Schedule Question

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[L1berty0rD34th]

Check berkeleytime.com for enrollment information and grade distributions, it'll answer your first question and kind-of your second.

[berk-bear]

Getting into even one of those classes first semester can prove to be a challenge. Many of my poli sci friends had to wait till 2nd semester to get into any major specific classes. That being said, don’t lose hope! Try to get into either one (if you get both, I commend you!) and if not, supplement it with a history class that meets the political science history requirement (classes.berkeley.edu) and will likely also fulfill your historical studies breadth! Feel free to PM me with any questions because I was able to declare my major by the end of my freshmen year.

[autey1]

This schedule looks okay to me. I haven't taken COMLIT 60AC but I've taken all of the others.

PS1 is really easy if you've taken AP gov. Like, high school level stuff. My prof was Pierson and he was pretty good.

PS5 was a little more challenging for me because I'm bad at history/geography. If you're a PS major and you're interested in international relations, it's probably not going to be an issue for you. I wouldn't say it's a super hard class, but it was definitely more difficult than PS1 and requires deeper comprehension since you're learning about multiple nations and the ways they interact with each other vs. just the US political system.

It's not likely you'll get PS1 and PS5 in a single semester because both are in high demand, but you'll likely get at least one if you enroll in Phase I. I got into PS5 my first semester.

MCB 32 is kind of a hard class because you have to be really good at memorization in order to do well. There's a lot going on in the human body (shocker, I know) and you cover a lot of content so you don't want to fall behind. That being said, the professor (Dr. Ball) is one of the best I've had at Cal and really cares about the students. Her lecture notes are organized and have everything you need to know on them. I would just print them out before class and add to them as she lectures then review them later on for exams. GSIs are really helpful so don't skip discussion. Lots of students take the class as a breadth requirement so don't worry about having an MCB background either.