<p>I want to be a MCB major and I’m taking the necessary courses for the major. My question is how many B’s and W’s will Berkeley tolerate?</p>
<p>Right now I have two B’s and possibly will request for a drop with a “W”
I received B’s in Introduction to Psychology and Introduction to Physics
And the “W” is for Calculus II.</p>
<p>I have a 3.83 GPA right now. But does non-transferable courses count into your GPA? I know the units don’t, but what about in terms of GPA? If not, it’s 3.80 GPA.</p>
<p>I am shaking right now just typing these in.</p>
<p>Please let me know what the effects are.</p>
<p>Don’t shake lol. Take it easy. 2B’s are absolutely fine, the W is OK too. Just don’t get too much of these and you’re fine.</p>
<p>To answer your question, non-transferable course still counts into GPA, but normally UC will only care about your ASSIST-certified GPA. So for you, it’s a 3.80 ;)</p>
<p>There are no specific numbers of how many B’s and W’s Cal will tolerate. I know a guy who got a 4.0 and was rejected for Haas since he missed a breadth requirement… and another guy got into Neuroscience or sth similar to your major MCB with just a 3.65…
So don’t freak out. Keep getting straight A’s from now on and everything’s gonna be fine.</p>
<p>Still shaky, but thanks for that.</p>
<p>Are you pre-med? Off topic, but regardless, you should thoroughly consider majoring in IB not MCB.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about Ws. I had a ton. Your GPA is still really high. You have a whole semester to get A’s and bump it up also.</p>
<p>I’m just curious kmt, but why is MCB not recommended?</p>
<p>Integrative Biology? Why do you recommend that? I’m opened to any biology or possibly any science major since I’m just beginning to take my major courses.</p>
<p>I’m hoping to get into Dentistry.</p>
<p>I got in to Berkeley with 3 W’s and a 3.5 GPA as MCB :)</p>
<p>Good news for OP lol. Thanks nooriebee for the info btw</p>
<p>@nooriebee that is crazy to hear!!! Also, a relief. How long did it take you to finish all the necessary courses?
And were these 3 W’s from dropping major-required courses?
Please do tell! :D</p>
<p>MCB is notorious for ruining your GPA at Cal. I can’t even tell you how many posts I’ve seen and people I’ve talked to that have suggested against it. My roommate is MCB so I’ve been hearing about this for the past year. Someone posted recently that the average graduating MCB GPA is about a 2.96 while IB is about a 3.3.</p>
<p>Let’s be realistic. I would say that practically every bio major has a little part of them that dreams to go to med school. For those who plan to go to medical school (or pharmacy) IB is less of a hit to your GPA and all the pre-med requirements are basically your lower level intro classes which you have to take for both majors.</p>
<p>If you want to go to graduate school, it’s important to major in something related to what you would like to do (so you’re better prepared overall or for GRE subject tests). But for med school, a lot of people don’t realize that you can major in ANYTHING so why pick one of the hardest majors (GPA wise) on campus?</p>
<p>Plus, the only real difference in the pre-reqs is that you have to finish Physics before you transfer for IB. You can also look into CNR for some various (slightly easier) majors if you’re not too picky: Ex. Microbial Bio.</p>
<p>ALSO: Make sure you are completing ALL of the classes that they list as required. I know two bio people with 4.0s who were missing a single class and were rejected.</p>
<p>It took me 3 years to finish the courses. Two of the W’s were from major courses and one was from a speech class (teacher dropped me). Be aware, I was working, had outstanding extra-curricular activities, and “overcame harsh circumstances.”</p>
<p>What I’m saying though is that you’re in good shape and you shouldn’t worry! :)</p>
<p>@killmyentourage well that just blew my mind. And I see that Integrative Biology is a major to start many graduate programs. I guess I’ll have to think about that a little more. Thank you for the big 411, it helped a lot!</p>
<p>@nooriebee thanks for those words of encouragement. However, me not worrying is a wrong thing to say. I haven’t started any real deal science classes yet like chem and bio. So I’m in for a long drive to Cal.</p>