<p>Some of you may have noticed all my rant posts lately...but I really don't think I belong here at Cal. I just transferred as an EECS major. At first, I was okay with dropping EE 20N because I thought I had forgotten the math since it has been years since I took calculus. But today, I managed to fail yet another exam, the first midterm in ERG C100. The math isn't even that bad, I studied so hard yet I couldn't even answer alot of the math portions of the exam. The economics portion is somewhat similar to the HW but the thermodynamics portion is completely different and I ended up leaving it blank... :-(
I failed my first midterm last month in CS 61A too but I have about a B- right now only because of the project. I'm going to admit that I didn't study much for that one but I studied so hard for the 1st midterm in ERG C100 today and I still did so bad. Right now, I am beginning to question whether I am even capable of handling upper division coursework here? I know CS is still my thing, I am capable of understanding the material and doing the projects on my own...but I guess I'm not that good of an exam taker? I feel really pressured here, I keep thinking about how everyone is going to beat me. It's so demoralizing to see myself at the bottom of the curve. I know people would just tell me to suck it up but that's not always how it works. Maybe I'm just not good enough to be here. After studying so hard for the midterm today (math part doesn't even have calculus) which is supposed to be nothing when compared to EE 20N, I don't think that I can even get through EE 20N and EE 40...I think that I have to be realistic here. So I'm really considering withdrawal and go back to CC and transfer to SFSU in Fall 2012. Maybe I'll do much better with a chill atmosphere. Alot of EECS majors here don't have a life except for the smart ones who manages to find one or just breezing by their classes...I'm really terrified to fail and not graduate here. After failing two exams, I feel like it is definitely possible to not even graduate at all here...I been thinking about the 5th semester limit and I think I would rather not risk it. I'm just not in a very good position right now.</p>
<p>I plan to talk to my adviser tomorrow. I will withdraw if I can get away with no W's. I read that this is the case during the summer session but not sure about the Fall..But I'm just wondering, what happens to the people who are in the bottom 10% at Cal? Is this what happens ? There are other people who fail exams too..</p>
<p>you know you didn’t sign up for a chill ride with that major…it’s EECS after all. </p>
<p>I know this one guy who used to major in EECS, but he wasn’t doing well so he switched to another major. He just graduated from law school this year. </p>
<p>ultimately, it’s your choice whether to withdraw or not.</p>
<p>I know how you feel :(. I too studied a lot for CS61A, but did really poorly on it… It sucks taking CS61A w/o any experience since everyone here already has past experience >_<!</p>
<p>I’ve thought of p/np CS61a, but it all depends on how well I do on this upcoming midterm =!
If you want to study, we can def study together this weekend since I’m not great either. Just PM me if you want :)!</p>
<p>I personally think the classes get harder after 61a. But a lot of people don’t do well in EECS. Maybe take a semester off and try a different major?</p>
<p>Honestly, I think some majors should not accept transfers and EECS is one of them. Why? CC classes are not even comparable in difficulty as EECS classes for say. People who got in as freshmen were already used to the difficulty, stress of those classes and with 2 years of drilling, they can cope with classes better, know the best approach in dealing with those classes. Not to mention Upperdivs are harder to start with. Transfers also tend to have a mindset/habit of dropping classes when they find it not as expected.</p>
<p>And since when questions that show up on HW will show on exams? You’ll be lucky to have even 1 such FREEBIE on the exams (unless Professor explicitly said most questions on HW will show up on exam). </p>
<p>Having a B- isn’t too bad! And there might be a curve at the end of the semester so it might not even be a B- till then. </p>
<p>It’s going to look bad if you decide to drop out of Cal, get all W’s regardless how beautiful your grades look in SFSU down the road. I would call barely passing Cal better than the former route. Personally know a person who transferred from CC to Cornell. 1 year later, she transferred from Cornell to Davis, it just SHOUTS OUT all sorts of things to people.</p>
<p>People at the bottom of Cal, at least THEY PUT ON A FIGHT to graduate from here and not trying to escape/not deal with it.</p>
<p>You said it yourself, “there are other people who fail exams too”, so it’s not only you, why get upset about it? Who said you can’t improve as the semester goes on? </p>
<p>THE BRIGHT SIDE: Even if you barely passed all your classes and graduated, your OVERALL GPA is still higher than your EECS peers cos of the CC GPA. So you are still going to have a better GPA than they do at the end of the day. That’s something to be happy about.</p>
<p>Well actually if I formally withdraw from the university, there will not be a single ‘W’ notation on the transcript as my adviser told me…
As far as averaging out CC GPA and UC GPA, I thought people only look at your UC GPA like in internships?</p>
<p>Have you talked this out in person with a peer advisor?</p>
<p>EECS is a cut-throat major, and there’s very little in the system to push you through. You may feel like you’re failing out, but you’re probably doing fine. Perhaps more semesters, summers, and a bit of extra preparation (in terms of courses) is all you need.</p>
<p>I haven’t talked to any peer-advisors but I really don’t think I belong here…I think the ERG C100 midterm is a pretty good indicator of that. I have been looking through the EE 20N midterms online and they are way more difficult. At this point, I’m just terrified of not graduating here if I stay here which could just waste my time. Every midterm here is like a total nightmare…
I thought about doing CS but I probably wouldn’t survive in CS 170 and CS 162.
