<p>Well, part of what I was saying was that piling in a bunch of swear words (even censored ones) tends to get people defensive and assume the worst. Which is why people kind of freaked out after berkeley made the post.</p>
<p>can you guys stop it i’m trying to learn about Berkeley. and what I read makes me not want to go here. at all. is there no reason to go to Berkeley? What’s good about this place?</p>
<p>Nothing at all!!! Nothing at all my man</p>
<p>Yes! Everything written in this thread is the absolute, unequivocal truth! You must believe everything you read here!</p>
<p>^Obviously 
</p>
<p>Hey, if all else fails, there is delusion.</p>
<p>@ThatsSoCoooolMan, Cal is a great place.</p>
<p>ThatsSoCoooolMan, I guess we can educate you about our Telebear system…</p>
<p>It’s arbitrary, confusing, and sometimes will kick you off or drop you in the middle of a transaction, and with impacted classes? If you aren’t on that stuff the minute your appointment starts, you may never get the class. I hated Telebears. It was annoying on a good day, on bad days, it could be truly awful. Yea, it was convenient, but if it decided to take a dump or not work – but that’s a bureaucratic concern. Oh, and you can only sign up for 10 units at your ‘first appointment’, so if you need more than 2 classes (most seemed to be 4 units in L&S), you were pretty much stuck until open enrollment. This was especially bad at lower standings – especially since athletes always got first priority – or at least they did when I was at Cal. I remember freshmen athletes bragging at my Math 16A final about how they got their telebears even before many student with senior or junior standing did. </p>
<p>But Bearfacts is a bureaucratic mess, which can make life unpleasant for a few minutes. Perhaps we should enlighten him on the dormfood? Berkeley Goggles and the AndrewTDX Photon Effect? (Basic Idea is sl ≥ x = a ≥ y More sun light, hotter people) Or the quality of the staff? The curve system? There is tons of stuff to talk about! Though I can definitely say, Cal is great (for the most part), but it’s only for the hard or those willing to become hard. If you want/need your hand-held or an easy transition, I would say look elsewhere. There are way too many wannabes @ Cal already.</p>
<p>Ya seriously, it’s stupid how athletes get so much priority over regular students in so many different aspects. We are the ones who need to study. It’s strange how sports stands out so much more than academics in Cal. Luckily they are not taking classes like Physics 7A… I heard that there are classes specially designated for athletes. Don’t know if it’s true or not. Is it true that half of the football players don’t graduate?</p>
<p>Beats me. I just watch the games. Though I think this thread is somewhat enlightening in the respect that some people are willing to point out the flaws and injustices of the school, instead of white-wash it and just accept it. </p>
<p>People are responsible for their own happiness at Cal. You can’t will yourself happy. You can’t tell yourself everything is great, and know deep in your core that something is rotten. If people wanna be happy at Cal, why don’t people start pushing for some reforms around that joint? Though many students are indeed happy, I think the depression rates, problematic bureaucratic processes, and various inequalities that are propagated by the system and apathetic students and/or the “I Got Mine” contingent really need to be addressed. Cal has this mythical reputation (and as more and more time goes on, I believe it is increasingly a myth…) of a protest culture and students who are passionate for change. If stuff sucks, you don’t sit there and take it, you get up and push back. Just don’t try blowing up the Chancellor’s house, he’s really on the student’s side. I honestly think the State Government and Regents need to be taken to task about the state of the university and the educational system in general. I also think its telling the number of people who go -off- campus for their ‘happiness’ and ‘entertainment’ needs. Says A LOT about the state of Cal. After the first year dorms (unless you get lucky and are in a dorm again) or unless you are a Greek/Co-Oper, it’s pretty much a commuter school and not a ‘four-year university’ like it claims to be. </p>
<p>When I hear that, I think of places where you have guaranteed housing for several years, are constantly around enlightened or opening minds, and don’t have to be stuck to the whims of crooked landlords, buses, and hobos to get to your classes. Maybe I have an idyllic view of what a university should be, but just seems to me (and this is probably true of a lot of state schools) is that after the first or second years, a lot of students become socially isolated to their roommates, if they have them, unless they are proactive about joining organizations – but then it gets hard when classes are intense – and fall into vicious cycles of isolation, loneliness, and depression. I joined a fraternity because I’m not the socially most proactive person on Earth, so it forced me to get out of my shell and safety zone because we had to constantly entertain.</p>
