<p>Sorry one more question, how soon do I have to SIR in order to guarantee myself a spot in summer 2011 class registration? As a transfer do I get priority over freshman and sophomores, and even juniors with less units than me?</p>
<p>@CCjunior </p>
<p>When I first graduated high school and went off to a 4-yr, I was a Philosophy major. My first semester I took Logic and Ancient Philosophy. Needless to say, I realized really quickly that Philosophy was NOT for me. I sincerely wish you luck no matter which school you choose. Although I’m slightly Cal biased, it seems like it would be a much easier route if you went to UCLA.</p>
<p>What exactly turned you away from philosophy? Was the material too dry? Did Cal’s course list not satisfy your areas of interest? </p>
<p>It does seem like it would be a lot easier on me if I just attended UCLA, but I made the mistake of visiting Berkeley and I just fell in love with the campus and the surrounding area. Plus from all the research I have done on the two schools indicates that UCLA is better fit for my purposes/interests. UCLA’s phil of lang department is top notch, and it is a widely held belief that UCLA leans more towards a concentration on analytic philosophy which is also appealing. PLUS I would also have 4 of the major pre-reqs completed prior to transferring which is a major bonus. sidenote: Both schools offered a similar fin aid package, so money isn’t an issue. </p>
<p>In light of all this, it seems like UCLA should be an obvious choice, but no matter what Cal just seems so appealing.</p>
<p>Oops, I made a small error. So I mentioned that you needed 2 UD courses outside the major, but that would be satisfied by your 2 mandatory UD history classes anyway. That said, subtract 2 courses from your total list above.</p>
<p>Taking 4 philosophy classes simultaneously is possible…but more or less insane. The amount of time these kids put into their essays is pretty incredible. I would recommend sticking with 3. Btw, I’ll be in Logic (12A) with you! lol. I highly recommend taking a summer course or two here asap. I’ll be in Ancient Phil. Essentially, now that I think about it, with 3 phil courses in the fall, even without summer, you would still be okay.</p>
<p>Methods, Logic, and Ancient in the fall is a really good plan. I’m still considering taking Methods in the fall as well. My apologies for adding on the 2 UD classes outside the major before. So all-in-all, you would need the 11 phil requirements and 1 AC requirement, totaling to 12 courses over 4 semesters and averaging at 3 requirements per semester without any summer enrollment. It will be tough because philosophy is tough, but it’s manageable.</p>
<p>Btw, I don’t know if you got to check out the philosophy library or not when you visited, but that was one of the main aesthetic things that attracted me to UCB. </p>
<p>Also, the 4.0 student I know is not a transfer. He’s brilliant, and teaches Kaplan LSAT courses.</p>
<p>Sorry for the barrage of questions, I lost the info my CC counselor gave me to contact the SoCal Berkeley Rep so I have been relying on CC for most of my Berkeley related questions until next Monday.</p>
<p>Okay possibly my last set of questions, which was also posted under the Berkeley sub forum, if I were to sign up for summer classes would I still get fin aid? I ask this because for my CC one must have a 2010-2011 FAFSA filed in order to receive aid for 2011 summer sessions, but since I wasn’t attending UCB in the 10-11 academic year does that mean I wont be receiving fin aid if I do choose to take summer classes? Also, what do they do about housing for transfer students looking to take summer courses? Do they give me a dorm just for the summer and assign me a new one when the Fall semester starts? Also Also(sorry), someone who responded to my other post said that 12A and 132 were both almost full, do I even have enough time to register for those two classes if I have yet to send in my SIR?</p>
<p>Is it just a coincidence that the only 4.0 philosophy student you know is absolutely brilliant? I mean it seems like just from purely anecdotal evidence, people majoring in philosophy at UCLA seem to have a higher GPA. Does that say anything about a possible disparity between the rigor of the two departments? I know one explanation given for the 3.1 is that a lot of non-phil majors take philosophy classes and drop the avg GPA, and also another possible explanation is that Berkeley has a rep of their philosophy students being the stoner type philosophers who like to ask vague questions about life and consider it philosophy. The last generalization is not my opinion, just repeating something I heard from someone else who attends Cal.</p>
<p>No, it’s not coincidence lol. He is an exceptional student in general. As for the latter assertion regarding the possibility that Cal phil students are stoners that ask vague questions etc, I’m sure you could find those types at any school, but I promise you that is by no means the norm or anything close to what I’ve observed in the phil majors here. </p>
<p>As for financial aid, I’m just not the person to ask about that. I don’t know all of the details about that or whether it will cover summer.</p>
<p>Oh, and regarding philosophical methods (100A), I believe you need to have 2 of the following 4 classes completed or in progress before taking that: Phil 2, Phil 4, 25A, or 25B.</p>
<p>^^ At least that’s what it says on the Fall Berkeley courselist under prerequisites.</p>
<p>I would recommend taking 25A and 25 B over summer…or maybe 25A and Logic.</p>
