<p>I'm a Poli Sci major and it says I need to take 7 upper-division courses but graduate-level courses also count. What are the differences between the two? Class size? Teaching/grading styles? Are graduate courses more difficult?</p>
<p>hey,</p>
<p>im a poli sci major too, and i was actually talking to someone at berkeley recently who had transferred from my cc and he's going to be goin to grad school / has taken graduate classes. he said for the upper div poli sci classes theres usually 150+ students, whereas in grad classes it can be less than 15 with the professor. in terms of reading load he said grad classes r insane (approx 400 pg's of reading per week). regular upper div classes (minimum 150-200 pg's per week/ per class). so for graduate classes the workload is definitely more challenging, but if you can get through it it would pay off b/c you'll assumedly have a closer relationship to a professor if you needed letters of rec in the future, as opposed to in all likelihood not getting to know your upper div poli sci professors at all (even office hours r packed from what i hear). </p>
<p>the other thing is - to enroll in the grad classes you need permission from the professor. from what i hear, some will just outright say no, and others may ask for letters of rec from other professors attesting to your ability to handle the work. or they may ask for resume/past experience etc etc.</p>
<p>hope that helps,
kiren</p>
<p>Hi thanks so much! That clears everything up! You'll be at Calso on June 9th too right? How cool! :)</p>