Probability of graduating in four years

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I was admitted to College of Engineering for EECS major, and wondering whether it's possible for me to graduate in four years. </p>

<p>I have seen CoE's little fact thingy where they claim that you have to be out in four years to make space for other people, but I'm taking that with a grain of salt.</p>

<p>I've looked all the requirements and stuff and am wondering if anyone could provide some engineering-specific insight.</p>

<p>Things that might or might not be important:
* Total credits worth usable from AP tests by CoE handbook: 59.2 berkeley credits
* A. Any other natural science course fulfilled: 5 on AP Bio
* B. Maths fulfilled: Math 1A: 5 on AP Calc AB
* H/SS fulfilled: R&C1 (IB English), other (AP {Micro,Macro}econ)
* C. EECS core: CS 61A (AP CS A), CS 61B (AP CS AB) -- I took both
* University requirements fulfilled: Entry level writing, AH&I</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure you don’t place out of CS 61A with AP CS A. You can’t place out of that class with any AP’s.</p>

3

<p>whoops 10char</p>

4

<p>easily doable just make sure that you keep on track (like 3 tech’s and 1 humanities average) for all your semesters and then you’re set. they have planned out sample schedules for the different concentrations on the EECS website so you can check that out if you’re worried about pacing.</p>

5

<p>do most people graduate in four years? what happens if you dont?</p>

6

<p>Most people graduate in 4 years, you just keep going if you don’t. Max of 9 semesters</p>

7

<p>Yes, most people do graduate in 4 years or less. I don’t know why everyone on CC is afraid about the graduating in 4 years thing. It’s pretty hard to not graduate in 4 years, you would have to screw up pretty badly or change your mind about majors really late.</p>

8

<p>flutterfly_28 and fortify, is this across berkeley or specific to engineering major?</p>

9

<p>Yes, you’re fine… you can easily be done in three years if you just want to get out quickly.</p>

10

<p>This seems to be a really persistent widely spread accusation, yet it doesn’t come from any reality here. </p>

<p>It is either a misunderstanding based on someone not researching deeply enough, or it is a just people bitter that they didn’t get in coming up with justifications for why it worked out better anyway.</p>

11

<p>rider730, I think you should make a new thread about busting Berkeley myths and get it stickied :)</p>

12

<p>Since there are dozens of these threads asking about five year graduation, yet people keep posting new ones, I have little faith that anyone will look first and see the sticky.</p>

13

<p>

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<p>Actually, the concern is warranted. According to the Department of Education, only 61-65% of Berkeley students graduate in 4 years or less - and that’s actually higher than it used to be just a few years ago (when the 4-year graduation rate was in the 50’s). </p>

<p>Click on Retention/Graduation Rates below.</p>

<p>[College</a> Navigator - University of California-Berkeley](<a href=“College Navigator - Search Results”>College Navigator - University of California-Berkeley)</p>

<p>Granted, 61-65% is indeed a majority. Still, that indicates that over 1/3 of the entering class will not graduate in 4 years.</p>

14

<p>^I do not believe that statistic.</p>

15

<p>I think you mean to say that you don’t want to believe that statistic. But some facts simply have to be accepted, whether we want to or not. What can I say: sometimes the truth hurts. Those figures are reported by the Department of Education: why would they lie? What would they gain by reporting false Berkeley graduation figures?</p>

<p>You could also consider the 2008-2009 Common Data Set information reported by Berkeley itself regarding the freshman-admits that entered in 2002 (the latest year available)</p>

<p>*B4. Initial 2003 cohort of first-time, full-time bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduate students; total all students: 3,661</p>

<p>B7. Of the initial 2003 cohort, how many completed the program in four years or less (by August 31, 2007): 2,337 *</p>

<p><a href=“http://cds.berkeley.edu/pdfs/PDF%20wBOOKMARKS%2008-09.pdf[/url]”>http://cds.berkeley.edu/pdfs/PDF%20wBOOKMARKS%2008-09.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In other words, 2337/3661 = 64% of 2003 freshman admits graduated within 4 years, a rate equivalent to the range expressed by the DoE figures.</p>

<p>{To be sure, that rate doesn’t factor in the sizable transfer admit population. But that seems to be irrelevant to the OP as he would be a freshman-admit.}</p>

<p>Yet maybe those are simply more statistics that you don’t believe or don’t want to believe. So does that mean that the DoE and Berkeley itself are both lying?</p>

<p>Yet as I said before, Berkeley’s 4 year graduation rate, low as it still may be, is actually increasing from what it had been in the past. Consider the following 2002 document written by Vice Provost Christina Maslach.</p>

<p>UC Berkeley’s graduation rates have improved over time to 44% for fourth year…</p>

