Organization of the University System
American universities are a collection of colleges or schools that focus on an array of broad disciplines of study. In general, a college refers to a place where students can earn undergraduate or graduate degrees. A school refers to a place that mainly serves graduate students. Schools tend to have a more professional or vocational focus than colleges. UC Berkeley has thirteen colleges and schools.
Within each school or college is a collection of departments. While some departments offer several majors of study, others simply offer one. For example, in the Department of Biological Sciences, one can major in a range of topics from Molecular & Cell Biology to Neurobiology to Genetics. Other departments, such as the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, offer only one major.
Colleges, schools and departments create their own policies and academic standards for their students. It will be important for you to understand these so that you know how your academic achievement will be measured.
UC Berkeley Education System
Classroom Culture and Expectations
At UC Berkeley, you will take several different types of courses. In some, you may be one of several hundred students in a large lecture hall. In others, you may be one of just a dozen or so students in a small discussion section or laboratory.
Ultimately, it's up to each professor to create the culture and set expectations for students in their classroom. However, in general, the setting of a course often plays a large part in the professor's decisions. Below is an overview of the sorts of courses you are bound to see at the University and what you can generally expect from them.
UC Berkeley classroom.
Student in a UC Berkeley lab. Photo by Keegan Houser.
Degree Requirements
In order to earn a particular degree from UC Berkeley, you must take all the courses required for it. The degree requirements for each degree are major-specific. In other words, a Media Studies student and a Physics student will be required to take very different sets of courses in order to graduate. However, no matter the field, all students are likely to encounter the following terms as they learn about their degree requirements.
As you select courses required by your degree, you may notice the following terms.
Remember that academic advisers are your best resource for learning about degree requirements and selecting courses that fulfill them.
Grading System
U.S. universities use a standardized system called the grade point average (GPA) to report how a student is doing in their classes. In each course you take, you will earn a letter grade. That letter grade corresponds to a number from 0 to 4. The GPA is a weighted average of the numbers 0 to 4 that you earn in each course. It is weighted because some courses are more units —and, therefore, considered more difficult — than others. The GPA is cumulative. This means that it will be recalculated at the end of each semester to reflect in one single number how well you are doing at the university.
UC Berkeley Residential Life offers a detailed explanation of the GPA and a GPA calculator(link is external).
The Units System and Full-Time Enrollment
UC Berkeley assigns each course a certain number of units based the workload it requires.
For lecture or seminar courses, 1 unit = 1 hour of class per week + 2 hours of student work per week.
+1 unit if the lecture has a section as well
+1 unit if the professor expects the course to require 3+ extra hours per week of student work (heavy reading load, heavy concept load, or heavy lab load).
Learn more about unit values(link is external).
Full-Time Enrollment
Both immigration regulations and your college require that you be enrolled full-time. What is full-time enrollment?
According to immigration…
For UC Berkeley F-1 and J-1 undergraduates, immigration regulations require that you be enrolled in at least 12 units each semester.
According to your college…
Each college determines what “full-time” means for its students. For most undergraduate majors, 12 units is the minimum. However, for some colleges, the minimum is different. For example, at the College of Letters & Science (L&S), the minimum is 13 units per semester.
Combining Immigration and College Unit Requirements
International F-1 and J-1 undergraduate students must follow both their college's rules and immigration rules for full-time enrollment. When these numbers differ, students must be enrolled in the higher number. For example, a student at L&S is required by immigration laws to be in 12 units and by L&S to be in 13 units per semester. They must, therefore, take at least 13 units per semester.
Understanding a Syllabus
In each class, you'll receive a syllabus. (The plural of syllabus is syllabi.) A syllabus is a guide to the course. While syllabi differ greatly from discipline to discipline and professor to professor, you can expect to find the following elements in each one:
- Basic information – names and contact information for your professor and graduate student instructor (GSI); the location and time of your class; the professor's and GSI's office hours; required textbooks and materials
- Grading policies
- Course schedule – a list of topics to be covered; a schedule of homework, papers, quizzes and exams
- Standard information - the UC Berkeley Honor Code; information for students with disabilities; information on adding and dropping courses to your schedule
Office Hours
Each professor and each graduate student instructor (GSI) that you have will hold office hours. Office hours are times when you can meet these instructors to ask questions about the class, seek guidance on tricky material, delve deeper into interesting ideas, inquire about research opportunities, discuss your field of study in general, or simply get to know the people who are teaching you.
Some pointers about office hours:
- Office hours are for everyone. In the U.S., it's common for all students — not just those who are struggling in a course — to go to office hours. View office hours as a chance to engage more deeply in your field rather than a punishment you must face only if you are struggling in a course.
- Go early and go often. At the beginning of each semester, professors and GSIs often see just a few students per session. They have a great deal of time at these points to interact with you and address your needs in detail. However, before exams, students flock to office hours. This makes it difficult for instructors to help each individual student as much as they would like. It's important to go to office hours as soon as you have questions.
- In spite of their name, office hours are not always held in an office. Your instructor might set up weekly office hours in a library, a lab, or a coffee shop.
- Watch for schedule changes. Sometimes professors or GSIs need to change their schedule for a week or two in order to meet other academic obligations. Some offer extra office hours before exams.
- If you can't attend office hours because of a schedule conflict, speak with your professor or GSI after class or send them an email. Explain the situation and ask if you can arrange another time to meet. Most will be happy to do this.