<p>@Clear: Haven’t you heard? Our rate of graduating athletes in 5 years has risen!!! </p>
<p>I’m really kind of tired of Cal. I don’t even feel like I belong at that school anymore (or rather, we’re all just slaves at that school, paying money for professors especially in the first two years that don’t teach well.) kkcool.</p>
<p>I knew coming in that this isn’t a school that takes care of its students. I have witnessed so many of my friends struggling with depression, it’s ridiculous. They were so happy in the beginning and Cal hardened them. There are some upsides to that but I think the downsides are more evident. Berkeley simply does not live up to it’s traditional reputation anymore. I am surprised that I have met so many more conservatives than liberals. Most of my friends are Bush lovers… I never thought this would happen but ok… </p>
<p>Andrew which frat did you join?</p>
<p>tdx seems like a good guess. lol</p>
<p>oh and i’m not depressed by the way. i just don’t really like the school. guess i should’ve visited or something.</p>
<p>For those who are stressed, I highly recommend you take your Saturday afternoon off for once and see the cal band play in front of Sproul Hall before each football game starts. If their performance doesn’t make you feel proud to be part of Cal, then you have no heart. </p>
<p>If your experience at Cal so far can only be summarized by studying your butt off to attempt to get your gpa above 3.7 and play video games to relax, you’re missing out too much, wayyy too much. Try out the restaurants and find which one is the best, climb up to the Big C or Campanile to watch the sunset, or go to the football games once in a while - it won’t hurt you! I have never seen anyone who studies at 100% efficiency and most of the people who are stressed about academics end up staring at the screens anyway instead of studying. (a.k.a. super smash bros, facebook, and this website, of course) </p>
<p>My point is, if any aspect of Cal bothers you compared to other ‘prestigious’ colleges such as massive student protests or homeless people or harsh curves on a test or your low gpa, then be proud of it! Chances are, the experiences that you’re having at Cal cannot be replicated in other ‘prestigious’ colleges. I don’t think ivy students will ever protest for a fee increase and their gpa will never be as deflated as Cal’s and they will definitely not have a high-stepping marching band that entertains everyone at every home football game. I strongly believe there is a high reward as we’re going through this #1 public school that best resembles the reality while you have the opportunity to take classes under some of the smartest professors in their field.</p>
<p>To be cliche, it’s what you make out of.</p>
<p>Where do you find the energy and time to do all that? I have a hard enough time getting out of bed. I need to make more active and motivating friends… All of the freshmen just go to class and come back to the dorms.</p>
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<p>The academics, the faculty. Not everyone stands to benefit from these things, but I for one think that the number of areas in which Cal’s academics not only shine, but are totally awesome in a deeply special way is a good reason to come here. And the city life is nice for those who like it. </p>
<p>It is very safe in that sense. I did not originally plan on going as deep into mathematics as I did once I got here, and it was nice to be able to decide on that in a jiffy, most departments here being terrific (and this one being particularly so). </p>
<p>Unfortunately, those who don’t know what to expect are in for a rude shock, as this school is one of the least like high school. I would go to it for the enormity of wonderful offerings. There are certainly courses conducted here that I’m interested in, which simply aren’t taught the same way at the very vast majority of schools in the nation, and this can include some very wonderful ones.</p>
<p>I’m glad I chose Berkeley. Classes are a lot of work but I feel that I get something useful out of most of them and that I have a solid career ahead of me. The professors are usually helpful and nice people, and I don’t feel awkward talking with them. I do apply some strategy to picking my classes and I’ll usually put off a class for a semester if a professor with a significantly better rating is going to teach it. I’ve learned a lot and grown a lot, so I’m pretty satisfied.</p>
