<p>I'm attending Berkeley next fall.</p>
<p>I was wondering if I should take 2 classes over the summer to give me a head start (one CS class, another math class), or whether I should do an unpaid internship over the summer where the company will teach me and guide me through making a basic mobile application game (I have programming experience).</p>
<p>The thing is, I am considering trying transferring from Berkeley (for academic flexibility reasons) as a sophomore transfer. (I would be OK with staying at Berkeley though). </p>
<p>On the one hand, the classes will give my application more academic background and I am interested in the material taught in the classes. On the other hand, the internship seems interesting.</p>
<p>I'd also like to add that taking classes would allow me to finish the CS intro sequence by the end of freshman year, giving me more qualifications to do a software company internship after freshman year.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I would do the internship, assuming that’s what you’re interested in. It sounds cool. </p>
<p>A sophomore transfer will look a lot at your high school record, which I assume was very good since you got into Berkeley, so you should be fine.</p>
<p>^Well, the schools I’m looking at are top 10 schools, so while my high school record is very strong, it obviously wasn’t enough to get me into those schools.</p>
<p>I mean, I think an internship stands out more than a couple classes but I’m not an admissions officer so I really can’t say.</p>
<p>I think in terms of better preparing yourself as a transfer, the internship is better. In terms of giving you academic flexibility at Berkeley (or the school to which you transfer, assuming they accept your Berkeley summer classes there), the classes are better. If you do take classes, make sure that they will transfer to the places to which you’re trying to transfer or else it’ll be a waste of money if you transfer (though you will, of course, gain the knowledge from them). Assuming you want to take Math 1A, Math 1B, or Math 54 + CS 61A, you should be fine though.</p>
<p>I would go with a head start on the intro sequence over the summer. This puts you in a more competitive position for more prestigious internships such as the google freshman engineering practicum in the summer of your freshman year.</p>
<p>i n t e r n s h i p</p>