heerapatel

For example, rhetoric at Berkeley has no prerequisites. Is this an advantage or a disadvantage?

heerapatel

bump. I'm sure there are other people out there applying for a major w/o prerequisites...

want_to_transfer

heerapatel, I'm wondering the same thing. I'm glad you're asking.

Can someone please help?

iambeowulf710

I'm not sure about Rhetoric, but I'm a philosophy major and there are no pre-req's for Berkeley at my college. I talked to my counselor (the only one who know's what she's talking about), and she told me that I could take a course similar to the required one and bring the syllabus and the material from the class to the UC. If it's similar enough, then they'll give you credit...

heerapatel

Is it a bad thing, however, if you only take very little classes related to your major by the application filing period? (like 3?) Is there a general rule to how many classes/which classes you should take relating to your major?

edelynly

Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not necessarily a good thing either. You have until Spring Semester to finish all your pre-reqs and units... However, if you were compared to other applicants who have the same GPA, same amount or worth of ECs and essays, but more reqs completed than you, I'd think they would be more appealing.

About the no pre-reqs question, I don't know about Berkeley, but I emailed UCLA about my alternative major (Asian American Studies) because I was in the same situation. Long story short, the coordinator told me that I would have to complete the pre-reqs once I'm in UCLA. But she said that this should, of course, be my last resort. I suggest you call or email the major coordinator (or whatever it's called), look at other community colleges that might offer the pre-reqs, and look at the reqs on Cal's major homepage. Hope this helps.

heerapatel

There are no colleges in southern california that offer Cal's rhetoric classes (i've checked). But irregardless, there are only two classes I'd need to take at Berkeley to complete the prereqs.

A Cal admissions officer also told me that it makes no difference in competition, if a student does not finish ALL of his or her prereqs by the fall application period. So does that mean I'm it's okay if I've only taken 3 argument-type classes by this november, when no rhetoric courses are articulated anyways?