<p>
[quote]
I just don't understand the whole discussion. Is the point that you should go to HYPMS instead of Berkeley because it's easier to get into grad school? That's a pretty thought, but that's just not an option for 95%+ of Berkeley students.</p>
<p>That Berkeley students should go to UCSD or UC Davis instead of Berkeley? Well, I think that's short-sighted, but you can try to transfer if that's what you really want. ;-)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The point is that Berkeley students shouldn't expect others, particularly grad school adcoms, to provide them with 'grade compensation', because the evidence indicates that they probably won't, and it's better for you to know that now rather than later. I've seen far too many Berkeley students make the mistake of expecting that compensation, only to get harshly slapped down by reality. For example, I know quite a few Berkeley students who ended up at quite mediocre, low-ranked grad schools. But hey, at least they got into grad school; I know others who couldn't get into even the low-ranked grad schools. {Heck, even worse, I know some who flunked out of Berkeley entirely, but let's not talk about them.}</p>
<p>
[quote]
A new essay on some old news:
Is There An Asian Ceiling? (Originals)</p>
<p>This direct quote from Cass Cliatt, director of media relations, Princeton University neatly sums up the situation:
"A commitment to 'acting affirmatively to ensure diversity,' is not the same as discriminating."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sure, but this doesn't apply (or, at least, is not legally supposed to apply) to UC's who have been barred by law from using race-based AA for more than a decade now.</p>
<p>
[quote]
to provide them with 'grade compensation', because the evidence indicates that they probably won't, and it's better for you to know that now rather than later.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>People should try to get the best grades they can. To do this, they should take a light load first semester, see how things go, explore college a bit. That is my point.</p>
<p>
[quote]
People should try to get the best grades they can. To do this, they should take a light load first semester, see how things go, explore college a bit. That is my point.\
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Exactly - and I thought the subtext of my posts were clearly in their support of your position. For example, a direct extension of my posts is that grad schools and employers are not going to be 'impressed' that you crammed a lot of rigorous coursework in your early semesters. They're going to care about your grades, and if you receive poor grades, they won't care why. All they will see is that you have poor grades. </p>
<p>People told me about this when i was a freshmen and i was very freaked out so I decided not to use any of my AP credits. I took classes like chem 1a, bio1b, math 1b and found that I really shouldn't have taken them because really, I learned all these stuff in high school! </p>
<p>However, there are also people who found chem 1a to be very very difficult and decided to drop out of premed because of that..... -.-" </p>
<p>I highly recommend freshmen to talk to people from their high school who go to Cal for some advice. </p>
<p>This semester, I am taking bio 1a and I also find this class to be sort of a waste of my time because I already know most of the things they teach in this class. Also, bio 1al teaches the lab technique which I already use a lot in my research lab. I think the second part of bio1al is going to be new and hard.. but then it's not going to be too helpful to me as a MCB major. Same thing applied to bio 1b class I took last semester. I once went to the MCB undergrad office and asked them for some advice regarding if I should take the lower bio classes but I felt like they just told everyone to take the lower div without taking into consideration of the level of knowledge you already have. </p>
<p>Some classes that I would say you should never skip are like chem 3a & 3b, math 53 &54, physics 7 series </p>
<p>you might want to consider to skip: chem 1a, bio 1a/l, bio1b, math 1a/1b
however, it will never hurt you if you just retake these classes.* Chem 1a was such a fun class too. I loved the daily demo they did in that class. </p>
<p>*as a side note, I found on many pre-med advising website hosted by other colleges (ex. JHU, princeton...etc) recommending student NOT to repeat the classes if they can ap out of them. Their reasons were that med schools would rather to see students taking higher level classes to challenge themselves instead of repeating the same thing. At Berkeley, people will tell you completely different thing but you might also want to consider the student population at Cal vs. other colleges.</p>
<p>Wow ken. You're crazy pretentious. Just because going to Berkeley with the smart kids caused you to become disillusioned about your own intelligence doesn't mean you have to hate on everyone. I hope people don't take your alarmist and arrogant post too seriously.</p>
<p>WEll, I would argue that unless you're a premed or something, who's a GPA freak foremost, taking some risks early is good -- if you screw up, better now than later. Figure out your limits. Test them. Take that honors math or physics course if you're brave -- if you go in expecting to be slaughtered, you will underachieve.</p>
