<p>I live in SoCal and am not well-off financially, so I'm wondering how much CalSO typically costs... cost of travel, etc...</p>
<p>What will I lose by not attending CalSO?</p>
<p>Just the CalSO fee is, I think, about $200. Since you’re in SoCal, then I guess you’d have to calculate actually getting up to Berkeley…it would depend on what you do to get here. I called Sproul Hall once to ask if I could waive part of the fee if I didn’t plan to actually eat and sleep there, and they said I could email someone about it and they’d consider waiving the fee.
About what you’d miss: I remember meeting a lot of cool people and learning a lot of Berkeley “bear chants” for football games. Apart from that, it was very basic information; know about the Tang Center, Bear Walk Services, the fact that you can get academic counseling, and that we have a rivalry with Stanfurd. It think that might be about it…? Oh, and you learn how to use TeleBEARS but to be honest, I only learned weeks later, on my own xD</p>
<p>The only advantage is having your telebears appointment earlier than if you don’t attend CalSO. (Of course, this could be a huge thing, but it’s really about how flexible you are). Otherwise – you’re more likely to make friends in your dorm/classes.</p>
<p>I’m an international student, I didn’t attend CalSO, and nothing happened. I had friends in Rally Comm so I could’ve learned the bear chants if I wanted to… and the rest of it, you can just find out from the welcome week website.</p>
<p>It really depends on what you are looking to get out of Calso. I’m a junior transfer and didn’t go this summer and honestly I didn’t really feel like I lost anything by not going. The only tempting reason to go was to get priority registration for me personally and I ended up getting all the classes I needed despite not going. Telebears is easy to operate and with the thousands of welcome activities at the beginning of the semester meeting people wasn’t very hard.</p>
<p>If you are a bit nervous about the entire college gig I’d recommend going, if nothing else to meet some people and feel more comfortable here. The academic advising is useful for beginners, but again being a junior transfer I already knew what I needed for my major and minor coming in, and after meeting with a major advisor and L&S advisor I didn’t discover anything new. </p>
<p>I’d look for flights from LAX or if there is a closer airport from there to Oakland or SF’s airport, which will run 100-200$ if you are lucky. You can use public transportation from there to go up to Berkeley. If you really wanna have fun you can drive down, which depending on your vehicle might be cheaper. However I lived on the very edge of LA county and it took me a good 6 hours to trek up here two weeks ago, so you are in for a long journey if you opt for that route.</p>
<p>are you a spring admit? Calso was completely useless. They did not give me an earlier telebears time.</p>
<p>Do you have the option to attend the SoCal Calso? It should be in the selection process of CalSo times. If so, just do that.</p>
<p>Calso costs around 300 bucks, but if you do the survey at the end, you enter a contest and if you get selected randomly they waive your fee, which is what happened to me.</p>
<p>I WOULD attend CalSo. I didn’t think it was a waste of time. It was really cool to get to know the campus and meet all the new people, especially when you’re going to be at a new place, it feels nice to have met some people already. I am good friends with my CalSO roommate now. Meet a lot of people and stay in contact.</p>
<p>It costs $160 for a spring admit.</p>
<p>$0.99 plus tax</p>
<p>I’m a Spring transfer admit… so the only advantage/perk is priority enrollment?</p>
<p>Ankur1521
Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 739
are you a spring admit? Calso was completely useless. They did not give me an earlier telebears time.
Report Problem Post Reply </p>
<p>…or I don’t even get that? Is there any point in going? hahaha</p>
<p>They lied to us. I was a spring freshman admit so it may be different for you, but I doubt it. </p>
<p>I recall the CalSo website saying we’d register for classes or have priority enrollment. But there was no such thing. All I did was play the stupid games with the CalSo leader, went on a tour, and watched some horribly assembly.</p>
<p>The Spring 2012 academic calendar says that TeleBEARS Begins Monday, October 17, 2011, but the CalSO web site says that the CalSO event is on Friday, November 4, 2011 (7:30am-5pm), so… yeah…</p>
<p>Will I be able to register for classes at home on or before November 4th or do I have to go to Berkeley/attend CalSO to get that date? Seems a little late as it is… 
As much as I’d like to play games and see the campus, there are other things I’d rather spend my money on…</p>
<p>Students who are fall admits enroll in their classes AT CalSO. If you’re spring admit, well you can’t enroll in any fall coursework, so you don’t get an earlier enrollment.</p>