Berkeley summer session roommate

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>does anyone want to look for housing for the berkeley summer session with me? (probably just keeping an eye on craigslist for now)</p>

<p>Basically my three requirements for housing are:</p>

<p>Cheap- i can pay 400 a month tops
Close to campus- it's sucky having to commute to campus
Sleep- I need my sleep to be able to do school properly, so people would have to respect each others sleep to the maximum.</p>

<p>I'm fine with being either clean, or not as clean (as long as the bathroom is clean and the kitchen is functionable); i've been both.</p>

<p>Sometimes it's helpful to find a place with someone else, as there are studios and stuff that are around 750-800.</p>

<p>Anyway, anyone interested?</p>

2

<p>Definitely man. I haven’t decided whether I’ll be staying at home (I live near San Mateo) or near Berkeley in an apartment. However, I’m down for rooming if I decide to live up there. I’m taking 2 classes and they go 5 days a week M-F. Basically I’ll have school from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Let me know if that could work or not.</p>

<p>Also, if I don’t get into Berkeley on 4/30, I may drop the summer courses, so I can’t give you any definite answers about housing until then.</p>

3

<p>Hey boys- I’m a good cleaner and “college food” cook (ie homemade nachos, peppercorn burgers, california rolls). I don’t wanna live with chicks because I hate drama and I get along with dudes better anyway. If I get into Berkeley, I’ll see if you guys are still planning this? If you have a Wii or PS3, then I definitely want to be your friend.</p>

<p>If there were 3 of us, we could get a nice 3 bedroom somewhere, or large 2 bed with large living room. I can pay up to $700 per month.</p>

4

<p>^ lol that actually reminds me of what my friend told me. One semester he roomed with 6 females in a 3 bed room house for college and he said for rooming with 6 female it was the worst time he’s ever had. There was one period every week</p>

5

<p>Peter, was your friend INSANE??? When I was in Army basic training, I just tried to keep my head down and hang out with the guys. I actually made a few life-long female pals, but mostly the chicks just got in fist fights… and they were NASTY. I have no problem telling a dude he’s gross and flinging his sock at him, but for some reason, chicks just take something like that so personally!</p>

6

<p>Haha a good “college food” cook would be a must in a nice (3 person) 3 bedroom! I suck at cooking, but I could pitch in for food I suppose. I don’t have a limit for an apartment price, so whatever works for whomever is fine with me.</p>

7

<p>When we all get accepted, we should make a “The Official ‘Wanna Be My Roommate?’ Thread”.</p>

8

<p>lol I think that’s a great idea. I wonder if that would be a first in this UC transfer forum.</p>

9

<p>You’re guaranteed a single at the coops for summer session. It’s 515/month, but if you really really want to you can split the cost (and a room) with someone. That’s also utilities and fun included!</p>

10

<p>Cantabilen-- is that what you are going to be doing for the summer? How do you know that the co-ops are guaranteed for summer session students? </p>

<p>Also, how do you know that i can share a room with someone and split the cost? here: [Apartments</a> During Summer](<a href=“http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/component/content/article/48/45-apartments-during-summer]Apartments”>http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/component/content/article/48/45-apartments-during-summer) it said that all rooms are single occupancy only.</p>

11

<p>Because I live in one and we need people! seriously! and yeah all rooms are turned into singles except for quads which become doubles, so you dont get a lame roommate. </p>

<p>1st, those are apartment coops which are different from house coops in that houses are awesome and apartments are lame, and 2nd, it’s not an official rule or anything.</p>

12

<p>I just checked out the house coops, and they seem pretty awesome. Especially if i could share a room and pay less than 400 a month.</p>

<p>However, i then looked at the membership eligibility section and it said i have to be full time. For me, that means 10 units total, 5 for each session. I’m planning on taking 8 units total, 4 (one class) each session. I then looked to see if there were any 1 unit classes i could take to make up the difference. They are all pretty much labs.</p>

<p>So it looks like it’s a no go for me. Bummer…</p>

<p>Is it tough to get into the co-ops during fall or spring?</p>

13

<p>Not now, we have a lot of openings. But it’s a lot harder for fall so submit your app soon.</p>

<p>And 6 units is full time for the summer.</p>

14

<p>crap, you’re right. I was looking at the section for international students on accident… </p>

<p>[Berkeley</a> Summer Sessions](<a href=“http://summer.berkeley.edu/international/visa-information/full_time_enrollment]Berkeley”>http://summer.berkeley.edu/international/visa-information/full_time_enrollment)</p>

15

<p>Yeah, I have to admit those houses look pretty sick. From what I can tell, it seems that the houses have more of a social life and stimulating environment than the apartments. This is probably what I’ll do over summer. I liked Euclid, Kingman, and I really liked Davis House (from what I’ve gathered about their descriptions and amenities). Anyone else have favorites that they’ve read about?</p>

<p>[Our</a> Co-ops](<a href=“http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/our-co-ops]Our”>http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/our-co-ops)</p>

16

<p>@ CantabilenApathy: I’ll be doing Berkeley summer sessions from 6/21 to 8/13 which is a little less than 2 months. Do I pay for 2 months? Or do I pay for 7 weeks? How does the payment work out lol?</p>

<p>It’s not that big an issue; I’m just curious. Btw how soon would we have to pay for these? I’m not planning on doing any of this unless I know I’m in. It’s not too late to register for a summer co-op house around/a bit after April 30 is it?</p>

17

<p>well you should submit your app soon, but you don’t have to pay till like a week before you move in, and you pay in installments. </p>

