<p>So I'm an incoming freshman, and I had some questions regarding Haas and maintaining a high GPA.</p>
<p>First of all, I'm assuming that not all breadth requirements need to be taken for a letter grade. In this case, would it be smart to take some on a P/NP so it wouldn't hurt your GPA? So if I were to take something like POL SCI 5, which according to Courserank has an average B grade and is kind've hard, would it be smart to take it P/NP so it wouldn't affect my GPA? Is this frowned upon at all or will that have any bearing on my Haas application whatsoever. I really want to take some interesting classes, but I also don't want to put my GPA in jeopardy and possibly hinder my Haas application, what's the best course of action?</p>
<p>Also, this is kind've a general question I guess, when a course is in two parts, like CHINESE 7A and 7B, if I took both of these could it count as one fulfilling my Arts and Literature breadth requirement, and the other fulfilling my Literature/Writing prerequisite for Haas?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance and I'll update this if I have any more questions! I'm super excited for Berkeley!</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Haas, but I will say that you generally do better in classes that interest you. Someone else would probably be able to answer your P/NP question better.</p>
<p>As for your second question, yes, a series such as Chinese 7A/7B can count for 2 requirements. You just can’t use a single class (i.e.Chinese 7A alone) to fulfill both art/lit and haas writing req.</p>
<p>Thanks for answering my second question. Does anyone know when it’s a good idea to use P/NP versus letter grade?</p>
<p>Don’t take classes P/NP unless you have to</p>
<p>so since i dont have to take DeCals, would it be a bad idea to take one just to add 1-2 easy credits?</p>
<p>Yeah, don’t make something P/NP unless you really dislike the class or are sure you will get below a B in it. You can change from letter grade to P/NP even like 2 months into the semester, so start off taking it for a letter grade. Breadth classes can be good GPA buffers so definitely try for an A.</p>
<p>does taking classes for P/NP just plain look bad on the transcript to employers/grad schools? or are there other reasons as well?</p>
<p>An A/A- would look better on a transcript than a pass. A pass would probably look better than a B-/C.</p>
<p>Then again, who would do P/NP if they got an A/A-? Hindsight is always 20/20.</p>
<p>For haas you should use breadth requirements to boost up your GPA, as the pre requisites will be competitive.</p>
<p>Oh, one more thing to add to my post. While you can use a series to fulfill 2 breadth requirements, you cannot use more than 2 courses from the same department to fulfill breadths (i.e. after taking Chinese 7A/7B for 2 breadths, you can’t use another course from the Chinese department to complete a third one).</p>
<p>What have people heard about applicants who have had less than the 3.7 GPA average that Haas publishes? Are chances dramatically lowered or does it not matter if we have an awesome essay/resume?</p>
<p>I have a question, what do the people who get out of a lot of the beginning pre-reqs (such as stats, calc, econ, and lit/writing, and language), do? Also, is it strategic to get out of those pre-reqs because wouldnt people have to take harder classes instead, and risk a high gpa?</p>