<p>Do you happen to know off the top of your head when summer courses begin, when they end, and when fall courses start? I was planning on going on a vacation to Korea for the summer, but if there is still a window of opportunity to take 25A and 12A I am going to stay and take those courses.</p>
<p>Okay scratch that plan, turns out the Transfer Edge program does not offer any philosophy classes. Also, because I am not a continuing student am I not allowed to just take the courses on the regular list of summer courses?</p>
<p>You can take the summer courses. Just register for them on Telebears.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure 25A has a few spots left. It’s actually a good and bad time to take Ancient. Good because it’s a class of 40 students, so it’s more personal. Bad because it probably isn’t taught by a quite as esteemed professor as the one that normally teaches it. </p>
<p>Anyway, you should be able to register through Telebears or at worst as a Visiting Student. Summer courses for Session A begin May 23rd. The Session A has Ancient Philosophy. It ends July 1st.</p>
<p>So, if you were to take 25A, you’d be going from May 23rd - July 1st. Actually it’s the same for Logic. Ideally, you’d probably want to take:</p>
<p>Summer Session A: 25A and 12A. M-Th. Neither class overlaps in time. (i.e. one is in the morning and the other in the afternoon). These classes go from May 23rd - July 1st.</p>
<p>There is also another summer session where you can choose to do Logic in the second half of summer.</p>
<p>@emilsinclair9</p>
<p>“Methods, Logic, and Ancient in the fall is a really good plan. I’m still considering taking Methods in the fall as well. My apologies for adding on the 2 UD classes outside the major before. So all-in-all, you would need the 11 phil requirements and 1 AC requirement, totaling to 12 courses over 4 semesters and averaging at 3 requirements per semester without any summer enrollment. It will be tough because philosophy is tough, but it’s manageable.”</p>
<p>Wait a minute… Don’t you need.
-Ancient Phil
-Modern Phil
-Logic
-Methods
-Ethics
-History of Phil (2)
-Epist/Metaphysics (2)
-Electives (3)</p>
<p>to graduate with a phil major? That’s 12 courses.</p>
<p>Then on top of that…
-American Cultures
-6 units of upper division (2 classes)</p>
<p>That’s 15 classes… assuming 4 units each= 60 units. I suppose you could collapse AC into an upper div; or an elective into an upper div outside of the major but lets assume we don’t (even if we did, we still need another class to fulfill unit requirement anyway).</p>
<p>That’s enough to graduate, but it looks like you’ll have to be taking 4 classes a semester, almost every semester unless you do summer school.</p>
<p>I thought 4 classes a semester was the norm anyway- was kinda surprised to see 3 a semester being suggested.</p>
<p>Hey Emil, </p>
<p>Ok, so another question on adding capped majors. When exactly must we complete the pre-reqs? Before transferring? By the end of the first semester? I want to try to add economics and double major, but I have 2 pre-requisites left that I’m planning on taking at Berkeley this Fall. Does this make me ineligible to declare?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all your help and advice! You are doing us a huge favor and I really appreciate that.</p>
<p>@Emil</p>
<p>I’m a junior-level transfer and an English major, and I know that I’ll definitely receive an AMAZING education at Berkeley. I’ve never seen or been to Cal. So, my questions mostly have to deal with student life, and it would be great if you can give me some insight and some personal experiences.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How is housing at Wada? I’ve read that it is strictly Transfer/Upper-Div, but as a transfer, am I guaranteed housing only in Wada? In regards to room sizes, I’ve read that each apartment has two or three rooms, but I am unsure as to how many people are assigned per room; I assumed that if it was two people at one apartment with two rooms, each get their own space, so is my assumption correct?</p></li>
<li><p>How competitive is it at Berkeley? For example, personal friends have told me that those attending UCLA are extremely competitive and tend to avoid helping others. Is it the same at Cal?</p></li>
<li><p>Assuming that I receive housing at Wada, how far is the distance from campus while on foot?</p></li>
<li><p>What are some places that you recommend frequenting such as restaurants, cafes, etc?</p></li>
<li><p>And this last one might be an openly biased one, but what made you choose Berkeley over the other UCs to which you were accepted?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you so much for answering my questions! I’m glad that current students, like you, have been willing to offer advice to would-be Cal students. :)</p>
<p>@ ArrogantBastard: Hmmm, well the two History UD classes would cover the two courses outside the major, but I think you’re right he would need 12 then (instead of 11). With the AC requirement, it becomes 13.</p>
<p>4 classes a semester is the norm, but 4 classes within your major, esp one as writing-intensive and time-consuming as philosophy would be very difficult for almost anyone. But you’re right, in general, 4 academic classes per semester is the norm.</p>
<p>@ cherryvaseline: Actually, you can complete your prereqs in the fall :D. So you will be able to declare a capped major while finishing up those last 2 prereqs. And you’re welcome! Great question.</p>
<p>@ ultrabluecheese: Okay, first, I apologize for my Inbox being full. I have saved a lot of really important messages from when I was transferring, and also I tend to be better at responding to threads than my inbox anyway, so good call posting here! 