<p>“The full Summer 2010 contract period will be May 23-August 14. Our contract period is based on the UC Berkeley calendar and is subject to change. There are also options for contacts for half of the summer. The first half of summer contract runs May 23-July 2 and the second half of summer contract runs July 3-August 14.” [Summer</a> Co-op Housing](<a href=“http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/summer-housing]Summer”>http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/summer-housing)</p>

<p>The coops are a great place to meet people, and they really ease the transfer process. If you move in during the summer, you get .75 point (you get a point each semester you stay), so you’ll have seniority when choosing your rooms in the fall. Food isn’t available during the summer (but at my house we always have essentials like milk, eggs, flour, and usually set up some sort of allocation of funds for other food), but during the fall you get an amazing meal cooked for you every night. All of the food is organic, locally grown, etc.- we’re crazy about food ethics!</p>

<p>Also, if houses like Euclid, Davis, and Kingman look like your favorites, I’d DEFINITELY apply for those during the summer- they’re impossible to get into during the fall. They’re smaller, and when spots become available in houses, people are placed based on seniority, but once you’re in you’re in, they can’t kick you out because someone with 3 points wants in. That’s why most people end up in Casa Zimbabwe or Cloyne their first semester, and then apply for a different house after a semester or two. As for the houses, I haven’t been to all of them and I’m obviously biased toward mine. However, what I didn’t know when I was filling out my preference sheet is 1) although Oscar Wilde is the LGBT themed house, not everyone’s gay, and 2) African Americans are a minority in the African American-themed house (in case you were worried about getting placed there and being socially shut out or something). I haven’t been to Lothlorien, but I hear it’s really, really disgusting.</p>

<p>When filling out your preference, put as many as you can- I put all but the women’s only houses and the UCB/grad student/upper division ones. But you can apply now to the UCB houses even if you haven’t been accepted yet, because they don’t check your eligibility status till a couple weeks into the semester. </p>

<p>Fill out your app now- you can always withdraw it. It’s a $40 app fee, and if you withdraw you get $30 back. If you sign a contract, the $40 goes to your first payment. Once you sign a contract, it’ll be hard to get out of that without losing money or something like that, but you don’t have to sign it till a few weeks before summer starts. So seriously, apply now.</p>

18

<p>Oh, and you can run for a manager position at the house. You can’t do this your first semester/summer session, but you can later. I think I’m going to run for a manager position here. The managers (house manager, food manager, kitchen, workshift, etc) are all somewhat comped, so you don’t have to pay all or part of your rent. So a summer contract might be a good investment if you end up becoming a manager, and getting room and board for free or severely discounted.</p>

19

<p>@CantabilenApathy</p>

<p>can you give a quick rundown of all the coop houses(well the ones you’ve been too)? I’ve been interested in coops for awhile now… and it would really mean a lot if you can give me the skinny of all the houses.</p>

<p>I’m specifically interested in kidd, Euclid, Ridge, Wolfe(kinda), Kingman</p>

20

<p>Honestly, I don’t know much about them. I’ve heard good things about Kingman and Wolfe, but I’ve never been. Ridge shares property with Casa Zimbabwe which is cool because you can easily go over to party (assuming you know someone), and then head back to your calmer house to restore your sanity. On the other hand, Ridge has to put up with a bunch of CZ’s ****, and I’m pretty sure a lot of them don’t appreciate being so close. But there’s house rivalry between all of the coops (besides I guess the apartments or the Convent) which is one of the things that makes these places great. I’m not sure how tough it is to get into those houses for the summer, but keep in mind that those have low turnover so you may not get your first choice. House selection is made by priority of older coopers, then other things like disability, and then it’s by app number. Then factor in that every double and triple becomes a single, and every quad becomes a double; so the houses have less openings during the summer. It’s not unheard of for new people to wind up in Kingman or Ridge, but Euclid and Kidd will be harder. So when you fill out your preference, list all except for the ones that you absolutely don’t think you could stand, or don’t qualify for. Also, submit your app now since you don’t have priority, and you’ll be placed based on when you submitted your app.</p>

<p>There are a lot of coop-wide events and open house parties. These are great places to meet people, and scope out other houses. I’d really recommend going to these events or making friends with older coopers in your house who know people in other houses. So many people like their house, but fall in love with another house and apply to move the next semester. And remember, you get .75 point for living during the summer, which will SOOOO increase your odds of getting into one of those that you mentioned for the fall if you didn’t for the summer.</p>

<p>Also, Cloyne Court is the largest (150) coop, and right now I hear that the central office is trying to make it’s star house or something. It was retrofitted a year ago so everyone had to move out, so naturally a bunch of people got situated at their new houses or graduated so right now there’s 20 spots available (for this semester). It’s UCB only, and they’re trying to make it upper division only too. So there’s a really good chance that you’ll be placed in that one (if you list it). I know that the big houses aren’t as appealing (they weren’t for me originally) but it’s a great place to meet people when you’re new to the area. Many people end up taking classes with their housemates, or at least have the same major as some of their housemates, so a place like Cloyne, which is so big and mainly upper division UCB, might end up being beneficial for you as a student.</p>

<p>Each house has it’s own personality, but the personalities change a lot. At Cloyne and CZ the turnover is so high, so you can’t really predict how the houses will be in the fall since more than half of the people will have moved out. The same is true for the other houses, but it changes slower, obviously. The smaller houses tend to be older, since you usually have to acquire some points first before you get in. That isn’t to say that a house like CZ is full of freshman- there are many seniors and grad students there. It just has a wider variety of students, and since it’s not UCB only, there are a lot of people from art school or CCC or something. </p>

<p>You really have to visit the houses to get a feel for them. The website is ridiculous and doesn’t give an accurate description at all of what it’s like to live there.</p>