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<p>I thought it was pick 1 for college overall and pick 0 for EECS?</p>
<p>My S was accepted to Cal and his father and I discouraged him from attending; we’re very glad he decided not to although many friends and neighbors thought we were nuts. I had heard stories from other people about Cal that were harrowing, although not as harrowing as yours, enough to know I didn’t want him to experience it. Berkeley Survivor, thanks for your story, and best wishes.</p>
<p>If you love CS and have a knack for it, you couldn’t end up in a better place than Cal. My son was an EECS major and yes, he and his friends worked hard, but they didn’t work themselves to death by any stretch, and they all did very well. If he had taken peoples’ advice and steered away from EECS because of the fear that it would crush him, he would probably have been bored and unchallenged at a less rigorous school. You just have to be honest about your math and technical skills. If you’re confident that they’re strong, you’ll probably do fine in this program.</p>
<p>I agree with some of these points as a 4th year. One thing I’ve learned going to Cal is to manage your expectations. Thanks for the read BerkeleySurvior.</p>
<p>The issues with rain and meal points don’t come across to me as real issues since you expect to get shafted when you use meal points and the crappy weather is to be expected.</p>
<p>The weather isn’t bad. It only rains during the winter pretty much</p>
<p>Hmm it seems to me that the many people who enjoy EECS do because they have a need to be pushed or challenged. </p>
<p>Many of my friends prefer the city because they find things more “exciting,” and they do not seem to mind that things could be more difficult.</p>
<p>Ultimately I think that humans tend to have a need for stimulation and purpose. If they can’t come up with anything worthwhile and/or constructive on their own, they turn elsewhere. Many kids depend on school as an outlet to challenge themselves - others may start doing drugs or get into mischief. I have other creative pursuits that seem to keep me busy that I enjoy - in my case, too much schooling just stifles my creativity.</p>
<p>To me, I like a little school maybe, but I think that I am mostly going just to get my accreditation and to socialize with peers - maybe pick up on some things that I find relevant to my own life here and there. I don’t need to take a class and have the threat of a test over my head force me to learn the things that I want to know - I seek them on my own. I think that most people would agree that doing assignments and studying is not the most fun thing in the world. In this way, I found my experience at Berkeley very stifling because I did not have much personal freedom because my life was devoted to a pre-cut path of learning what they wanted me to know. There was little to any free time.</p>
<p>Some people might actually like studying and instead of having freedom, to have things laid out before them.</p>
<p>I feel for the OP… it seems that Berkeley appeals to a specific type of student, and it was clearly NOT a fit for this particular one. Doesn’t necessarily mean Berkeley is evil or that it wouldn’t be a fit for many students, but I think this really is a true example of how important that elusive “fit” is… it could be the greatest school on earth, but that doesn’t mean it’s the greatest school for YOU. Prestige is not the be all, end all. I would much rather my son spend a happy, productive 4 years at a state school that he LOVES, than a miserable, stressed out 4 years someplace he is attending just because he thinks he SHOULD. BerkeleySurvivor, I truly hope you are able to turn things around and bounce back from your setback… college is a blip in a long life, don’t let this one bad choice define you.</p>
<p>Berkeley is a tough school academically with a lot of commuters, very left wing, and does not have a lot of the campus type amenities. It’s also a huge school with a huge emphasis on graduate students and research. </p>
<p>Berkeleysurvivor, though I do believe Berkeley is more intense in certain aspects of being a college undergrad, the same basic story line can and does occur at just about every school. These young adult years are when mental illness and issues rear their ugly heads with a vengeance. Most of us manage to get them under control though we often wrestle with them throughout our lives. </p>
<p>Though I’m not going to say your experience is typical, it is not highly unusual at any colleges, though the high stress schools where the academic rigor is up there, do have higher rates of student breakdowns, I read at one time. What the true stats are, I don’t know. </p>
<p>Some who went through a similar journey at my alma mater, and now many years later are doing quite well. It was a rough road for some, and when a school and student have a true mismatch, a parting of the ways is advised before things reach the breakdown point. Take care and hope all goes better for you. The chances are on your side. Many of those who went through such rough times are now ardent supporters of the college, so who can figure?</p>
<p>Our EECS department must be particularly bad, because I certainly haven’t noticed any issues like this in our Chemical Engineering department. Don’t get me wrong, we work extremely hard (for example, I spent my entire weekend - 20ish hours - studying for an exam at 8 am this morning), but it would be a ridiculous statement to say that I am unhappy with life here in Berkeley. I love it here! For the record, I am no genius (I had a 2230 SAT score and very few extracurriculars in high school), but I have managed to maintain a 4.0 through almost three years here while working 25 hours a week in my research lab since the end of freshman year. My best friend (also a ChemE) and my girlfriend (chemical biology major) also still have their 4.0’s. Yes, academics are a priority for us, and yes, we had very good preparation in high school (we all went to the same California PUBLIC high school), but we are NOT killing ourselves with work.</p>
