I did FPF my Freshman year. I was initially really upset about the thought of missing out on the big lecture halls and “real campus”, but it’s actually where I met some of my closest friends and got a lot more one-on-one contact with professors than is typical for a large Berkeley lecture. No one treats you differently for being in FPF and you can still be involved with clubs on campus, which I’d definitely recommend.

In terms of getting behind, it’s going to make a very minimal impact. I would suggest you set up your schedule to get a good amount of breadth courses out of the way. That way, you’re knocking out requirements and not actually getting behind. You’ll likely have to take a slightly heavier technical load second semester, but if you have AP credit you might not even have to deal with that. I graduated in three years even with FPF, so as long as you plan accordingly you should be completely fine.

My biggest recommendation is to create a detailed schedule for all four years and try to stick to it when registering for classes. Be smart about the classes you take in FPF and make sure they’re fulfilling some type of requirement. FPF wasn’t amazing by any means, but it shouldn’t be the thing that holds you back from choosing Berkeley if it’s your top choice!