<p>What is it like to be a freshman at Berkeley? Does the school help you get adjusted and integrated into the community? Is it easy to make friends? Can you get into the classes you need? I am looking at classes in music, English and language. I am anxious about a large school and being a number.</p>
<p>walking down sproul plaza at 12 in the afternoon, right after classes are let out, can be overwhelming at first with so much going on but you get used to it (i quite enjoy flirting with the honey’s handing out ads ;D)</p>
<p>the difficulty of making friends depends on you and what type of people you want to hang out w/. </p>
<p>you can get classes you need if you get the classes you need. But if you don’t get the classes you need, you can try to get the classes you need the next term. (lol)</p>
<p>anxiousness is good, it means you’re excited, and you should be…but don’t make your expectations too high, you might be let down by realizing that you’re ideal “college life” isn’t what you’re living.</p>
<p>so berkeley doesn’t have an ideal college life? i’m also going to be a freshmen and i would like to know what “ideal college life” i’ll be missing :p</p>
<p>The question to ask is not whether Berkeley has an ideal college life, but rather what is an ideal college life.</p>
<p>In any case, the college life you get here is most certainly unique, and you should be aware of that. It’s a major reason why I decided to come though.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The university itself is very off-hands. Administration sits in the back, and you are expect to make friends and get through everything on your own. They do allow you to fail, and that can happen very easily. But…</p></li>
<li><p>There’s a tremendous amount of opportunity to build a support network, and the accepting attitudes that most people carry go a far ways into making sure that you fit in on campus and survive. However…</p></li>
<li><p>Similar to my first point, you got to make the connections yourself. You will need to have that open attitude everyone else has, and you will need to sieze the opportunities you have.</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of campus life, there’s always something going on at all times. You will not have trouble seeking student activities, even if you only have time on Sunday nights.</p></li>
<li><p>You will make friends easily in the dorms, after classes (if you take the effort to know people), and thru clubs.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The whole idea is that it’s a very hands-off campus. You will need to either come with a mature attitude or learn how to have one quickly. Otherwise, the campus is very darwinian in nature.</p>
<p>I personally didn’t have as much proactiveness as I should have in terms of making friends, but an open attitudent allowed me to become friends with some very socialable people. This in turn led to an invaluable support system. I also joined (or more accurately, founded) a fraternity, and as “interesting” of an image you may have about the concept, the structured system does really accelerate the process of friendship and make you fit on the campus well.</p>