<p>Hello. Just to ask a question here: Is it possible to graduate with a BA from Berkeley within 1 year from graduation from high school?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Basically no, unless you transfer a ton of credits more than the average frosh who comes in with a million APs and other university level course credits. There is a minimum number of credits you need to graduate from Berkeley with a BA, and there probably is a cap on how many classes the college will let you take. </p>
<p>However, if you have an exceptional case, like you finished high school and had, say a medical condition, and had to take years off before entering college and accumulated credits, I think there MAY be some schools in the US who will let you graduate in a year.</p>
<p>Even then, though, most will ask you to spend 2+ years because they will have some residency requirements.</p>
<p>Berkeley’s residency requirement is only 30-60 units, I believe. And some classes you have to take at berkeley (upper divs). It’s possible to graduate in 2 years, but not 1.</p>
<p>[Degree</a> Requirements-Summary of Degree Requirements](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/intro.html]Degree”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/intro.html) for college of L&S</p>
<p>Some like AC must be taken, regardless of what you may enter with. Each department determines what classes they will accept as equivalent to a specific Cal class. Particularly with upper divisions, as mathboy98 stated, it is not that likely you could find courses to take during your high school time that would match most of them. In addition, if you enroll post-high school to build those up, you are a transfer student and not a freshman admit, which brings some additional limitations, such as not having more than 80 units (of the 120 total you need for an L&S BA) and the limit is even lower if you are in state and took those courses at a California CC. <a href=“https://students.berkeley.edu/myberkeley/myberkeleyapp.asp?todo=cms&id=89#6[/url]”>https://students.berkeley.edu/myberkeley/myberkeleyapp.asp?todo=cms&id=89#6</a></p>
<p>So I take it that 2 years is the bare minimum students spend to get a BA after graduation from high school, even if this means taking the most college-level and/or AP courses in high school as well as taking the most courses in Berkeley?</p>
<p>Then what about lucky high school students who graduate from community college and high school at the same day? Will these ‘transfer students’ be able to graduate from Berkeley within a year, also assuming they manage to do the most number of courses possible in Berkeley?</p>
<p>Don’t know about Berkeley----but here’s a story about a guy who got through Virginia in one year:</p>
<p>[U-Va.'s</a> One-Year Wonder - washingtonpost.com](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901779.html]U-Va.'s”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901779.html)</p>
<p>Yes. I have this in mind when I posted this. </p>
<p>I wonder whether in California, there are any competitive public high schools that will make ‘one-year wonders’ happen though.</p>
<p>Well let me put it this way. I took 17 AP tests and do not expect to graduate in any less than three years.</p>
<p>How is that possible? Is it hard to transfer courses for the most talented of students?</p>
<p>AP credits can’t be used to satisfy the breadth requirement for L&S and there are a lot of major requirements. I probably have to taken around 22-24 classes to get a degree with the major that I want and that should take no less than three years.</p>
<p>What caiacs said. Your AP classes help you, but they are at the level of intro level courses in college, so they’re certainly not a substitute for the other few years. I think four years are given for additional exploration, but 3 years suffice to complete most majors with a decent grip on what’s going on. To do 2, you basically have to cram like crazy. I hinted, and do believe, that 1 is not possible.</p>
<p>Further, I actually think it’s a bit of a pity to spend any less than 3 years here, unless you’re a transfer student who’s completed a lot of work earlier at another school.</p>
<p>Have you ever met/competed against kids from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology? It’s one of (if not the most) rigorous math/science secondary schools in the country. The students there are truly something else. Also, TJ ends up signing a lot of mutual agreements with local universities that allows students to get class credit at the university for courses they’ve taken in high school. </p>
<p>That being said, I know a girl who earned an associate’s degree alongside her high school diploma. She came to Berkeley as a first year and expects to graduate next year. That’s probably the closest I’ve seen to this one-year business without killing yourself with courses. If I had sustained a 20 unit courseload, I could have graduated at the end of last semester (my second year)…But my grades would be worse than what they are now ;)</p>
<p>I didn’t ever meet any TJ student… But I am well aware of TJ’s academic prowess.</p>
<p>Now I understand that Berkeley requires at least two years after graduation from high school, even for the most talented of students… Makes me wonder, considering the cases in U.Va and maybe Michigan where students graduate from high school within a year, is Berkeley really comparatively more rigorous than them?</p>
<p>ruenn, graduating early has mainly to do with juggling the requirements of graduation efficiently, not much with rigor or talent beyond a point.</p>
<p>1 year of college means getting near nothing out of it, to be honest, because unlike a focused masters program where you learn a specific skill in a year, basic major requirements are very general. Unless it is something like CS where you take a few courses and get a job programming, or a major which leads poorly into good job prospects, the very concept is silly.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation as the girl you mentioned and am graduating high school with 60 credits from community college. Do you know if she applied as a transfer student or a freshman?</p>
<p>I have to agree with mathboy and add that even with CS, you don’t really start seeing the glory of the subject unless you spend some quality time with it (especially at a place like Berkeley where you have such vast resources). </p>
<p>@HND890 She applied as a freshman but transferred all her CC credits, giving her junior standing upon arrival.</p>
<p>She transferred as a transfer student, in my own interpretation…</p>
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<p>How does the fact that it takes 2 years to graduate make Berkeley LESS rigorous than universities where it’s possible to graduate in one year? If anything, it should be the other way around.</p>
<p>Also, why do you want to graduate in 1 or 2 years so badly? You would just cutting short what should be some of the best years of your life.</p>
<p>No. Quite the contrary, I thought with the rigor of Berkeley, it could be the case of Berkeley being the most rigorous public college in the nation; with no college, not even Michigan or Virginia, being comparable to Berkeley and her tough demands on students.</p>
<p>Who doesn’t want to graduate as early as possible to do postgrad?</p>
<p>I believe most people want to stay for 4 years, even if they’re doing graduate school. While graduate studies may be more intellectually stimulating, undergraduate will be the most fun years of your life.</p>