I just saw infinity war for the second time
Am I the only Californian in this thread ?
@kb199977 I go to school in CA but I’m from the East Coast!
Omg @avocadough which school? (if you’re comfortable saying it)
@kb199977 UC Berkeley! Do you go to school in CA too?
@avocadough What made you wanna transfer out of Berkeley if you don’t mind me asking?
@avocadough omg my friends go there! I go to Los Angeles Pierce Community College.
@mdeca12 My answer is kind of long so I apologize in advance. Please note that these are my personal views based on my own experiences. (I have tons of friends that love it here, and if you are considering Cal I don’t want to dissuade you necessarily; I just want to offer my own perspective)
b** I have changed my major since coming here and Berkeley doesn’t have a developed/strong program for my new major. b** I have also realized that I learn best in small classes. Berkeley’s large lectures (up to 900 students) are anything but that, inhibiting my growth. b** I feel like Cal prioritizes STEM fields over the humanities. As a non-STEM major, this is frustrating. (Ex: They provide physics majors with lunch during advising appointments but make it nearly impossible to even schedule an advising appointment if you’re in the humanities). b** The apathy among all admin leaves a lot to be desired and results in unpleasant and unsatisfying experiences. They share a mentality of “I was here before you. I’m here now. And I will be here after you leave.” b** Similarly, class enrollment is always a mess. College is hard enough without getting waitlisted from all of the classes you need. b** I’m paying out-of-state tuition for a place where I’m not happy. b** It’s hard and isolating to be so far from home when 75% of my cohort goes home every other weekend. b** I don’t vibe with a lot of the people at Cal. Maybe it’s a cultural East Coast-West Coast thing? That cultural vibe extends to the overall atmosphere here. b** Berkeley’s grade deflation doesn’t support my future goals of law/grad school. b** Cal has so many breadth and major requirements, preventing me from exploring other areas that I am interested in for fear of not graduating on time.
TLDR: To sum it up, Berkeley is a bad fit for me. I would be trying to graduate early for the wrong reasons. While each of these problems may be manageable on their own, the accumulation of them has made Cal really difficult.
Hopefully this offers some clarification, and sorry again for this brick of a post haha. Feel free to PM me with any questions! 
@kb199977 I wonder if I’ve ever met them! And I love LA; what a fun city to go to school in!! Hopefully we both get to swap CA weather for winters in Hanover though
@avocadough Very well articulated! I agree that large classes and that scene isn’t for everyone. I’m glad you realized that “going to Berkeley” isn’t sufficient to what you want to do. It’s true, fit is so important for good reason, I really hope you go somewhere that you do fit in!
@mdeca12 Are you considering coming to Cal? And thank you so much for your kind words!! They’re much appreciated in this stressful time of finals and transfer decisions. I didn’t even fully realize the importance of fit (since it is so qualitative) until actually going to a school that’s a bad match. I feel much more in tune with the scene/atmosphere at Dartmouth so my fingers are crossed for positive results :-SS
Really interesting reading what @avocadough has to say about Berkeley! Although I don’t have many of the problems he articulates I also looked for much of the same when I applied to Dartmouth! Just graduated from my current school yesterday so I’m extra anxious to find out the Dartmouth results 
@avocadough you literally want to leave Berkeley for the same reasons that I fear going there or to UCLA ._. thats why I applied to Dartmouth, because not only does it have particular fields of interest that fit perfectly into my shoes, but the small class sizes!
@kb199977 Aw, I really hope we both get into Dartmouth! It would be such a dream come true :(( Do you think decisions will be released by the end of this week?
And while my own experiences at Cal haven’t been what I would have wanted, they are just that: my own experiences. So it may not be representative of what you would experience if you came here! But if you are worried, then I think trusting your instincts is important!
@avocadough Same, it would be amazing! and yeah i’m positive that decisions will be released this week, I feel like they will catch us off guard and release like on Monday or Tuesday.
Man, guys! I’ve been thinking so much about this lately. It all comes down to that first word… “Congratulations!” … or not “congratulations.” But as we get closer and closer to the release date, whenever they may throw it at us, I just wanted to let you guys know how I’ve appreciated your company, advice, and support here in this thread as we all trudge through this application season, and good luck to all, wherever we may land <3
@avocadough I was before the application process, but after more research, I changed my mind for exactly the reasons you plan on transferring out because of. Wish everybody luck because this decision is coming soon!
@mdeca12 I’m biased haha but I think you’re making the right decision And good luck to all of you as well! Regardless of the outcome of this decision, I know great things are in all of our futures.
im wondering how I should announce my rejection to you guys. Should it be “there were tears of joy and tears of sadness, but now theres my tears of rejection”
or should it be “I was rejected”
@kb199977 Hahaha I wish we could upload pictures so that I could tell everyone through memes