<p>I'm an intended economics major who wants to keep his options open for Haas and dabble in a few other things. Also, I've got AP credit for calculus and economics along with community college credit for Math 53. Seeing that Math 54 was at 8am, I decided to forgo it until next semester. With that in mind, how does this seem:</p>
<p>L&S R44 Western Civilization (Kathleen McCarthy)
NE 39 Introduction to Nuclear Engineering (Per F. Peterson)
PHIL 6 Man, God, and Society in Western Literature (Hubert Dreyfus)
STAT 20 Introduction to Statistics (The Staff)</p>
<p>There seem to be only 12 spaces left in Stat 20; I'm hoping I can nab one. If not, how crazy do you guys think I would be if I took Stat 21 with Purves?</p>
<p>I now prostrate myself before your wisdom, O Berkeley students.</p>
<p>Are you planning to skip Econ 1? I think that would be a mistake. L&S R44/Phil 6 are the courses I would take if I were a freshman (I did take L&S R44 long ago, best decision I made).</p>
<p>You don't need to take Econ 1/2 if you have 5s on both AP Micro and AP Macro. I think that is enough for both the Econ 100 and 101 series. However, if you do take the Econ 101 series, your math better be good, especially for Econ 101A.</p>
<p>^^ Here's McCarthy's ratings on ratemyprof: Kathleen</a> McCarthy - University of California Berkeley - RateMyProfessors.com
Eh, she seems okay, not as easy as some other professors/classes. Personally, I wouldn't sign up for R44 just b/c I heard bad stories about it, but hey that's just my opinion. R44 is a 5 unit class so it seems demanding already... plus it also has actual quizzes, tests, and a final... things my german r5a class did not have.</p>
<p>stats 20 and 21 are relatively easy from what I've heard... higher number does not = harder class. For example, math 16a/b is not harder than math 1a/b... math 32 is easier than 1a/b and 16a/b.</p>
<p>The difficulty of classes depends a lot on the professor... best sites to find out how easy/hard your prof is: ratemyprofessor and pickaprof... i.e. Prof. Ibser for Stat 21 gives 23% A's, Prof. Stark on the other hand gives 67% A's quite a considerable difference yet same class, different prof.</p>
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R44 is a 5 unit class so it seems demanding already...
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<p>It is demanding, I'm sure, but it is also fascinating and the readings are the great classics. Almost everyone who takes it is a freshman, it's like a mini core curriculum. So many of these R&C classes are just you stuck in a room with a GSI, this has the combination of lecture and section, it's a much broader and richer experience. </p>
<p>While I agree people shouldn't overdo it their first semester, that doesn't mean they should avoid all challenge or all interesting classes.</p>
<p>Don't take Purves for Stats 21. He is the second worst professor for that class. Only David Freedman is worse and he will never teach it again. These two professors wrote the book for Introductory Statistics so don't take it with them if at all possible.</p>
<p>Oh hey, do you guys know which classes I should select during Phase 1? I know Stat 20 if I am to have any hope of getting it, but will I be more likely to be locked out of R44 or Philosophy 6?</p>
<p>I'm looking at the berkeley online schedule and I only see Purves as the professor teaching Stat 21 LEC. Whats the difference between LEC and LAB? Do we need LEC or can we take LAB because Purves teaches LEc and Evans teaches LAB?</p>
<p>LEC is the lecture portion of the class.
LAB is the discussion portion of the class.
Evans is the building the LAB is in, not the instructor since the grad students leading the discussion aren't up in.</p>
<p>To take the class you must sign up for the lecture and one of the labs associated with the class.</p>