4.0 @ ucla

Colleges and Universities University of California - Los Angeles
#1

<p>Hey Bruins,</p>

<p>How hard do you guys think it would be to get a 4.0 in a North-campus major like philosophy or theology? And a South Campus major? Say, neuroscience or biology? Is there a big difference in difficulty between the two? </p>

<p>And can any North campus majors give me some insight on their academic lives? I.e. study hours, party-going frequency, etc. And, if you really don't mind, can you tell me your grade point averages? I don't mean to be nosy, but I guess you could say that I'm really curious.</p>

#2

<p>All of those questions can have very long answers. There are plenty of discussions on this forum regarding the difficulty of North Campus versus South Campus, and those tend to get pretty heated.</p>

<p>Generally speaking, 4.0s are possible, but unlikely. What makes it harder is that an A- is worth 3.7, but an A+ is still 4.0. I know for a fact that no one in my major (Computer Science) had a 4.0 in this year's graduating class.</p>

#3

<p>Hah, thank you grapesoda. I knew getting a 4.0 in a South-campus major was difficult, but now I know its nearly impossible. Anybody willing to comment on North-campus majors?(I.e. theology, global studies, philosophy, etc.)</p>

#4

<p>Generally speaking, it is much easier to get a 4.0 in north campus than south campus, but it's still pretty hard for the average UCLA student. My friend has a 4.0 (or did as of Spring) as a north campus undeclared, but she's taken mostly just GEs (although she did take Comm 10). However, she spends a decent (not crazy though) amount of time studying and reading. The greater your natural intelligence, the less time you'll need to spend studying to get a 4.0. For some people, no matter how much they study they will never get a 4.0 just because they are naturally not a great writer or they are plain and simple just not as smart as they need to be to do well. It really varies greatly. Also, as mentioned above, the whole A-/A+ thing is annoying. I got an A+ in History 1C (a GE for me, I'm neuroscience) and it didn't do anything to counteract the fact that I got an A- in a south campus class. A-'s really are the scourge of 4.0s.
For background, I'm a neuroscience major, 3.84. I personally study very little for my north campus classes and have gotten A's in all of them, although they have all been lower division intro classes so it's not saying very much.</p>

#5

<p>4.0 as a North Campus takes a bit of work and to be honest, I don't know anyone with a 4.0 that's North Campus.</p>

<p>However, getting 3.7+ should not be too difficult if you are willing to put in the work and time. Most people though will hover at a 3.4-3.5 for North Campus majors. Some of the more difficult North Campus majors like Economics or Business Economics may have an lower average just because those classes are curved.</p>

<p>I'm a History major and have a 3.64, but the main reason my GPA is so low is because I was initially a Psychobiology major and got 2 C+ in Math and Chem during my 1st quarter at UCLA. Ever since then, I changed to humanities and have been getting A's or A-'s every quarter (and occasionally a B+). If it weren't for the 2 C+, my GPA would be around a low 3.7</p>

<p>As for my typical day, it's something along the lines of this. I wake up, go to class, go back to my apartment and eat lunch and play games or watch youtube videos for an hour or so, and then go back to class. I'm usually done with class by 3 or 4. Afterward, it's back to my apartment and I'll usually make dinner and shower before starting on homework at around 7 PM and doing it until 1 AM where I just about fall asleep (of course I procrastinate here and there).</p>

<p>I guess that's a typical day. On certain days like Fridays or Thursday nights, I'll probably not do any homework and just go out somewhere in LA with friends or just hang out with friends at their apartments and play games or watch movies. I don't party, but you can substitute my free time with going out to a party for the night. On weekends, especially during Fall, I'll go out to UCLA football or basketball games.</p>

<p>During the week or the week before mid terms and finals, I don't go out and just study all day or whenever I have time.</p>

<p>It really depends, but overall, being North Campus is pretty easy and as long as you work diligently and discipline yourself, you should have plenty of free time to do personal things.</p>

#6

<p>As for the specific majors you've listed:
Theology- are you sure we have a theology major? I thought it was called religious studies and was like an interdisciplinary thing. It seems pretty easy to me because it combines a lot from easier majors.
Global Studies- I've heard this is very easy, almost a joke of a major. I don't have personal experience though.
Philosophy- Definitely on the harder side of north campus.
Some other majors considered "easy" (at least from what I've heard): Sociology, psych, comm (once you get in), poll sci</p>

