<p>Hi, I’m from CT. I applied and have a few questions. I’ve been to Berkeley, but it was in 2001 and I must have been like 14, or something. </p>
<p>Anyway. For those of you who go there, what is it like? How are the classes? What is the social scene like (yes, I read the thread already on this forum)? More specifically, what’s the housing like? Is it coed? Do most people live on campus? What is the academic ability of the students there like? Is the school challenging? Is the school fun? Is there a diverse course offering? Do students get ANY sort of individual attention? If they don’t, is that an issue? Are professors available at all? Are there billions of students? Too many? Is that not an issue, either? </p>
<p>Any general thoughts/opinions/feelings? </p>
<p>Thank you in advance. I have a feeling I might be going to college here, but I guess I don’t really know that much about it. All I do know, my dad has told me about his experience here…and that was a good deal of time ago.</p>
<p>Hi I'm currently a freshmen majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology/ Econ</p>
<p>Classes: The size of the classes vary depending on each department. Science classes such as o chem tend to be very large at about 500 people, but most lectures are broken down into smaller discussions which have approxiamently 15-40 people. The smallest discussion section I have ever had here was about 5 people in Antho 2. The larger sections tend to be in the science labs which usuaully have 40 or less people. The lectures themselves are usually pretty good, but a lot of people usually end up skipping. I think you can watch the webcasts of the lectures at webcasts.berkeley.edu. Some of the professors here are amazing and some can't even speak english. When I took gen chem my prof was actually a member of the national academy of sciences. All of the professors have listed office hours along with the GSI's (Graduate Student Instructors). The GSI's for the most part are very smart, but a lot of them lack the motivation to teach. As for the academic ability of the students, well I have to admit its not that great. I don't know about most people but I found most of my classes here rather simple, but they had a lot of busy work with projects and random assignments. </p>
<p>Social Life: There are four different units (Residence halls) and a another residence hall called Clark Kerr at Berkeley and each of them provide a different experience. Unit 1, 2, and 3 are pretty much the same type of buidling, but Unit 3 is known as the most socially active dorm follwed by Unit 1 and 2. Unit 4 is consisted of Foothill (My dorm), Stern, and Bowles. Foothill is known as the unofficial anti-social dorm. Foothill consists of two parts La loma and hillside. I live in La loma which if you live on the 3rd floor in building 1 you will wake up to a beautiful view of the Golden gate bridge and the san francisco bay. The rooms here in foothill are huge compared to the other units but they are also the most exspensive on campus(I pay $1234.5 a month). You won't find many (if any) parties here, but there is large assortment of very interesting people. If you really want to party you can make the arduous trek to the frat houses. Foothill is located on the northside of campus and is pretty secluded in he berkeley hills along with Stern and Bowles. The other units and clark kerr are located in southside. I can't say much about the other dorms hopefully someone else living there can help me out. If you decide to attend Berkeley I suggest applying for unit 1 or 2, because they will have finished the new infill housing and you are also close to the best dining hall on campus (Crossroads).</p>
<p>I have found life at Berkeley for the past semester a blast, but my only gripe about berkeley is the ego of the students. Last semester my lab partner would not let me help with any part of the lab, because he thought I would ruin his grade. Little did he know I spent all of my highschool career working in a genetics lab. I just sat back and watched him do a bunch of stupid mistakes. I hope that was informative. I'll try to answer if you have any more questions.</p>