<p>^ This is why UC Berkeley is so strict. They want to be sure that there are plenty of seats in upper division courses during their first semester at UCB for transfer students. If transfer students were allowed to stay more than four semesters, sometimes five for physical science and engineering majors, there would not be capacity to allow new transfers to start taking the courses they need right away. As long as students are able to register for the classes they need to graduate, which is what UCB is trying to accomplish, there should be no reason why upper division courses needed to receive a BS or BA could not be finished in the allowed time.</p>
<p>What this means is that transfer students from community colleges who regularly took a W in courses and enrolled in them again the next semester or who failed a number of courses and retook them in subsequent semesters are not going to be able to repeat that pattern at U.C. Berkeley and have any hope of leaving with a degree.</p>