<p>At first I had no interest in UCB, but I just wanted to apply to a CA school just cause I might want to go to the west (I'm in the east coast). It turns out I got accepted, and so I began to look at the college and it seems pretty good. My concern however, is if the CA deficit will affect my education. I'm hearing some stuff about not being able to finish in 4 years and such. Should I be worried and eliminate UCB from my potential choices?</p>
<p>What are you looking at majoring in?</p>
<p>Some majors are affected more by this than others.</p>
<p>(i.e. while those in ethnic studies are getting the short end, those in engineering are bragging about our new labs and buildings)</p>
<p>I haven’t decided yet. My possible majors are: econ, neuroscience, anthropology, psych, IR, and physics. Should I worry about any of them?</p>
<p>thats some range of interests you got there… any vision for your long term goals ?</p>
<p>It’s OK – he hasn’t had time to figure it out. That’ll happen in a couple years.</p>
<p>In any case, most of those departments tend to be relatively unaffected from the budget crisis.</p>
<p>I’d be a minimally worried about anthropology and IR, but the rest are all on solid ground.</p>
<p>excel, what’s your position on the typical “pre-med” majors… for example, MCB?</p>
<p>Excelblue, you make it sound like I have nothing to worry about. Should I not be worried about finishing my undergrad in 4 years?</p>
<p>You should be worried! The cost continues to rise every year and CA does not look like it will recover from this recession anytime soon. So, if $$ is an issue, it might not be as good of a choice as other schools out there.</p>
<p>Never let your guard down.</p>
<p>What I’m saying is: while a few select departments are really hit hard, for everything else, if you put in due diligence and plan for potential humps, you will be able to finish in 4yr. In fact, there are several people who have finished in 3.5yr. Yes, the waitlists will be scary, and yes, course enrollment will be tough, but that’s what the two-phase Telebears (course registration) is for.</p>
<p>As for rising fees: that’s something I forgot. Recently, we were all hit with a 33% increase in costs (several thousand dollars). For me, it was mostly transparent because financial aid adjusted towards it and I was still able to afford everything, albeit with more loans.</p>
<p>In short: you’ll be fine, but only as long as you guard yourself.</p>
<p>Something my son said to me recently… Getting classes has not been a problem as long as you are willing to take them at all times of the day. He has an 8 a.m. class every day of the week but he got all his classes and is on schedule to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>I hear of very few who can’t stay on track - might need to be more flexible, might need to take some courses in summer session, but going past four years is quite the exception unless someone has double or simultaneous majors or switched majors several times and to very different areas with unique pre-reqs.</p>
<p>Personally, I would choose to go with a similarly-ranked private school (such as Northwestern) over Berkeley. As an OOS, your tuition fees will only be slightly lower than that of a private school and honestly, with tuition fees increasing every year and (supposed) grade deflation, I just don’t see the appeal. If money is not an issue with you and your other college options aren’t looking too good, then sure, choose Cal. But otherwise, go with a private school.</p>
<p>If you plan your schedule ahead of time and with some luck, you can probably graduate in less than 4 years. I’m a double major and I intend to graduate within 3 years assuming I can get into all the classes that I need (which will take a lot of luck). I know plenty of people who also intend to graduate early without doing any summer school but bear in mind that these people already know what they want to major in and have everything planned out. Since you have yet to decide on a major, you will probably still be able to graduate within 4 years as long as you don’t waste too much time taking random classes.</p>
<p>As an Econ major, I can tell you that you probably won’t have too hard a time getting into the core econ classes since those tend to be bigger and are held every semester. For econ electives, some are held only in the Fall or Spring and popular ones tend to fill up very fast.</p>
<p>EDIT: I wouldn’t put so much faith in Telebears. I’m a declared double major and my telebears date is still later than people who aren’t declared but who have similar standing as me.</p>
<p>Man, now I’m just regretting Berkeley. My other good choices were McGill and NYU (LSP though), which probably means Berkeley is my best choice. But now it doesn’t seem like I should go there</p>
<p>I’m an intended computer science major. Will I have a difficult time finishing in four years?</p>
<p>To sum it up: Berkeley teaches you how to deal with adversarial situations. Even without the budget deficits, it’s never been a cushy environment where success is handed to you. Rather, it’s like a sea of great opportunities, but you have to make the effort to fish them out or else you will drown.</p>
<p>In terms of CS, you shouldn’t have much problems because of the flexibility of the major. However, it may take you longer than 4yr if you are lacking in math / programming experience and need to start from scratch, taking CS61A your second or third semester. The prereq chains for CS can get quite long:</p>
<p>Programming experience (or some easy course) -> CS 61A - > CS 61B -> CS 61C -> most CS classes.</p>
<p>I think people should keep in mind that the school actually WANTS you to finish in 4 years or less. It frees up space for other students. If you stayed here for more than 4 years then you will crowd the school out.</p>
<p>Would you say having to stay for 5 years or taking classes in the summer is the exception or rule?</p>
<p>^ exception (10 chars)</p>
<p>Definitely the exception and I don’t think anyone has said anything on here that should discourage you from going to Berkeley. Being the old mom here, the real world is tough. You have to fight for what you want. You need to be organized. You need to be proactive. Berkeley helps you develop those skills along with providing top notch academics. I think it is a great university for those that aren’t afraid to take responsibility for their education.</p>
<p>Even though I’m a huge fan of Berkeley, I would give serious consideration to going there as an OOS student paying full fare. As it’s been pointed out, you’d be paying the same tuition as a private school but without the benefits of a private school (benefits being the ability to get all the courses you need to graduate with a minimum of hassle.) My son is in the college of engineering, and so far he’s managed to get the math/science/EECS classes he needs (what with some pretty crappy schedules), but the required humanities classes are a different story. And it’s not practical to assume you’ll pick those up in summer school if you’ll be working fulltime at that point at an internship or whatever. So it’s something to think about.</p>