In other forum sections, UCB seems to have a (negative) reputation for a “competitive environment”.
Question for current students or BA/BS graduates from the last few years: how competitive is the environment generally, outside of explicitly competitive setups (e.g. pre-med, pre-undergraduate-business)?
thank you for posting this question. i’m a parent of a junior, and i hear about this often so i’d like to share my daughter’s experience to dispel this rumor. she entered as a chemE major where she met many great friends with whom to study and work together in labs and discussions. they all joined AIChE where they socialized (karaoke night!) and also helped each other make the crazy 8am lectures and get research positions. they push one another to do better but she never felt they were competing against her. she was invited to the prestigious engineering society tau beta pi (top 1/8 gpa) and with her friends’ support she even got elected to a high ranking officer position in charge of initiating new recruits.
after her freshman year summer internship at a well-known oil company in TX and her sophomore fall courses, she had a change of heart about the chemE field. with the advice of many who have successfully switched into CS major, she took the required cs61b and cs70 in the spring. through her friends’ support and guidance using her E7 (required for chemE) to replace cs 61a, she too was able to declare CS by meeting the required 3.3 gpa with a 4.0! in the fall of her junior year, she went through the recruiting process for internship and even traveled to NY twice. again with the advice from those who have already interviewed at the same companies, she went through the grueling process securing offers >$100k (prorated for summer). she now teaches E98 with some of her best friends to help others in professional development. i can assure you none of this could happen if students were all out to cut each other’s throats. i’m so excited for my younger one to embark on his journey at his dream school - uc berkeley. go bears!
@kiwibot You’ve dispelled so many of my fears with that post! I just want to say thank you, I’ll be entering next year much less scared.
Ahh kiwibot. That’s nice.
I still like my premed prebusiness. But I’ve been talking about it for an hour and a half all over this site. So I’m not going to here. Kiwibot’s got this and I’m skewed towards thinking Berkeley is easier than everyone keeps saying, but I probably don’t represent the majority.
Been wondering how long ago ucbalumnus went to school.
Also, have you considered getting Facebook and then following Overheard and Missed Connections. It’s like all the sweet funny parts about Berkeley.
This contributed nothing to this conversation.