<p>I plan on applying as a transfer and I want to double major in both Political Science and Media Studies. For MS I need a research methods class that can be filled by PS 3 while PS 3 is also a requirement for PS. So my question is does anybody know how difficult it is to get into a PS 3 class? Would I be better off applying as PS major rather than a MS major or would it not even matter which?</p>
<p>According to this list:
[Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: List of Majors](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/major/majorlist.html]Office”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/major/majorlist.html)</p>
<p>Media studies is a capped major, while political science is not. This means that even current Berkeley students have to apply in a competitive admission process to declare the media studies major.</p>
<p>I was admitted to Cal as a poli sci major so I know a bit about PS 3. This quantitative stats course can only be taken at Berkeley to fulfill the major agreements requirement. And the truth is that you can forget about getting into that class for your first semester should you get accepted if you want to get it out of the way. It was full long before the first CalSo registration periods and the remaining seats are often reserved for seniors and other students with priority. So in my case I have to take it next semester in the spring, which is when there are more sections available in the political science department.</p>
<p>I know people who got into PS3 Their first semester. It is absolutely possible. the thing about that class, is that so many people avoid it and put it off. Just make sure you take it with a good professor.
AND Media Studies IS capped, BUT if you have the prereqs (IE Take Media Studies 10 over the summer when you will most likely get in,) You will probably get in. Don’t be afraid of the “rules” at Berkeley. If you’re doing the right thing/ have put yourself in the right position, they will bend them for you.</p>
<p>-UC Berkeley C/O 2012
Former Transfer Student</p>
<p>@ MortimerC</p>
<p>See, that’s exactly what I’ve been told prior to even being accepted to Cal this year. I was dead set on registering for PS 3 at the earliest CalSo I could get and had it all planned out. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Upon consulting with the counselors in the PS department, I was told that PS 3 had been pretty much full since Late-April/May. Long before the first CalSo in early June. Whatever remaining seats there were, they were reserved for seniors who had more priority BECAUSE they put it off. Everyone can thank the budget cuts for this bottleneck. </p>
<p>So from now on incoming PS transfer students should at least plan to take PS3 early in case the situation changes, but shouldn’t expect to get in for their first semester. There’s just no space at this time.</p>
<p>So they don’t hold seats for incoming PS transfers that NEED that class? Also by chance does being a veteran give a better registration date like in CC? </p>
<p>As for the MS 10 my CC is actually one of the few to have a class that articulates so all my MS prereqs will be done and PS 3 will be the only not completed (for obvious reasons) for PS. I was thinking of applying a PS major because I was thinking that it would be “easier” to get that PS 3 class but what you guys are suggesting is to PS because it’s not impacted and I will have a better shot of being accepted?</p>
<p>@ UCBhopeful16</p>
<p>All PS regardless of transfer or not need that class by the time they graduate. That doesn’t mean that they have to take it their first semester. Until the budget crisis is resolved, don’t count on the situation to change. As for the veteran status, I became good friends with a transfer student who is also a recently discharged Marine, and his registration date was 10 days before mine, which was on the 23rd. But even he couldn’t get PS3 because that class was filled up long ago.</p>
<p>The class is available during summer and this summer it didn’t fill up all the way. Future 2013 and 2014 transfers should consider moving to Berkeley a couple months early to take the class.</p>
<p>I recommend taking it over the summer. I just finished it with Gailmard (who is great, by the way). I got an A+ in my Psych Stats (a more analysis oriented class when compared with Statistics 10, which is more math oriented) class at CCC, and I also got an A+ in PS3 at Cal. Of course, that probably means I’m just good at PS3-related stuff. That said, the Psych Stats course actually covered a lot more math than PS3.</p>
<p>In the 6 weeks, PS3 covered (roughly–I’m working from memory):
Week 1-2: Basic game theory (collective action problems [stag hunt, prisoner’s dilemma], a little basic spatial modeling)
Week 2-3: Causal inference (reverse causation, confounding variables, etc)
Week 4-5: Correlation and regression models (bivariate and multivariate, all using LINEST in Excel)
Week 5-6: Hypothesis testing (one and two-sample z-tests, regression slope significance, p-values)</p>
<p>That’s it. No ANOVA/MANOVA stuff. Hardly a mention of t-tests (which are, admittedly, basically z-tests). No manual computation on exams (aside from 2400/6 and stuff like that), no formula memorization.</p>
<p>That said, the exams and problem sets were often challenging because of nuances of specific problems. The mean for the midterm was 75, the median a few points higher, with a SD of 15. He did apply a generous curve to the midterm:</p>
<p>curved score = ([100 - raw score]*0.4) + raw score</p>
<p>In other words, a raw score of 70 became a curved score of 82.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions.</p>