<p>I have a lot of friends who took a semester or two longer to graduate. But note that if you enter as a freshman, you should be eligible for financial aid for 5 years, not including summers. And you can take summer classes if you want to spread out a bit.</p>
<p>And I know several people who graduated in 2.5 or 3 years. I personally think there’s a lot of freedom, especially compared to small private schools that refuse to give you more than eight semesters to finish up and don’t offer summer classes. Give Berkeley some slack.</p>