<p>For instance, becoming a club president (is that possible)? or joining greek life? or rushing? whatever that is...</p>
<p>have fun but study as well, i know lots of people who regret not paying enough attention to their classes that first semester. a couple of C’s really screw up your GPA, even if you do well afterward.</p>
<p>yeah, have your fun first semester, but take lighter course work so you can still have fun and experience college life for the first time without worrying too much about keeping up classes.</p>
<p>but defff do not get any c’s, those will bit you in the ass later on ;_;</p>
<p>x2 on the taking lighter course load to ease yourself into it</p>
<p>whats ;_;? </p>
<p>also…by lighter courses, do u mean less classes in general or just easier elective type classes instead of chemistry? </p>
<p>ive taken a whole bunch of college classes before graduating which fit the IGETC plan < transfers to UC’s. will it count if i did it before graduating though? can i graduate early?</p>
<p>what do current berkeley students consider a: very easy courseload, easy courseload, average courseload, hard courseload, and extremely intense courseload? How many units and/or classes per semester? Any personal experiences?</p>
<p>thx for your help!</p>
<p>I regret taking a lighter course load my first semester. It screws you over for your telebears appointment next semester. The stats you posted in your other thread kinda make me think you wouldn’t really need to take it easy your first semester unless you are pledging or something.</p>
<p>My other piece of advice is this: unlike high school, at university friendship doesn’t really happen on its own in the time in between class. You have to work for it. I hear joining clubs helps. Your other option is to be super outgoing, especially during the first two weeks.</p>
<p>Yes take an easy courseload - not more than 14-15 units and not more than 2 classes that are required for the major you’re most considering right now. And remember that an A- is not weighted the same as an A anymore =/.</p>
<p>you should try to get laid. most first years just end up studying.</p>
<p>Get a ****ing 4.0. Set a pace for success. You have four years here. You can get laid later.</p>
<p>^ LOL - way to play to the stereotype about Cal</p>
<p>lmao okaay…</p>
<p>anyways, what are telebears? if everyone says its so hard, then is it possible to get a 4.0? remember i currently have a 4.2 and 3.75 gpa in high school but i DO go to a public school and my ranking is 12%. so it may seem like a high gpa (maybe not) but the classes are a little bit easier than say a private school or boarding. i also got an 1850 superscored on my SAT’s and raised it from a 1500 i think. </p>
<p>i feel like im gonna fail at UCB from what i’ve heard. i know a girl who is really smart and even SHE says its hard! like she was the kid who got 99%s when i used to get 90% and really study for finals to get an A. </p>
<p>also, someone said university friendship doesn’t happen between classes…i’ve taken several college classes and i usually make a friend or two in all of the classes i’ve taken, by just sitting by them. is that how it is at UCB? or is most of the friendship made in dorms and clubs? again, i took these classes at one CSU and community college so its a little diff cuz i didnt live in dorms or go to clubs.</p>
<p>do ppl advise u of what classes to take before u pick them? i’d assume they have staff for that? like show u a college plan</p>
<p>When you come to the CalSO session in the summer, you meet with advisors and figure out your target classes for first semester, then do the registration. There are some good online materials you will be pointed at as well, for example [The</a> L&S Advising Home Page](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu%5DThe”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu)</p>
<p>okay thanks! man…u know so much! were u like an RA or anything like that? or like NYU has ambassadors…did u do something like that at UCB?</p>
<p>Telebears is the website everyone uses to register for classes. The registration period is divided into 2 phases. During phase 1 you may sign up for 10 units or less. Students use phase 1 to sign up for classes that fill up quickly (e.g. small r1a and r1b classes that are easy), or for classes that can wreck your schedule if scheduled at a bad time (e.g. chem classes with 4 hour labs). Phase 2 typically occurs about a month after your phase 1 appointment. Early phase 1 appointments lead to early phase 2 appointments, and late phase 1 to late phase 2. During phase 2 you sign up for any classes that you didn’t get to sign up for in phase 1.</p>
