When I got in early for EECS, I was really pumped to go. But as I’ve looked more into student accounts of their life at Berkeley, my initial excitement has quickly died down. Yes, I do want to go to an excellent engineering school, but I want my college life to be balanced between academia and social exploration. I worry that Berkeley has a culture of intense, all-consuming hard work, especially in my major. I don’t want to be a head-down, tunnel vision, ultra nerdy super virgin through college, but this seems to be a likely possibility at Berkeley.
What do you guys think? Is it possible to balance the academic rigor of Berkeley with a social life, or is Cal just not the school for me?
My son who is a junior EECS major/Regents and Chancellor scholar. It has been a very intense program his focus is on EE and then he decided to double major in Nuclear. Sometimes he has said he feels like he is missing out on all the parties and fun you think most college students participate in. He loves what he is studying and he has gotten lots of experience in research labs. He has had some down time where he enjoys going into SF but for the most part I don’t feel like he has much of a balance in his life. He had several great options of colleges that accepted him ( UCLA, UCSB, UCSD, UCD, Cal Poly SLO) he choose Cal because of its strong engineering program. He was born and raised in So Cal. It’s nice that you have gotten accepted early. Take advantage of this time. Visit the campus if you can, join the Facebook groups for Cal, my son got a lot of good information from the upperclassmen that frequent those groups. It’s an amazing university but you have to make sure it’s what you want for your college experience! Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions!
I mean, what type of school would be for you, then? It’s not like MIT or CMU aren’t also a ton of work.
An excellent engineering school almost by definition is going to be intense (well, except maybe Stanford).
There is also no support to back up if the Leland Stanfurd Junior Academy has any indication of intense studying.
To reply to OP, EECS, or any engineering is going to be intense, but when you look at the data from the career website (https://career.berkeley.edu/Survey/Survey), there are 300~400 graduated from EECS every year and another 200~300 from CS. So it’s not just going to be you throughout college, but at least ~500 other people to share the misery and make potential lifetime friends. Some of those probably didn’t have a proper work-life balance, but ~500 people find a way to survive and graduate and make ~$100,000 average starting salary.
If you had a pretty good reason to apply to Berkeley and smart enough to get in, then taking on the challenge might be worth it after all. If anything, find good study buddies and you have a good chance to not become a head-down, tunnel vision, ultra nerdy super virgin through college.
I’m ME but took the intro CS classes. CS classes, especially the intro classes at Berkeley, can be a lot of fun. They are a lot of work(probably the most work you’ll ever have done up to that point, but the majority of students consider it rewarding and worth their time at the end.) The CS/EECS community is very strong, and most students I know are involved in the community and have social lives outside of class–there are of course people who spend their lives coding, but it doesn’t have to be that way if you don’t want it to. I’m biased, but I really think Berkeley has one of the best EE/CS programs in the country, so come here if you can!
Contrary to popular belief, Berkeley is not like some intense academic hell, it’s just a school, and most students do just fine :). And most of my friends are EECS or CS, and although I know some who are as you describe, it’s really all up to you about what you want to prioritize and how you want to spend your time. You don’t need to spend 100% of your time on classes in order to do well, and most students don’t.
Oh, also because of the rigor the students undertake at Berkeley, and the proximity to a TON of companies, you definitely don’t need to do super well–you don’t need As, people do fine w B’s and B+s–to score jobs and internships. Skills and whether or not you’re able to actually do stuff are way more important, so another reason why people don’t need to be so stressed about school. This is unfortunately only really true for EECS and CS, but that’s what you’re asking about xD.
@AmaranthineD thanks for your input. My son got accepted for ChemE and we were wondering about the whole cut-throat reputation is it something you have seen or experienced? Also how common is the bell curve grading system that is often mentioned. I guess he is concerned about his GPA since he intends on going to grad school. Thanks.
@ucbalumnus Yeah, I agree. To the OP, Engineering no matter where you go is going to be intense especially at a top engineering school where there are a lot of qualified students in your class (berkeley, caltech, mit, cmu). It might be easier at a not as “top” engineering school, but you said that you want to attend a top engineering school and most of these schools are very rigorous in their engineering curriculum.
I don’t experience any kind of cutthroat competition in the engineering school at Berkeley. The classes are tough, but this results in closer collaboration and camaraderie among students. Most engineering students I know are pretty helpful and friendly, and although people are usually the most focused on their own success/grades, I can’t recall a single instance of experiencing anything “cutthroat”. The bell curve is ubiquitous, but the vast majority of students find it more helpful than detrimental. It’s saved me in basically every class I’ve taken.
To OP: Be excited about Berkeley EECS! It’s something to be excited about
I guess it also depends on individuals’ expectation. A friend told me that how her kid’s struggling at college. When I asked my friend about how she did in terms of GPA, she told me that her kid’s cumulative GPA was 3.93 by the time she graduated. I was like, “What?”
