking if the deparment has a placement exam for korean.</p>
<p>And that is some great information singh, I haven’t thought about contacting professors this early but it helps to know that they like undergrads who want to commit, even if they’re not presently qualified. I will definitely consider starting research this fall; it makes sense that I’m not magically going to land a decent research position at the start of my second year.</p>