But maybe I should’ve known? Because now that I think about it, I didn’t exactly breezed by at the CC like most people here. I worked pretty hard to get those A’s. Heck if CC grades had plus or minus, most of them would’ve been A-</p>
<p>Even if you do get W’s on your UC transcript when you withdraw, it’s possible not to order transcripts from UC when you are applying to other things later on in life and just have a “blank semester”. No BIGGIE.</p>
<p>Someone I know who’s a CC transfer recently is applying for Grad School and she has to calculate her UNDERGRAD GPA which she did and totaling CC GPA and Cal GPA gives her 3.9 (her Cal GPA was 3.2-ish, don’t rmb exact. And because she took more units in CC. At Cal she did only the minimum 13 units each semester). 3.9 GPA can get her anywhere! (maybe not after looking at each and every one of her grade but you can’t deny 3.9 is impressive).</p>
<p>1 single class and how you did in it don’t define a person in academic sense AT ALL. Maybe a change in major would be better than doing EECS at another institution. </p>
<p>And again that B- isn’t even BAD. With the curve and more projects, you’ll probably end up with a A-.</p>
<p>But I think the main problem is whether I have the ability to even make it through here. I thought about switching to CS L&S but I don’t think I can survive CS 170. Someone told me that it is one of the hardest course in Cal. So I looked over the midterms online and he maybe right…But then again, in EECS my problem is EE 20N. I haven’t taken EE 40 yet but it potentially is a problem too. I still want to do CS for sure, I just don’t see myself in another major at all. I just don’t think I can handle the exams here in Berkeley. Even though I understand the concepts, I don’t think I have the ability to think quickly and answer all these difficult questions in such a short amount of time >_<
I’m just going to study for now and give it another shot on my CS midterm on Monday…but I still think that the ERG C100 midterm is a pretty good indicator already. The math is nothing like EE 20N and I failed.</p>
<p>^^^ Don’t steal thread pls. And 3.2 is not really crap, it’s right around the average or above depending on the major…</p>
<p>I just need one last advice pls >_< … I’ve actually set my mind onto withdrawing but based on what yogayoha said, there maybe some hope. I’ve broken it down into two options:</p>
<p>1: Switch to CS L&S to skip EE 20N and EE 40. I’m already behind (need CS 61B, CS 61C, EE 20N, EE 40) which means I gotta take 3 of those next sem if I stay in EECS. I can’t handle EE so I know it won’t go well. Take ERG C100 for P/NP so it doesn’t affect my GPA cause I’ll need 2.5 to switch to L&S. I’m scared of CS 170 because of what I’ve heard about it but maybe it won’t be so bad since I do like CS anyway so I guess I’ll take that risk. Then eventually graduate with around a 2.0-2.5 and just use my overall GPA from UC and CC when applying for jobs…although I still don’t know if I can even get any internships. They ask for your GPA which I’m sure they mean UC GPA. I haven’t been to the info sessions cause I can’t do an internship anyway next summer.</p>
<ol>
<li>Transfer to SFSU and have at least a 3.5 GPA.</li>
</ol>
<p>Sometimes the BA vs BS notation for CS still bothers me cause some people say that it matters to some employers. After your first job, employers won’t really care which school you from and I’ll be left with that BA CS notation for life…But I’m sure option I will still be very rewarding and will give me a sense of accomplishment when I do finish. Overall, these two options are the best I’ve got…</p>
<p>to the same extent that someone doesn’t care what school you went to but what you did after graduation, they won’t care about GPA or about BA vs BS. You can’t have it both ways - the school is ignored but the type of degree is still an issue, without regard to the nature of the institution.</p>