<p>My biggest problem with Berkeley is the bureaucracy. 1.) I can’t wait to be a graduate student and 2.) it’s tempting to go elsewhere. I do owe it to Berkeley to have grad school as a possibility - Berkeley’s helped me find several research opportunities and good internships, and this might seem shallow, but the brand name and reputable professors don’t hurt when applying to grad school.</p>
<p>My advice to incoming students has always been to take advantage of the opportunities that a large school like Berkeley has to offer. Don’t focus on the degree, you’re wasting your money if that’s all you want. Most top universities are rated so highly because of the quality of research that goes on. I don’t mean to say that you have to do research (I’d rather go off to work, personally), but do get involved with professors and take graduate classes. Learn more than just the facts and gain a strong understanding and intuition for your subject. If you’re not going to take advantage of Berkeley, then why are you here? There are plenty of cheaper alternatives, to say the least. That’s my take on things.</p>
<p>"After the first year dorms (unless you get lucky and are in a dorm again) or unless you are a Greek/Co-Oper, it’s pretty much a commuter school and not a ‘four-year university’ like it claims to be.</p>
<p>When I hear that, I think of places where you have guaranteed housing for several years, are constantly around enlightened or opening minds, and don’t have to be stuck to the whims of crooked landlords, buses, and hobos to get to your classes. Maybe I have an idyllic view of what a university should be, but just seems to me (and this is probably true of a lot of state schools) is that after the first or second years, a lot of students become socially isolated to their roommates, if they have them, unless they are proactive about joining organizations – but then it gets hard when classes are intense – and fall into vicious cycles of isolation, loneliness, and depression."</p>
<p>Very, very true.</p>
<p>@above post^
I, for one, prefer not interacting with my roommate. I think it’s better that we respect each others privacy and not try to get into each others business. Using the word “isolated” makes keeping your distance sound like a bad thing.</p>
<p>I will tell you from personal experience that launching from UC Berkeley with a decent GPA (3.5+) will stand you in very good stead for graduate school. I was a physics (after transferring from Wesleyan, because of Physics) and world lit major. I was very coveted by successive graduate/medical schools because my GPA (3.97) and recs (from some big deal names) was seen as impressive–that I had the goods to perform in a school whose raison d’etre, in the freshman year, was that of weeding out 40% of its freshmen. I had very high MCATs’ and my graduate career went something like Harvard, M.A. (English), Harvard, M.D., Hopkings residency, UCSF fellowship, and Stanford writing fellowship. Do I think that coming from UC Berkeley impacted my desirability as an applicant. Absolutely. I think of my husband, also a physician, coming from Stanford (same GPA, funnily enough) and the highest possible MCAT scores (and very personable and affable) who didn’t get into one California med. school (he got into Tufts, NYU, Cornell, Columbia, and Albert Einstein), and upon doing a little digging, more than one California med. school admissions person (plus someone at Univ. of Michigan med) told him that two things stood against the Stanford applicants in the mid-80s. 1) that Stanford was perceived as having inordinate grade inflation, with the advent of no recorded Ds or Fs and that one could drop a class, undetectedly at the final, and that 2) 1984 was the apex of white, male applicants.</p>
<p>His med. school applicant peers at Cal, with lower GPAs and lower MCATs, were being snatched up left and right by UCSF, UCLA, UCSD medical school.</p>
<p>Finally, in my residency at Hopkins, there were an overwhelming number of Hopkins med. students and residents who came from Cal as their undergrad. school–that, to me, is an unignorable statement about the quality of Cal student and the med. schools’ perception of how hard Berkeley is, that if you can traffic through some of the bureaucratic messiness (although I encountered some incredibly supportive and helpful administration and faculty, too) and grade deflation, you can perform in the roughness of medical school (actually, the roughness of the on-call life, for me, frankly) and its very entrenched hierarchy.</p>
<p>Finally, I did not love Cal, at first, but grew to love it–the campus, some amazingly intellectual minds (both peer and professor/t.a.), and the area. I loved it enough, frankly, to make my home here.</p>
<p>^^^ Thanks, that’s very inspiring. However you went to Cal nearly three decades ago. Things probably have changed. According to a lot of people, Cal isn’t what it used to be, socially and academically.</p>