<p>[Overall</a> Notes](<a href=“http://opa.berkeley.edu/analysesandreports/Retention&GradRateSummary1.htm]Overall”>http://opa.berkeley.edu/analysesandreports/Retention&GradRateSummary1.htm)</p>

<p>Flutterfly_28, seems to me that the data is all on my side. People have the right to their own opinions, but they don’t have the right to their own facts. It is a fact that 1/3 of all Berkeley freshman admits do not graduate in 4 years.</p>

16

<p>Seriously, if you look at graduation requirements for the university and for each major, you will see that it is very easy to fit it all in 4 years or less. I’m an MCB/Econ double major, both hard majors that have basically no common prerequisites (just math) and I could graduate a semester early if I wanted to. Let me list out the requirements for them:</p>

<p>Econ: Math 1A/1B, Stats 21, Econ 1, Econ 100A, Econ 100B + 5 upper division Econ classes
MCB: Bio 1A/1B, Chem 1A, Chem 3A/L, Chem 3B/L, Physics 8A/8B, Math 1A/1B + 6 upper divisions</p>

<p>= 24 classes assuming no AP credit

  • 7 classes for breadth/AC except you will have satisfied at least 3 of the breadths already with those prereqs</p>

<p>Total < 30 classes. Assume 4 classes per semester? You can be done a semester early. With 2 completely nonoverlapping majors. And no summer classes or AP credit.</p>

17

<p>Hi guys. I figured I’d cut in because…well I like statistics, and this seemed interesting.</p>

<p>According to the University of California, the 4 year graduation rate for freshmen entering in 2005 was 71.4%. The 5 year graduation rate for freshmen entering in 2004 was 89.3% (just in case you were curious).</p>

<p>Here’s the chart:</p>

<p>2005 4,084 96.1 92.6 71.4 N/A N/A
2004 3,652 97.0 92.8 69.3 89.3 N/A
2003 3,640 96.5 93.0 66.7 88.0 90.8<br>
2002 3,639 95.9 91.6 64.2 86.9 90.2<br>
2001 3,811 96.5 91.0 61.7 85.3 88.9<br>
2000 3,734 95.8 92.2 61.7 86.3 89.5<br>
1999 3,608 95.6 90.4 59.0 84.6 87.9<br>
1998 3,722 95.9 89.9 53.4 83.3 87.3<br>
1997 3,557 95.7 90.1 52.2 82.0 86.0<br>
1996 3,693 95.4 88.8 51.7 79.0 84.1<br>
1995 3,392 94.5 88.1 48.1 78.6 83.2<br>
1994 3,327 94.5 87.5 44.2 78.7 83.8<br>
1993 3,218 93.9 87.3 44.5 75.5 82.3<br>
1992 3,407 95.1 88.6 45.3 76.5 83.6 </p>

<p>The first number is the freshman year. Second number is the number of entering freshmen.
The next two numbers reflect how many freshmen stayed at Berkeley after the first and second year, respectively. The number after that is the 4 year graduation rate, then the next is 5th year, and last is, of course the 6th year.</p>

<p>In case you were curious, this was generated using the StatFinder on the UC website (statfinder.ucop.edu), and you can get this same table by using the Custom Table function on the site.</p>

<p>I hope this helps answer the OP’s question and what not.</p>

18

<p>well, at least there’s an incerasing trend</p>

19

<p>Fireshark, this is perhaps a more relevant table for you. This is for “Engineering and Computer Majors”</p>

<pre><code> 2005 611 94.6 90.0 76.6 N/A N/A N/A
2004 492 97.2 93.5 77.8 90.2 N/A N/A
2003 539 96.8 94.1 76.4 92.4 93.1 N/A
2002 569 96.8 92.1 75.2 90.2 92.1 4.1
2001 574 95.6 92.0 67.1 88.7 91.6 4.2
2000 562 95.0 92.3 69.2 88.8 91.5 4.1
1999 605 96.5 93.4 67.1 90.1 92.1 4.1
1998 565 96.5 92.0 59.6 87.8 90.1 4.2
1997 528 97.0 92.2 62.5 88.8 90.9 4.2
1996 532 95.5 90.2 58.1 85.0 88.7 4.3
1995 498 95.0 89.6 50.4 83.3 86.1 4.3
1994 447 94.6 90.8 51.0 82.1 88.1 4.3
1993 438 95.4 87.2 49.8 83.1 86.1 N/A
</code></pre>

<p>Just ignore the last number, otherwise it follows the same format as the last table.</p>

20

<p>@JBeak: Yes, you cannot pass out of 61A</p>

<p>EECS is actually supposed to be one of the easier majors to graduate early because you don’t need as many classes as for other engineering majors.
Though you don’t usually hear the words “EECS” and easy in the same sentence :P</p>