<p>Admitted freshmen get their phase 1 appointment during Calso. This is the only time when you get some control over your telebears appointment. Everyone else has their telebears appointment determined for them by the school. One of the most important factors is how many units you have completed. If you take only the minimum 13 units for your first semester, you will have a very late telebears appointment your second semester.</p>
<p>Coming into Cal, I had no intention at all of joining a fraternity/sorority. But on a whim, I rushed Alpha Chi Sigma (co-ed professional fraternity) this spring after talking to the people at their table. I have so much fun with them—so glad that I pledged. <3 Now I go back to my old high school friends and I’m like, “I’m in a frat.” They didn’t see that coming. </p>
<p>My first semester, fall, I was on the ballroom dance team. It was really fun and I loved that it was my scheduled exercise. =) But in the end, the time commitment was too much for me, ~6+ (FUN) hours a week, depending on how often you want to practice (and I wanted to practice because it was fun~). I know several engineers, premeds, and successful economics majors that are dedicated to ballroom. I wish I could be like them, but I sometimes fail at time management. There were instances where I regretted going to dance practice (nights before midterms), which didn’t feel nice… </p>
<p>That being said, I got all A’s my first semester (is what I can say, but I have minuses attached to a couple. shhh.). That was a ridiculously huge surprise. There’s another thing–I literally cried over my chem 4A class and felt like a worthless **** because I constantly felt like I was failing. The grade scaling at the end saved my ass. So don’t go crazy like I did and freak out about your grade. I stressed a lot for nothing. </p>
<p>In short, join some group. Commit yourself to an activity (some groups are especially welcoming to freshmen, since they want long-term members. In the case of ballroom, they “only” accepted freshmen unless you had some special circumstance or were male, haha). Don’t let your college experience just be about GPA. At least for me, being happy naturally leads to a higher GPA, anyway.</p>
<p>kool thanx! im join a sorority for sure now. what does it mean to “pledge”? do u have to do something in front of everyone? cuz im really shy at first. but once im friends with ppl, i say anything and do anything not to extreme lol also what does it mean to “rush”? i think its somewhere up there but i got tired of readin : P </p>
<p>did u study A LOT like put in extra time to get A’s or can u study as much as u did in hs for ap tests and still pass with an A? i took a calc class at a college and the final was rough but i ended up getting a B-. but then again, i don’t have the ability to focus on just my college classes cuz im in high school : ] it IS kinda low tho. : /</p>
<p>Personally, just speaking for myself here, I’ve never ran into any super difficult classes yet in here. I definitely study more here than I did in high school because I almost never studied for tests and barely studied for AP tests back then. But, that’s to be expected - college is harder than high school. So, you can get an A in your classes as long as you try hard for it. However, I’m not an engineering/math/science major so I don’t speak for them.</p>
<p>I ran for president of my residence hall association (Foothill-Hillside) and won. It was an awesome experience being able to manage a budget of like $16,000 as a 17 year old, I learned a little bit about how to lead a team of people, met literally hundreds of people, and felt like I really made a difference in peoples’ lives.</p>
<p>One thing I wish I did, however, was go to class. I slept in for so many freshman classes :(</p>
<p>Other things I wish I did
-join a social fraternity (I went through the pledging process, depledged, oops)
-join a professional fraternity (I rushed for Delta Sigma Pi when I was pre-Haas, wish I followed through with that)
-spent more time at the library, even before 8th week
-watched less tv/played less video games</p>
<p>Rushing is where you visit a bunch of frats/sororities and try to impress them so they offer you a pledge (spot in their frat/sorority).</p>
<p>If you accept, then for the next semester you are “pledging.” Pledging is where everyone in the frat/sorority kinda takes turns walking all over you. So basically, you spend 2 weeks trying to impress them, and then for the 12 weeks after that, you are their whipping boy.</p>
<p>Pledging for professional is different from pledging for social frats, but it’s still a huge hassle and time commitment. I am actually really impressed icesplendor was able to pledge and get all A’s in her first semester.</p>