</p>
<p>I’ll touch on the English major before getting to your question too. English here is phenomenal. All the English majors I know (3 personally) love it and rave about their professors and the books they’re reading. </p>
<p>I’m not sure about the policy and stipulations about -guaranteed- housing, but I do know that if you apply for Wada Unit 2, you have a decent chance of getting in. Wada doesn’t have singles as far as I know, but it does have doubles and triples. That said, where I live, I have 2 roommates (triple) and 2 suitemates who live in a double. In between us we have a common area…but I don’t mean a sink or two. We have a fully-stocked kitchen with stove, microwave, fridge, couch, chairs, table, etc. It’s very spacious. We also have a bathroom with a shower stall and toilet stall. It’s really great here tbh. We have a great view of Berkeley and the surrounding area, big rooms, and despite our place being downright untidy right now, it’s still pretty comfortable.</p>
<h1>2) It depends on your major tbh. I have a lot of friends in science majors that literally have to compete for grades. As for English, literally speaking, your performance in the classes will dictate your grade as opposed to say a harsh curve. However, tbh, the students here are pretty competitive. I form study groups for a lot of my classes, and right when we get the tests back, they all ask each other and me what we got. It seems innocent, but it’s definitely a means of comparison. On the whole, though, it doesn’t bother me too much, and worth it considering that forming study groups helps tremendously.</h1>
<h1>3) From Wada, it is 3 maybe 3.5 blocks to campus (Upper Sproul). Imo it’s not that far because I tend to cut through the Underhill parking lot and the museum area, but 3.5 blocks is longer than say Unit 1 which is about 1.5-2 blocks from campus.</h1>
<h1>4) Hmmm this is tough. I don’t have a meal plan, but for those that do, Crossroads is certainly one place to frequent. Crossroads is the dining commons here, but it’s not very good. Personally, I love going to the Tully’s right on Sproul and getting a bagel and chai tea, but that’s just my preference. There are a bunch of great Thai places to eat in the Asian Ghetto (about 2 blocks from Wada), there’s Top Dog, which has great hot dogs, and on north campus (far from Wada) there’s a place called Burgermeister with the best burger I’ve ever had. Also, on Telegraph, there’s an awesome cafe called “La Med”. I’m there studying all the time. It’s great because it’s open until 12:30 AM, so a lot of students go there to study. Aside from that, there aren’t that many places to just hang out and chill. There are bars too, but since I’m under 21, I can’t go to those yet :p.</h1>
<h1>5) There were a few things, and it was an extremely tough decision. I guess I’ll begin with the context. So for one, I’ve grown up in the Bay Area my whole life (same town/home), so I did feel compelled to go somewhere completely new like UCLA just for the experience. In addition to that, I was a Fall admit to UCLA and my gf at the time went there too. All this said, it was a really really close call. I SIRed on the last possible day.</h1>
<p>What made me come to Berkeley…I guess so many things! </p>
<p>For one, the culture and people here are one of a kind (from what I’ve seen). Today I hung out on Sproul and listened to this random band play some of their music for an hour, and other days I’ll stop by and listen to a cappella groups sing too. I love being able to separate myself from everything else, even if for just a moment, to listen to things like that. I just love how Cal always has something going on. There are people tabling and talking about politics on a daily basis, there are clubs and greek orgs recruiting, the Cal band will come by and play, we’ll have dance groups perform on the steps of Sproul, etc. I just love how alive the campus is! </p>
<p>Before I came here, I chose Cal for a few reasons. The first is because I enjoyed Cal Day so much…it’s like the one day when the campus is about as bustling as could be. The second is that I looked over the requirements for the Psych major and available/offered classes and determined that they were more up my alley than UCLA’s, and hmmm I don’t know. Honestly, I just felt right when I visited Berkeley. I felt welcomed, happy, stimulated, and personally fulfilled by everything I had seen and read about. </p>
