<p>I haven’t been the hardest working or most diligent student during high school. I almost never cracked my book open until 1-2 days before an exam but always managed to get A’s. My question is, will berkeley’s competitive nature “transform” students into diligent workers? my whole family (even my extended family) wants me to go to berkeley but i am just really scared that i might not be smart or diligent enough to compete there. Has anyone been slacking off during high school and straightened up your act to get high grades during your years in berkeley? Of course I will study a lot harder and longer during college, but can my effort come even close to natural intelligence? Will i be able to maintain at least a 3.7 gpa if i commit to studying at least 3 hours a day ( i would gradually increase the amount of time that i study as i establish a study habit)</p>
<p>i think that even three hours a day would be a challenge for me in the beginning but i am determined to go to a good medical school. My other option is UCLA which people say is less competitive, and i can take this route, but I want to graduate saying that I had taken the most challenging route ( but then again, if i fail, i might not be able to go to med school at all).</p>
<p>BTW my major is MCB/ Biochemistry and molecular biology, one of the hardest majors. I might change to biology tho.</p>
<p>same here lol. maybe even less…but im pretty determined to start studying more diligently. My question is…will i even be close to cutting it with the students that already have an established study habit or are naturally intelligent.</p>
<p>Yes, there are some crazy smart people here who are lazy as hell, and there are some not-too-smart people who work like crazy. Statistically, GPA is a poor indicator of college performance, and SAT is a poor indicator of college performance. HOWEVER, GPA and SAT considered together is a fairly good indicator of college performance. So if you have a high highschool GPA AND high SATs, you’re likely to have a high GPA at Berkeley. But keep in mind that there will be various factors at work: like your social life in college vs. in high school, your major, your academic interest, etc. </p>
<p>From personal experience, I adapted to the academic rigor required in each class. When I took Math 1B my first semester at Cal, I studied 14+ hours a week for that class for the second half of the semester. I remember the prof telling the class, after the first midterm where the average score was around 40%, that “if you think the first midterms was hard, you’re going to DIE on my second midterm!”. But there were other classes where I barely studied: like Physics 8A and Stat 20, for example. </p>
<p>I’ll be more than happy to rate the difficult of classes (in my opinion) for MCB/Chem classes if anyone cares to know. But keep in mind that it’d be based on the material and prof(s) that I had, for the most part.</p>
<p>im one of those students with high GPA and a not so great SAT score( mid 2000’s). I will try to spread out my schedule so i only take one or two challenging classes per semester and fill the rest of my schedule with classes that are easy ( of course i would have to ask around to see which classes are easier)… i dont want to die lol. Yes im planning on forming a better study habit but i hope that i will get some time to chill. Thanks for your response abcdefgclass.</p>
<p>BTW abcdefg are you a freshman with a major in MCB?</p>