<p>So, just to explain something to incoming freshmen/new transfer students.</p>
<p>You were probably not one of the smartest kids in high school/at community college. You probably earned some As and some Bs. You may have taken just a few AP classes or honors courses. </p>
<p>However, a lot of people at Berkeley are just like you. And most Berkeley classes are not that hard. They are not that hard for lots of reasons. </p>
<li><p>They want to set average standards, so if someone earns an average grade, it means something. An average GPA from Berkeley means something to grad schools and employers. For it not to mean something, most people have to get a much higher GPA.</p></li>
<li><p>They may be actively interested in weeding people out. Especially in lower division math and science classes, if you aren’t really serious, or aren’t that good at it, they want you to give up quickly. But hey, the majority of people here don’t do math and science.</p></li>
<li><p>College material may be harder, more abstract, more complex, more more more. It’s college. And upper division courses are slightly harder than lower division. They may be more complex, more abstract, harder harder harder. AP Micro/Macro is a not that hard. The same course at community college is probably easier. Econ 1 at Berkeley is the same s**t. But Econ 100A? Now that’s can’t be much harder. Just remember that your brain will evolve over time to handle any harder, more abstract, more complex, more more more classes.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Now, you may be dumber than the average Berkeley student. You may be much dumber. You may not be able to take 13 units a semester in really easy courses and earn C+s in all your classes. </p>
<p>However, wouldn’t it be safer to assume that you are probably not the dumbest kid at Berkeley, to take an aggressive schedule your first semester, see how things go?</p>
<p>Sometimes you won’t know it’s too hard before the drop deadline. A “P” is a C-. For some people, for some classes, they are going to be struggling for a C-.</p>
<p>No, a P doesn’t count in your GPA at all. Neither does an NP in your UC GPA, though many grad schools will count an NP as an F in calculating your GPA.</p>
<p>“take an aggressive schedule your first semester, see how things go?”</p>
<p>The guy from my Calso who decided to take bio, physics, chem, and math wasn’t at Berkeley two months later. He’s at CC after being on academic probation and later getting booted out.</p>
<p>“And most Berkeley classes are not that hard”</p>
<p>Tell that to the students who drop MCB as a major and EECS students w/ the avg GPA of 2.7</p>
<p>erm… 3 haas core classes i doubt its smart for me to risk it…
just wanna try out the water before jumping in.
atleast in calso they advised everyone to take 13 units</p>
<p>Taking 15-16 units seems a lot more logical that taking 13. 15-16 units a semester is actually substandard for many majors and pretty much all double majors. You have until week 5 to drop a course if it is too late, and you have much longer to switch it to P/NP. A P in a general education course won’t be the deciding factor whether or not you get into graduate/medical/law/etc. school</p>
<p>“2. They may be actively interested in weeding people out. Especially in lower division math and science classes, if you aren’t really serious, or aren’t that good at it, they want you to give up quickly. But hey, the majority of people here don’t do math and science.”</p>
<p>But most of the freshman do think they’re ‘that good’ at it (after all, they got into Berkeley!), or even if they don’t, they do need it to fulfill some major prereqs, so they take weeder classes in their first semester. If you’re taking those classes, there’s nothing wrong with taking one less serious course. Of course, as someone who’s not taking any weeder math/science classes, I’m planning on a full load of 16 units, and maybe I’ll take PS179 if I’m in the mood to listen to some minor ‘politicians’ ranting.</p>
<p>Have you all forgotten that at virtually every four-year college (Berkeley included), people get their worst grades during their first year? For the average student, it makes a lot of sense to take 13 units their first semester so that they don’t find themselves having to raise a low GPA. This is especially important for pre-meds. Now if you’re one of their Renaissance kids who willingly triple major in Math, Physics, and Philosophy, then by all means push yourself to the limit–you’ll likely enjoy it a lot. But for everyone else, 13 units will give you a good idea of how much you need to study to get those A’s, but without the stress that would accompany a heavier schedule. Besides, taking a lighter load gives you more time to make friends and join clubs.</p>