3.9+ in EECS + Haas Double Major

vicissitudes
Sun, 08 Apr 2007 00:28:11 +0000

First, I’m not sure how feasible it is to even double-major in Haas and EECS. For EECS pre-reqs you need at least CS61A, CS61B, CS61C, Math 1A, Math 1B, Math 53, Math 54, Math55/CS70, Physics 7A, Physics 7B, PhysicsC/Chem1A/Bio1A, EE20N, EE40, with more courses depending on your option. For Haas you need: UGBA10, Economics 1/2, Stats 21, R&C 1A+1B, additional R&C, and FIVE breadth courses (calculus, cs, biological and physical science breadth I didn’t mention because it overlaps with EECS). That’s 24 courses in 4 semesters, or 6 courses per semester (around 24 units per semester). To give you an idea of how many that is, most students average 15 units per semester, and you’re not allowed to take more than 20.5 units per semester (unless you file a petition).

In other words, unless you come in with some serious AP credit + 4 semesters of the hardest schedule at Berkeley + summer school, you won’t even be able to finish the pre-reqs. I’m not sure why there are so many threads asking about Haas-EECS double-major because it’s pretty much impossible to do (in a physical sense, not difficulty sense).

http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/applying.html
http://sis.berkeley.edu/catalog/gcc_view_req?p_dept_cd=EECS

And then to get a 3.9 on top of that? I don’t think there’s a student out there who can pull this one off.



Ok, this may sound uninformed (and it very well could be), but considering Berkeley’s poor performance of getting students into top medical schools, wouldn’t majoring in EECS kill any chance of my getting into a top medical school? The reason I ask is it may turn out I suddenly fall in love with biology in college, and decide to go pre-med.



I wouldn’t say Berkeley’s “poor” at getting students into top medical schools, per se. It’s poor relative to the rate at which schools like Princeton, Harvard, and Yale are getting their students into med schools. But it’s still above national average and it’s still better than schools like UCLA, UCSD, and of course the schools below them.

But yes, majoring in EECS would kill your chances of getting into med school. This is not only because it’s just about impossible to get a 3.7-4.0 in EECS, the GPA that average admitted Berkeley students have (sakky posted a link), but because you have to maintain that while doing all the pre-med courses, and also getting a near-perfect GPA in those.