<p>I’m confused about my academics. In high school I graduated at the top of my class of ~750 with a 4.7 GPA. I had taken 13 AP tests, getting eleven 5s and two 4s (the 4s came during senior year). I qualified for the AIME my senior year (though I didn’t advance after that :p). When applying to colleges, I got wait-listed at Stanford and Princeton. I got into Caltech, UC Berkeley Engineering-Undeclared, Harvey Mudd, and others. (Surprising to me today, I didn’t apply to Harvard or MIT). I accepted Berkeley for monetary reasons (I live in California, so the fees were very cheap) and social reasons (Berkeley has a lot going on, and I didn’t want to just be an academic).</p>
<p>Since then, I’ve been an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) major at Berkeley (and I’ve been exploring math as well), but things haven’t been as good as high school. I finished the first semester with a 3.75 (which I now realize was pretty awesome), but since then each semester’s grades have approximately been the following: 3.5, 3.2, 3.0, 3.0. </p>
<p>One semester or two I’ve been overloading myself. The truth is that I worked super-hard in high school, and college has been harder, so it’s difficult to keep up. My GPA right now is 3.3. I feel like I should be doing better and that I’m overwhelmed by people around me who seem smarter and faster and more focused. Any advice?</p>
<p>spend more time practicing? My room mate switched to an Industrial Design major, which requires a high degree of artistic capability (which he lacked). He had a full day of classes, work and would then go to the ID lab to practice until 4-5 in the morning. He eventually caught up to his peers in skill. Of course he barely slept for two terms.</p>
<p>Not saying you should do that much but some times its necessary if you want to be at the top of your class. Otherwise be content with your 3.3. Its not a bad GPA, especially given your major.</p>
<p>I’m in a very similar situation to you (read: similar high school experience and Berkeley Engineering Undeclared to EECS), and I’ve just been taking the minimum units and taking it easy. </p>
<p>I figure if I can get 3 A’s versus 2 A’s and 2 B’s or 1 A, 1 A-, 2 Bs, then it is worth it. Especially since I have more time to go over the material and more time for extracurricular stuff.</p>
<p>Last semester I did more than I think I should have, so I’m cutting back by taking certain courses over the summer so I can have it relatively easy now and next fall.</p>
<p>I’m definitely in the same boat w.r.t. people around you seeming more focused, but when I scaled back my workload I was able to find more of what I was interested in my classes. Next semester try taking 3 technicals or 2 and 1 breadth, plus a seminar.</p>
<p>If you are doing EECS at CAL and have over a 3.0 GPA you are doing great. 3.3 is even better. Don’t get discouraged. One of my friends graduated recently from there, it was either EECS or just straight CS, with a 2.9GPA and landed a very high paying programming job in San Fran.</p>