<p>On top of all of this, I liked that Cal has such esteemed sports teams, a hippie vibe, and it’s proximity to SF. Overall, I have to admit, it’s lived up to be a perfect match. I didn’t love it as much when I started here; I think I was used to sort of doing the bare minimum in CCC and at the last minute, whereas here that doesn’t cut it. Plus, since I began I’ve joined a fraternity, done research, which I’m starting to heavily get involved in now that my finals are over, and in the fall I’m hoping to join the lightweight crew team.</p>
<p>On the whole, it was an amazing decision. Granted, I loved UCLA when I visited. There was nothing that hindered my interest in UCLA. However, Cal just beat it in culture and vitality imho. So in the end, I chose Berkeley. :)</p>
<p>HI, im a transfer student. What are we going to do at Calso Date? how long takes the whole process?</p>
<p>Hey! Sorry for lagging too, I’ve been super busy with work, internship, school…lol. </p>
<p>I actually went to go visit her and her cousin during my Spring Break in March with my best friend and her best friend (who decided to come here for school) and it was very nice to catch up with her! She tells me that she’s been super busy (obviously) and because we all headed to Korea during the summer, she didn’t get to interact with the fellow transfers as much as she would have liked, but she loves it over there. Lucky for me, maybe…perhaps she might be too much competition for me!, she is applying for the Clinical Psychology Program here at UCLA (because it’s ranked #1 of course!) so I might be seeing her soon. </p>
<p>Hope finals went well for you! I’m kinda jealous, just a little bit! I have one more month…and then summer session! It was nice to catch up, hahaha.</p>
<p>@Emil: I was just wondering if you know where transfers live (other than Wada and the Channing Bowditch apartments). Are there really transfers in all residential areas? </p>
<p>I’d really like the Foothill suites, but do they actually take in transfers? I wouldn’t mind living with predominantly freshmen suite-mates, but I wouldn’t want to be the ONLY transfer or upper-division student there. Are my chances of getting Foothill be slim because freshmen have housing priority? Or is Foothill generally known to be less popular?
And what about the double suites in Stern (I’m a girl, lol) and Clark Kerr? Are they hard to get? I heard these are really spacious. </p>
<p>After I’ve informed myself a bit about all the options, I found I really like the idea of suite-style living. If they are hard to get for transfer, however, I wouldn’t want to waste my housing preference choices on them and end up getting something I totally don’t want…</p>
<p>@ RheeL: You guys are like a College Confidential family! haha that’s so cool. I’m glad to hear you are all doing so well :D! I hope one day we could all meet up or something on one of these campuses. I’ve been in contact with you or Yunie or her cousin on here sporadically for like a year now lol.</p>
<p>And no need to be jealous haha, I’m taking 7 units of summer credit here while doing research. I have a 10-day break and then it’s back to the books :p. </p>
<p>@ deanza: A lot of people are concerned about housing this year! Tbph, transfers can be found pretty much anywhere. The majority of them are probably located in Wada and Chinning-Bowditch, but you can find many others in the co-ops or loosely based in the dorms or off-campus. Essentially, you’ll find them everywhere, but if you want to be around transfers, stick with Unit 2 Wada or Channing-Bowditch.</p>
<p>As for Foothill, I honestly don’t know. I haven’t lived there. However, Stern is all women, just so you know, and Clark Kerr is geared more towards jocks/athletes. You could live in either one though. Clark Kerr is pretty far from campus too.</p>
<p>I don’t know how easy or difficult it is to get a suite, but I know Unit 2 Towle has mini-suites, and as for Foothill or Clark Kerr, I can’t really gage your chance of getting into either one.</p>
<p>Btw random, but I met a girl (newly admitted transfer) from De Anza today! I don’t know if it was you, but that would be strange/funny if it was haha.</p>