<p>So, I submitted my Cal SIR and signed up for CALSO on June 17. Confirmation page comes up, and what do you know, it's from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. . . . Are they out of their minds? Who's awake at 7:30 a.m. in the summertime?? </p>
<p>Anyway, I live a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive away from Berkeley and don't really want to leave the house at 5:15 a.m. and get home at 9 p.m. Do I really need to stay the whole time, or can I arrive late and leave early? I'm assuming that 7:30 is just when they give breakfast.</p>
<p>You should arrive on time, but you can leave early. You need to arrive on time because they split you into groups, and you need to know who your group leader is (if I remember correctly, it’s based on your major). I stayed for the major advising, which was useful, but left before the campus tour. (I had already been at Cal for a couple of months because I took a summer class, so it was kind of redundant). </p>
<p>I didn’t stay in time to get my code to sign up for classes, but was told that my code would be on the Calso site after I logged on at the end of the day. It was, and I registered for classes without a problem. But I’m not sure if this is still applicable, so you should ask and make sure if you do leave early.</p>
<p>I went in the morning met with my group and major advisor and then I left when everyone goes into the big lecture halls and split up in small workshops. I came back to sign up for classes.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, at like 5pm you can log into the Calso page and get your advisor code.</p>
<p>It was mainly the arriving at 7:30 part I didn’t like, since I don’t care what time I’m driving home. So what exactly are you DOING for nearly 12 hours?</p>
<p>Personally I didn’t find it boring at all. I liked meeting w/ my major advisors & understanding how to declare, finishing up my last prereq…etc. Then during the free time I got a lot done, visited the housing department & signed papers, got my student ID, visited F/A & talked to them about my grants etc. Although it was a long tiring day, I still got a lot accomplished…since they give you a list of lectures, I skipped most of them (except the first one) & came back at the end of each of those so I could meet up w/ my group. If you don’t know the campus very well then the tour great, but if you are already familiar w/ the campus, then it’s not necessary. You sign up for classes at the end of the day around 5:30 depending on what group your in.</p>
<p>My group skipped the tour since it was so hot and we were all really tired by then. Instead of the tour we went and had iced coffees at Cafe Milano and talked to the student advisers assigned to us. The walk over to Tolman to register and back to Unit 3 for dinner was brutal, but it was worthwhile to stay the entire day. Wear comfortable shoes. My normally comfortable, well-worn sandals gave me blisters by the end of the day.</p>
<p>If your drive is 2 hours or more, consider staying overnight if they offer it. I don’t think I was ever charged for staying overnight, but it was something like $30. I met loads of people that night so it was a like a head start.</p>
<p>eits…did u have to wait long for your code? a couple of my friends told me they had to wait a while to have the code mailed to them because they didn’t attend at least the sign in part of Calso & one of them missed out on most of her classes</p>
<p>I thought CalSO sucked and was worthless aside from the fact that I met a few cool people that I still know/have classes with today. Maybe this is because I already knew literally every single thing they told us. You can find out every single thing on your own except picking classes. So you pretty much have to go just for that alone.</p>
<p>By the way, I passed some time in the student store reading magazines and books (like one does at Borders or Barnes and Noble) during the less relevant meetings.</p>
<p>And consider yourself lucky that you only have a 1.5 hour drive. I had to fly back down to SoCal after the long ass day. </p>
<p>Hhmm…I realize I’m being a cynical ahole in my posts. Must be time for dinner (low blood sugar makes me an ass).</p>
<p>GOOD LUCK!</p>
<p>p.s. Hey luv, you enjoyed CalSO? Me and fijee should have been in your group! :)</p>
<p>I don’t remember how long I had to wait for my registration code, but I know I received it in time to register during the same telebears session as the rest of the junior transfers.</p>