<p>I’m not yet a student at Berkeley (going to be this fall), but from what I understand, there are many “unqualified” people at berkeley (it’s a large public school). The top students are very great, but the bottom students who get D’s / F’s - you don’t expect this group of people to graduate in 4 years. This group of people also have the tendency to not know what they want to do / what they’re good at until very late in their college career.</p>
<p>An applied math major is required to take 13 courses. If you take all you’re lower division requirements (5 classes) before junior year, then you have 8 classes to complete in 2 years, which is 2 classes/semester. This is not very hard. </p>
<p>However, I can imagine a scenario where people are interested in the humanities, and then they realize late in their sophomore or early junior year that their real passion is in the maths or sciences. Because math and science courses are so linear (aka many of them have a series…7A->7B->7C, 1A->1B->53/54/55, 61A+61B+61C), you will almost definitely need a 5th year to complete the major if you start the beginning of the series of courses “late.”</p>
<p>As a result, (again, I’m purely guessing here) my guess is that as long as you avg 15-17 units a semester and don’t fail classes, it’ll be rather simple to graduate in 4 years. I would wonder what the average GPA of those who don’t graduate in 4 years is.</p>
<p>While I believe that a third of all freshman admits don’t graduate in four years, I also know that this includes all students who withdraw, take a semester (or three) off for personal reasons, or (and this is one that isn’t often mentioned) who take an extra semester because they want to fulfill requirements for double majors, simultaneous degrees, or an extra minor or two. Granted this is only from personal experience, but I do want to point out that of everyone I know who has taken or plans to take more than eight semesters to graduate, every single one of them did so or is doing so for one of the reasons I listed above. That’s not counting one freshman year roommate who played video games for hours every night and was forced to withdraw.</p>
<p>For reference, I’ll be completing simultaneous degrees in L&S and CNR next month and I took eight semesters and two summer classes (could easily have been done in eight semesters if I hadn’t spent my first three semesters taking classes in every single department that interested me). People I know who have graduated/are graduating in four years include kids in Mechanical Engineering, Material Science, EECS, Chemical Engineering, MCB, math, as well as nearly all of the majors in CNR and L&S.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that this means it’s necessarily easy to graduate in four years, or that it’s just as easy to graduate in four years as it would be at other universities. In fact, I believe it’s probably not. But if you have the drive to get into Cal, you have the drive to make it work for you. Therefore, I wouldn’t use concerns over graduating in four years as one of your deciding factors (not compared to cost, strength of major department, type of atmosphere wanted, etc.).</p>
<p>Oh yes, and I agree that EECS is one of the easiest majors to complete in four years. By this I mean it doesn’t require as many courses as a lot of other majors. My EECS roommate has been laughing at us for taking finals and midterms for three semesters now while he’s been doing research almost exclusively, taking econ classes for fun, and teaching 150.</p>
<p>Actually, what you mean to say is that it’s fairly easy to graduate in the applied math major if you take and pass 2 math classes per semester. That’s the case: you have to pass. The truth of the matter is, many Berkeley students simply can’t pass the necessary 2 math classes per semester. </p>
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<p>Again, that assumes that you still pass the EECS courses in question. What if you can’t? Let’s keep in mind that, every semester, many students don’t pass their EECS courses.</p>
<p>Ah, okay, I think I see the problem. As a high school senior, I have heard many stories of not graduating in 4 years from a UC. However, the reasons were not because “the classes were too hard!” but rather because “I just couldn’t get into my required class, and so I had to send a fifth year.” </p>
<p>College students who are replying on this thread seem to be emphasizing the problem that classes are very difficult with many people failing classes.</p>
<p>The OP (I’m guessing) and I are probably more worried about not graduating in 4 years due to not enough space in required classes rather than failing the class</p>
<p>I’ve heard a lot of these Cal myths too, and from the actual people that I’ve met they’ve all said that it depends on each individual. I know 3 people from last year’s graduating class, and 2 of them are graduating in 3 years instead of 4. </p>
<p>It all depends on how wisely you choose classes</p>
<p>Then don’t worry about it as the stories are greatly exaggerated. Scan through all the threads on this question here and you will find that you can get the classes you need to make normal progress. </p>
<p>Sometimes you don’t get the section or professor you wanted, but get in. Sometimes you are initially on the wait list and clear. Sometimes you have to shift to plan B, but that just means a different order of taking the classes than you initially planned. Sometimes you have a particular class you want to take to satisfy some breadth requirement but have to satisfy a different requirement that semester or take an alternative class for the same breadth. It is very rare to be shafted and lose a semester. Even in those few cases, there is summer session to get back on track. </p>
<p>Most here don’t know anyone going longer than four years unless they decided to double or simultaneous major which increases the requirements. </p>
<p>The required courses for your degree are nowhere near the total 120 units needed for the degree. In addition, any AP units you bring count toward that minimum. Pretty easy to come in with 1-4 semesters of equivalent units from AP tests, which lowers the number of courses to take further. Since minimum load (for L&S anyway) is 13 units per semester, that adds up to 104 units in eight semesters - add in 15 to 60 units from AP, you are ready to go. It gives you several ‘shots’ at getting into classes needed for the degree.</p>
<p>Worrying about being unable to graduate in four years is a waste of time as it is not a serious threat. </p>
<p>Worrying about getting crushed in particular tough classes, having to work really, really hard to get above a B, or about having the lowest GPA of your life, when you imagined yourself as a 4.0 college student - that is the serious risk and the one to be concentrating on. Taking more than four years - not so much.</p>