#7

<p>^Haha, yeah I meant religious studies. Thank you for the clarification. Thank you all for your answers. They were very helpful.</p>

<p>Btw-- kww, are you a Regent's Scholar?</p>

#8

<p>Yeah, I am.</p>

#9

<p>Awesome! Do you participate in the RSS activities? If so, how are they?</p>

#10

<p>To be honest, I don't. There are some really good opportunities to meet people but it was just so nerdy. If that's the type of people you like to hang out with, I 'm sure it would be great, but I prefer to do things that most people active in RSS don't like to do (like party). I'm actually planning to rush this fall. From my experience, people active in RSS tend to be much more classically nerdy (study frequently, nerdy clothing, etc.) than I am. But if you fit the mold or enjoy the company of nerds, go for it haha.</p>

#11

<p>^kww, what were your objective hs stats?</p>

#12

<p>4.0 uw, 4.6 (or something like that, not entirely sure) w. Number one at a public high school ranked in the top 200 of Newsweek's top 500 high schools. 2300 SAT (780 Reading, 770 Writing, 750 math), 800 U.S. History subject test, 740 in Bio E. 5s on the 4 AP classes I had taken before applying.</p>

#13

<p>notaznguy, what year are u in?</p>

#14

<p>I'm a philosophy major and some of the upper division courses can be pretty hard. from my own experience, and discussing it with classmates who agree, i read philosophy slower than almost any other subject. I can breeze through a textbook in linguistics, psychology, etc, but philosophy i read at least half as slowly. </p>

<p>It also doesn't help that some teachers emphasize that the reading is completely 'optional' (i've had two teachers at UCLA do this.) Reading amount also varies by subject: A decent amount of reading for an ethics class will be around 300 pages per quarter; more difficult classes will assign 400-500 pages; However a class dealing in difficult subjects like epistemology or metaphysics will typically be much lighter in workload (i took one class last quarter that only assigned ~150 of reading, but some parts were very hard and i didn't understand some of it) And unless you suck at Math, logic is fairly straightforward and intuitive, although some subjects might be difficult like metalogic or philosophy of mathematics.</p>

<p>I haven't really talked to anyone in the major about their GPA, but from what i've seen from the published grades, the distribution is fairly standard: 30% get As; 30% get Cs, the other 40% are in between.</p>

#15

<p>I am a south campus major with ~200 units completed and have roughly 3.8. I know people who have gotten a 4.0 at UCLA and its definitely not impossible. I probably could have gotten a significantly higher gpa if I hadn't partied as much, but it doesn't really matter because gpa means very little in the end. </p>

<p>I advise everyone to start your first quarter with an easy courseload since its so hard to raise a gpa once you bomb a quarter. Make sure to also try and have as much fun as possible during freshman yr.</p>

#16

<p>I'm a polisci/history double major with a 4.00. You obviously have to be fairly intelligent to maintain it, but I've done so largely because I have something of a natural affinity for these subjects, meaning that I don't need to study as hard (if at all, for some classes) to get the A as other people do. On the other hand, when I took Stats 10 I had to bust my ass for 11 weeks to scrape out a solid A by a mere fraction of a percentage point, and if you stuck me in a legitimate math or science weeder class I would probably get a B. I don't claim to be a genius.</p>

<p>Notwithstanding my familiarity and comfort level with the subjects, I'm also a really skilled and experienced writer. In the last three quarters, I think my worst percentage score was a 96%, not counting the boatload of classes that just handed out letter-graded As and A+s. You CANNOT get a 4.00 in north campus, ESPECIALLY in writing-intensive majors like history, unless you learn how write circles around people and ace essays. Being able to count on getting automatic full credit for 10-50% of the syllabus is absolutely necessary to consistently rise above the B+/A- range.</p>

#17

<p>Interesting.. very interesting..</p>

<p>Around what percentage of the classes you took just handed out As and A+s, as you say? I'm still not very familiar with the whole exam procedure for North-campus majors. How often are you guys assigned a paper? What about a test?</p>

<p>By the way, Hutt, what year are you in?</p>

<p>!Thanks</p>

#18

<p>relevant and useful tip: Fuck</a> Yeah Engineering Student Bat</p>

#19

<p>How hard is it to get a 4.0 in math?</p>

#20

<p>^Very hard, from what I take of the responses. Depends on your innate mathematical ability and your study habits, though.</p>