<p>lovetocamp,</p>
<p>One last thing. I bet that there are unhappy students at every university. Does that mean that every university is an abject failure?</p>
<p>Look, I'm not saying that these aren't issues that need to be looked into. They most definitely are. However, to say that one or two isolated incidents represents the satisfaction of the aggregate student body is simply silly. If you were to look at life like that, nothing could make anyone happy.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who posted. Though I am angered by what has happened to my good friend's son, and I think that Berkeley should be held more accountable for what goes on in their dorms, this hopefully is a somewhat isolated incident. I will pass on the recommendations (from those who have posted reasonable recommendations) to my friend, so that he might resolve the situation for his son. We will see, when/if my own son is accepted, how we feel at that time. Berkeley is known for providing a great education, and I will try to not let one situation overshadow what might otherwise be a wonderful school experience. </p>
<p>The information in my postings has been completely truthful. I will admit to letting my anger get the better of me. I have known my friend's son since he was a toddler, and I have always wanted the best for him. He scored 1580 on the SAT, and is a very nice and very bright kid. It just really angered me that he should be the one having to jump through hoops to resolve an ugly problem, when he was not the problem. I very much appreciate the posts from those who communicated empathy for his situation. If you had the opportunity to meet him, you would know why I feel as strongly as I do.</p>
<p>Best wishes to all.</p>
<p>How is the English program at Berkeley? Even though it's an easier major to get into, is it still cut-throat?</p>
<p>How many years of dorming are guaranteed? I heard 3 ppl usually get cramped into a 2-person dorm.</p>
<p>Are people generally nice, or are they condescending in general? What about towards transfer students?</p>
<p>I have yet to see a reason to call the English department "cut throat." It is huge, which makes getting into the confidence of professors a little more difficult, but it's not student-against-student competitive.</p>
<p>The most annoying thing you have to deal with is all the people who feel the need to showcase their knowledge every five seconds in class, but that's no different from high school, really.</p>
<p>If you have any specific English department questions, you can PM me. I'm a fifth year English major/Medieval Studies minor, and a transfer student.</p>
<p>^Medieval Studies, heh that is why you are taking Latin 140</p>
<p>Pros
-Beautiful campus
-Very political active
-Best UC</p>
<p>Cons
-Local bums come live in our trees and make up fake causes; activism is good, the left is great, but fake causes are stupid</p>
<p>heerapatel:</p>
<p>1) I am not an English major, but the English program here is quite good. I wouldn't say that any major at Berkeley is "cut-throat." Some are harder than others, sure, but if you work very hard, you will succeed in whatever you choose to do.
2) Two years. Triples are somewhat cramped (I'm in one now), but there are benefits to them, including that they are a few thousand dollars cheaper than doubles. And really, no one is making you spend 100% of your time in your dorm room, there are lots of other awesome places you can hang out!
3) People are amazing! :D For the most part, people are very nice and open-minded. I am a freshman and we have a couple transfers on our floor, and we all get along really well. I have not seen transfers be looked down upon.</p>
<p>As far as the "cutthroatiness" of certain majors goes...</p>
<p>I hear things about the "haastility" of the "haasholes."
No one wants to help one another, things like that...</p>
<p>(note - not my words, but from a Haas student)</p>
<p>anon5524485: It is indeed! It is in fact the only reason I am taking Latin 140, because my Latin is HORRIBLY shaky. :p</p>
<p>heerapatel: I forget to mention how transfers are treated. To be honest? That I am a transfer student has only come up two or three times.</p>
<p>First time: A student and I got into a discussion about being transfer students, and then she asked me for a quote about my experience to include in the TRSP newsletter.</p>
<p>Second time: My favorite professor and I were discussing future plans, and she took my transfer-ness into account when helping to advise me about my schedule.</p>
<p>Any other time it’s come up, it’s been because I’ve mentioned it. The only thing it ever does is get people to start asking you questions about where you came from, why you came here, what you’re taking, etc., and sometimes it doesn’t even get that far. I have yet to run into anyone who has known I was a transfer student before I mentioned it, and yet to meet anyone who has shown a negative attitude to me because of it.</p>
<p>Ok so I’m gonna be a transfer political science major and a pre-med student… any advice? what should I expect as far as classes for political science and the hard sciences go? Is it true that it is extremely hard to get A’s in science classes? What should I prepare for and in general is Berkeley a good option for my major and field?</p>
<p>Wow, this one got exhumed.</p>
<p>I was a CC transfer student and I will say that Berkeley is a very difficult place to get a high GPA. Below are the details from my personal experience. In general, it is not too difficult to achieve a 3.5-3.65 GPA at Berkeley, but if you are targeting 3.85 or above, this place will make your life miserable. My opinion is that if you can get into this place as a transfer, then many of you should have adequate brains to do well here, but whether you have adequate motivation and discipline is another question. I transferred with a 4.0 GPA and was still able to graduate with a 3.94 with Highest Honors Poli-Sci/Econ double major, but this is no easy task. I studied well at a CC, but I had to take my game to an entirely different level at Cal. Let me just say that professors here do not like to give out A’s. For example, in my Political Theory class of 65 students that was graded with 2 papers, there were only 2 A’s, many B’s, many C’s & a few D’s and even 3 F’s on the midterm. In another one of my courses, during one of the last 2 lectures, the professor briefly introduced this theory for around 5 minutes and said that it will be on the final exam, then he chuckled and said “Don’t worry, I was just kidding, it won’t be on the final.” Well guess what? it appeared on the final as an essay question and was worth 33%. In