<p>Hello guys! I got admitted for the Spring of 2012 for Berkeley! Yes! I applied for FPF, but the program filled too quickly. Anyways, my questions are:</p>
<p>1) I plan to attend community college (like I did for my senior year of HS), but I want to know the difficulty of Berkeley courses. How is the "conversion" of community college credits to Berkeley credits in terms of difficulty and grading? Theoretically, credits from both institutions should be equal, but we both know that CC classes are easier. Would the ratio of work put in and results something like 5 CC hours to 3 Berkeley hours because 5 CC hours is still pretty hard. I hope you guys understand what I'm asking, or feel free to ask for clarifications.</p>
<p>2) I am apprehensive of the level of difficulty of Berkeley in general. Most of what I read was that Berkeley is cut-throat with grade deflation plus a pyramid scheme where even the smart people weeded out by the smartest people. I read another student say that the competition is blown out of proportions where in reality, the competition is moderate since he has a 4.0 GPA (that's AMAZING!).</p>
<p>3) Lastly, my fall semester in CC will be multivar calc, intro to java programming, comparative gov, English 1B (fulfilling 1A with AP, do NOT want to die an Berkeley reading/writing class), and econ (just attending lectures without getting the grade, so I can attend Berkeley econ class to buff up my app for Haas). Thus, when I attend Berkeley, I will have 2 a-g courses left with an AC requirement. In Spring at Berkeley, I plan to take intensive intro to econ (since I would have taken micro/macro already, so it should be easy), intro to business administration (hopefully, the curve won't be too bad), and diff eq/linear algebra. These classes should amount to around 12 units. Do you guys think this courseload is ideal for a first semester student? Do you recommend that I take a humanity course or something like that to knock out an a-g requirement?</p>
<p>I hope to see helpful comments, so I can relieve that nagging voice in my head. I have been worrying about Berkeley since the day after being accepted. Hope to join you guys in the spring.</p>
<p>1) For the courses you will take, look through the [Haas</a> prereqs](<a href=“Application Process - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas”>Application Process - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas) and the [Haas</a> AP Exam credits](<a href=“Application Process - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas”>Application Process - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas) to see what you must take. Check [url=<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DAssist%5B/url”>www.assist.org]Assist[/url</a>] to see if the courses you take at your CC will transfer. See [url=<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/credit/transfer.html]here[/url”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/credit/transfer.html]here[/url</a>] for a bit more information about course transfer and class advising. Remember L&S class advising is only offered to current students and you will be able to use this service in the spring (unless you pretend to be a current student). So if you have serious questions that can’t be answered by us, contact the Econ/Busn department at Berkeley.</p>
<p>For items 2 and 3, you seem to understand what you are talking about (which is a really good thing) so I will let someone else add to those.</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) will tell you what courses at your community college will match up with what courses at Berkeley for any given major. Note that introductory economics is typically two courses (micro and macro) at community colleges; you would have to take both to be equivalent to Berkeley Economics 1.</p>
<p>Economics 1 + UGBA 10 + Math 54 in the spring seems like a light workload (no lab or heavy computer programming), and 12 units is below the 13 unit minimum. Whether or not the courses are difficult for you is something only you can figure out when you take them. (Watch out, some humanities and social studies courses that you may consider adding may have large term projects that could be unexpectedly large amounts of work.)</p>
<p>Thanks for recommending assist. I have already used it a lot with my counselor to make my fall semester at community college (I attend West Valley College). Since I am taking micro now and will listen to the lectures for macro (not actually receiving the credits since that would make me ineligible for econ at Berkeley), I expect that the intro to econ would not be too difficult but rather review. The professors here at West Valley do have PhDs. My econ professor for fall got his PhD from MIT and studied under Bernanke; thus, I accepted a comprehensive intro course (isn’t that an contradiction?).</p>
<p>Is there a 13 cred minimum or something because I have not heard of it? Do you think it is wise to add another 4 unit class?</p>
<p>When I attend Berkeley, I will bring around 40 credits with me. Is there a way to bump me up to sophomore standing, so I can have earlier class selection priority? Since I plan to double major in business and statistics (specifically financial stats if Berkeley has it), I will study at Berkeley for 3.5 years. I guess if I rush through it, I can graduate in 3 years, but I want the full college experience. Plus, I already have a very potent business idea, but I need to find business partners to realize my dream. I think more time at Berkeley will help grow my inkling into a full-fledged business.</p>
<p>Haas has a lot of requirements, so you have to assemble your schedule very carefully to do simultaneous degrees with something else, though coming in with useful credit in math and R&C can help.</p>
<p>If your emphasis on the business side is economics and finance, you may want to consider double majoring statistics and economics instead, since similar courses (with perhaps more math) are available in economics and your schedule may be less packed with requirements.</p>
<p>I have not really thought about majoring in economics, but your comment is quite eye-openning. All my plans were for stats and business, but I guess it is not too late to think about econ yet. My initial plans were if I didn’t get accepted to Haas, I’d just major in stats and be done in 3 years. I am not a lazy kid, but I wouldn’t want to major in econ (a harder major than business) and also statistics (which is probably harder than business as well). Would that be wise to do 2 hard majors? However, your suggest makes a whole lot of sense. Can econ majors take business courses?</p>
<p>I forgot that I wanted to take Spanish. That would be my final class. I assume it is around 4 units +/- 1 credit. I have 4 years of HS school Spanish, but my last year I have learned nothing. Since, I will have not taken Spanish for 1 year when I attend Berkeley, I will probably take a review course for 4th semester Spanish or something like that. Are Spanish classes difficult or easy (like humanity courses)? Will there be a big project or something of that nature? Could I even get a Spanish course in my first semester? I assume that only low level Spanish classes are full, but the website says that all levels of Spanish are impacted. I hope somebody can answer some of my questions or previous questions.</p>
<p>Also, would 16 units be too much? I’d be taking UGBA, diff eq/linear algebra, intensive intro to econ, and Spanish. Frankly, two classes would be review while the other two classes are new. However, 16 credits seems too much for a first semester Berkeley students. I would really appreciate some feedback. Thanks!</p>
<p>I’d really appreciate some help. Thanks!</p>
<p>Contact the [Department</a> of Spanish and Portuguese](<a href=“http://spanish-portuguese.berkeley.edu/]Department”>http://spanish-portuguese.berkeley.edu/) for placement information.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link! I have another question.
For UGBA 10, is it better (as in easier) to take it during the spring or fall? I want to reserve the summer for an internship to buff up my resume. Are there any particular professors that grade easier? I hope to find an answer to this question. A million thanks for all the help you guys have given me.</p>