<p>It sounds like you are quite undecided on what you want to study at this time. That’s fine. All the forecasting in the world isn’t going to make the path any clearer. It’ll take time. </p>
<p>Some general pointers I think you should consider now and throughout the next two years -</p>
<p>1) Take whatever lower-div math and science classes and CS classes you might need. It’ll fill up your plate, your freshman social life may take a pounding compared to the half of your friends taking 13 units of discovery courses and decals, but if you are serious about your options, it’ll keep you on track.</p>
<p>Some caveats</p>
<p>2) UGBA is kind of an all-in or all-out sort of deal. The course requirements for eligibility are quite strict, with AP credit as your only saving grace. Even then, most students still opt to take the classes anyways. Business Administration is the least flexible non-technical major at Berkeley. You have to commit to it upfront and relegate your other options to backups, a not-entirely sensible concept if your backups are science and engineering. In other words, you’ll most likely have to make a choice before you commit to classes - do I go the science and engineering route, or the pre-biz liberal arts route? If you REALLY don’t want to compromise, you can do the science and engineering prep-work now, and keep economics as a backup major for the future. </p>
<p>3) With certain degrees (ChemE in particular comes to mind), there’s simply no way to get any real sense of what the discipline entails until the 2nd or 3rd year. These fields (and they way the curriculum is designed) require time to lay the groundwork. What that means is that hard-working, dedicated students will have to march forward without any real understand of what they’re getting into until further down the road.</p>
<p>That’s not to say they don’t come out satisfied - it’s just an ambiguity that you’ll be faced with in your decision-making process. Lower-div requirements sometimes don’t correlate to upper-div content. </p>
<p>One way you can game the system is to take or sit in on an upper-div class in your major of interest your freshman year. The lectures might fly over your head, but at least you can get a glimpse of the day-to-day dynamics. Your current options are so different from each other that this is probably the fastest (and most pain-free) way to ground yourself.</p>
<p>Don’t rely on hearsay. I can’t emphasize this enough. A lot of students (even seniors and grad students) simply parrot what other people tell them, and people always exaggerate, glorify, and horrify. Few students have a sufficiently interdisciplinary background to make educated comparisons. Go and see for yourself what’s really up.</p>
But you probably had better high school teachers than I did in physics.</p>