<p>Go in HUMBLE and ready to learn, and with determination not to be intimidated, and you will succeed.</p>
<p>I have a question though. My major department gave me a four year plan to follow and if I take less classes to accomodate for the difficulty of the classes for a few semesters, how am I going to keep up with the plan? I'm just wondering if I should bother keeping up with their plan or take classes based on how well I can handle them.</p>
<p>"how am I going to keep up with the plan? I'm just wondering if I should bother keeping up with their plan or take classes based on how well I can handle them."</p>
<p>I'd say just keep up with their plan! Often, in engineering classes I think more time doesn't even necessarily mean better grades...you just have to be sure you get what you're doing.</p>
<p>I don't know...This semester they wanted me to take Chem 3A/3AL, Physics 7A, E7, and Math 1B. Sure it's only 17 units, but that's also 27 hours of lectures, discussions, and labs per week not including homework. If a week (7 days) translates to 168 hours, I'm going to spend about 42 hours sleeping per week, 27 hours in class, 24.5 hours for eating, bathroom breaks, etc., leaving me with about 74.5 hours of homework and social time or about 10 hours per day. This is all under the assumption that I work like a robot and reduce my current sleeping time per evening by 2 hours. It seems doable, but really unpleasant...Can I really maintain a GPA of 3.7 at least with such a schedule?</p>
<p>".Can I really maintain a GPA of 3.7 at least with such a schedule?"</p>
<p>I have faith =] see, it all of course comes down to if you want to do it or not. Come now, I've always wanted to roast in an O-Chem class. [HAH, just a little sarcasm..;)]</p>
<p>You don't have to qualify to me why 17 units can be hell though, I believe firmly that units mean absolutely nothing at all. I also am aware of Chem 3A's reputation. </p>
<p>I guess my advice then is that you should plan it so you pair nastier classes with more bearable ones if you can. Your numbers up there make my head spin, so I can't intelligently comment on them....I'm sorry, I kind of assume too often that everyone skipped half the stuff with AP's. Unfortunately, some very smart people get stuck with all those requirements and need to take insane unit loads every semester. </p>
<p>I think, though that the above schedule may be more doable than you think. The main sucker there is Chem 3A. I think Phys. 7A and Math 1B are courses where if you just keep up daily, you won't have any trouble. Keep up, study a bit daily, and do sample midterms before the real ones. Then, spend your main time on Chem 3A/L. If there's one thing I think you can maybe forget about, it's E7. </p>
<p>I see that it's somewhat more urgent for you to consider the real likelihood of switching majors, because else you'll slave through 2834289 requirement courses that you didn't need to do.</p>
<p>Here's a strategy -- try to treat Phys. 7A and Math 1B studying as kinda breaks to your studying O-Chem. Because those courses are almost exclusively based on solving problems. So really when you're completely exhausted with O-Chem, you can maybe nibble on some problems in a healthy way. </p>
<p>Try to sleep!!!!!! You'll be happier and think more clearly =] and at least with math and physics, half your time is wasted getting stuck, not actually learning material. I spend soooo many hours a day stuck on stuff.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice again, mathboy! Now I can feel like I did the right thing dropping E7. E7 is taught by a one of the original professors who created the course this semester and I dropped after asking the head GSI how much time it would take per week to do the out of class labs, reading, etc. and he told me somewhere between 12 to 14 hours. </p>
<p>Part of the reason I want to transfer out right now is because I don't want to take 17 or 18 units per semester for two more semesters. That and I have a good enough GPA to transfer out now.</p>
<p>i agree with the title of this thread. i guess im fortunate that my high school is full of ridiculously talented/ studious kids.
i know ive spent hours poring over material that some of my peers dont really to to study only get a lower grade than them on a math or physics test. but that doesn't mean i'm stupid, either.
i went to the opthamologist because my visio in one eye is getting really blurry, and he told me i was making myself nearsighted from stress/ focusing on computer screens and books... haha i laugh now but it scares me!</p>
<p>so- if for nothing but my vision's sake- if I go to berkeley I will not overload on work!</p>
<p>I don't think it's about how much you study that matters, but how you study. You don't have to stay up late studying by yourself all the time. Personally, I like to go to professor and GSI office hours even when I don't have questions in mind. Listening to other people's questions and getting to know the professor really helped.</p>
<p>"I don't think it's about how much you study that matters, but how you study. You don't have to stay up late studying by yourself all the time. Personally, I like to go to professor and GSI office hours even when I don't have questions in mind. Listening to other people's questions and getting to know the professor really helped."</p>
<p>No doubt. It's moments of clarity, not moments of effort. This is the key to succeeding in technical subjects, with less volume of work, and more subtlety to absorb.</p>