yet another class of mine, this time a Political Economy class, about just 1.5 weeks before the final, the professor threw in a 700 page reader and said that one of the final exam essay questions will come from it and will be worth 30%. Man, there were a lot of *<em>**ed off faces after she mentioned this! In yet another example, a friend of mine had a Computer Science class, and in the last lecture, the professor gave the class a study guide and said that certain chapters will be covered on the final exam and about 4 chapters will not, and guess what again? all the chapters appeared on the final exam, and this dude got so mad when he saw the exam that he threw the exam in the professor’s face and said “f</em>*k you” and just walked out and left. Let me tell you, the professors here really take personal pleasure, and maybe even pride, in screwing with the students’ mind. And I’ve heard two students ask professors about giving A+ grades. One professor said it was discretionary, and the other said that he will only give out an A+ if you can obtain a 99% in the class or that if you get a 97% or 98% you must really really impress him with at least one of your research. I received one A+ from a professor in this Administrative Theory course when he personally graded my final term paper (the GSI graded half of the students and the professor usually grades harder). The instruction of the final term paper was to utilize all of your assigned readings (you have to cite every source) and make a case on 1 out of 7 available essay topics, but I went way above and beyond the assigned readings and did a full-on in-depth level research with another 15+ supporting academic and statistical sources (the professor ended up marking my paper with an A++ and asked for my permission to keep my paper as a reference example for his future students!). He was a visiting professor/head of Political Studies from this university in Italy and is one of the reps of Italy to debate and formulate policies in the EU. Needless to say, I chose him to write me a letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>All this is to tell you that in order to succeed at Cal, being smart or even very smart is not enough. You must also be motivated, highly disciplined, raise your standards to a level that beats out the crowd, and be wicked and be prepared for all sorts of evil surprises; you may even need luck if you are even thinking about anything towards a 4.0. One of my professors said to me, “Nobody, nobody gets a 4.0 at Berkeley…”</p>
<p>There are posts here that mentions that well you will not have time to get through all the class readings and you should skim and focus on the important pages or this and that, but I actually took the time and effort to read through every page assigned and tried to memorize all the freaking details because some professors will place short answer or definition-type questions on exams with seemingly random terms and easily-missed concepts from the readings. I ran into 2-3 of these on one exam that I swear that I couldn’t recall from any of my readings (I was lucky that out of 10 terms/concepts, you only have to choose 6 to answer). As opposed to grade inflation at some Ivy League schools, this place actually favors grade DEflation. The professors here can care less about the grade reputation of its graduates.</p>
<p>I am not trying to scare potential students off, well maybe a little :), but knowing this and be mentally prepared is for your own good. This place will chew you up then spit you back out if you’re not prepared. CC is only a boot camp for this bloody battle field at Cal. My second semester here somebody jumped off the Economics building one day and killed him or herself. The police tapes surrounding the building was an eerie scene. Also, if you will be an international student, avoid staying in the International House at Cal, cause people told me that a student once hung herself in one of the dorm rooms there. This place is definitely not for the faint of heart. You must prepare like a commando to survive in the Berkeley trenches. Good luck to all future Cal students, cause you sure will need it!</p>
<p>@ berkgrad234</p>
<p>Fellow CC transfer student and Political Science/Economics double-major here. I’d like to express my thanks and appreciation for your valuable insights. All I can say in response to your post is: Bring. It. On. </p>
<p>I love a good challenge.</p>
<p>Best: City, social life</p>
<p>Worst: The A-'s. Professors love giving them. A- is an entirely different grade tier, it seems. </p>
<p>A: Exceptional performance and you are naturally gifted at the subject.
A-: Hard work. If you are not inherently a fast learner, this is the limit.
B+/B: Default grade if you work as hard as the normal Cal student and have some background experience.
B-/C+: Treat the class like you have to get an A for an AP class.
C: Do nothing beyond what the teacher requires. Skim through readers and grudgingly do the work.
C-:Miss class regularly but do the work.<br>
D/F: Miss class regularly and your knowledge of the subject is less than those of your classmates.</p>
<p>That A- is like B+ for me haha. I’ve been heartbroken so many times for classes that I put so much into it only to choke on the exams and get B+. </p>
<p>However, there are classes out there that gave pretty generous grades which made up for that heartbreaking B+'s so I think my overall GPA is exactly what I deserve.</p>
<p>are you kidding? CAL is the best university in the world. go bears!</p>
<p>My experience was completely different from berkgrad234’s. I was an EECS major, also a transfer student. I never had a professor that lied or tried to screw students over. Being a teaching assistant I also saw the “other side”, and more often than not, professors gave the students the benefit of the doubt and bumped grades up. I never saw any kind of “tricks” and both students and professors were extremely kind and helpful.</p>
<p>I am not saying that getting good grades in Berkeley is easy, getting an A or A+ is very difficult, but it is not “unfair” in any way. I agree with “BuBBLES FoR SALE”'s grade scale. Work hard and you will be guaranteed AT LEAST a B/B+. Everything above is up to your motivation and intelligence. I really hated those A-'s…</p>
<p>Anyway, back to the original topic. Best thing about Berkeley, the city. Honestly, I hated the city of Berkeley when I first got there. But it slowly grew on me and now I love (and miss) mit. Worst thing: A-.</p>
<p>best: brilliant people at EECS, my super hot girl friend, the weather
worst: some incompetent instructors like those who teach EE120 and 137A (QM)</p>