<p>I am not trying to disprove the OP’s thread or anything like that. I just don’t want people who are reading this thread to think that it is impossible for kids to succeed at Berkeley without being miserable. Most people I know in my classes are very happy with their experience here. Why shouldn’t they be? We learn from the best set of chemical engineering professors in the world (some of my professors are so brilliant, it’s mind-boggling!) and are essentially doing graduate-level research at one of the planet’s leading research institutions! </p>
<p>People always say that Berkeley students are Stanford rejects. This is largely true (my best friend, girlfriend, and I were all rejected from Stanford, and would all have gone to Stanford in a heartbeat), but that does not mean that a Berkeley education is worse than a Stanford education. I’d love to take a team of ChemEs from Berkeley and compete against a team from Stanford or MIT in an oral examination of some kind. We would give any team in the world a run for its money.</p>
<p>I wonder how the experience students have changes from major to major? It seems that the humanities majors were always the happiest with the most free time (at least the ones on my floor).</p>
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<p>EECS is large, so there is more likely to be someone who had a bad experience than in a smaller department.</p>
<p>Humanities and social studies courses can be quite rigorous if you actually want to do well in them (though they do not seem hard to merely pass). On the other hand, plenty of students seem to be majoring in “malted beverage social studies” and choose their courses to facilitate that.</p>
<p>Hey I got accepted for the fall 13’ and I have a question…I don’t mind the rigorous courses and stuff…only the weather…
How exactly is it??( though it seems we won’t have much time to stare at the clouds with EECS) I heard some contrasting views here…Some say that its awesome, some say its bad…</p>
<p>I am from south of India if it helps. How similar is it to the tropical weather…like here :)</p>
<p>It’s a matter of opinion really - I discussed the weather a bit in my story. I am used to Southern California weather, which, in many peoples’ opinions, is “perfect.” In Southern California, it isn’t moist and sticky out, it is dry, warm, sunny, maybe a bit breezy but not too much wind, and only rains a small amount very sparingly (which is when it is usually welcome to “shake things up”).</p>
<p>In Northern California (the Berkeley area) the weather is much, much different. When it is cold, in the words of doc Brown “it’s cold - damn cold.” It rains ALOT. It doesn’t just rain for an hour like it does in SoCal when it rains. Sometimes it rains in Berkeley for weeks and every other day for months. It is usually pretty overcast. </p>
<p>Tropical air has moisture and it rains often in tropical climates. Maybe you will like it? I didn’t. It’s no fun hiking to class when it’s pouring rain and/or freezing cold and/or really wet so I get to class all sticky, smelly, and damp.</p>
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<p>It is not tropical at all.</p>
<p>[Climate</a> Berkeley - California - Climate graph](<a href=“http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate.php?location=USCA0087]Climate”>Climate Berkeley - California and Weather averages Berkeley)</p>
<p>Berkeley/SF Bay Area is a dry summer Mediterranean climate but with more cooler oceanic influences than Southern CA.<br>
<a href=“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Köppen_climate_classification[/url]”>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Köppen_climate_classification</a></p>
<p>Don’t make up stories to discourage applicants you sociopath.</p>
<p>Thanks guys 
I really ought to like this because I like the rain as well…and this is gonna be an awesome change from the 40*C summers we have here…whew :D</p>
<p>Coming from SoCal, I agree with BS. He is not making it up to scare applicants. My family also lived near Berkeley for 10+ years and agreed with his assessment. They are originally from Southern California.</p>
<p>The problem I think is that of stress/adaptation. The higher the rate of perceived negative change imposed upon an individual, there is a corresponding rise in stress. Coming from SoCal, the weather was a negative change, but if you are used to that kind of weather, you won’t mind it.</p>
<p>I guess the same could be said about people living in third-world countries. Many of the people living there are pretty happy, but coming from a different location in the world it would be very difficult to suddenly adapt to living in a third-world country. It’s not snobbery, it’s just simply that people need time to adapt and everyone has a certain stress threshold.</p>
<p>I think all of this comes down to expectations vs. reality. Sure, the surrounding city isn’t the greatest, there are tons of hobos/loonies, classes are huge, and academics are difficult, but those are all symptoms of other large (and public) universities and certainly not unique to Berkeley. </p>
<p>I quote myself from this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1483033-does-berkeley-degree-have-wow-factor-hpysm-america.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1483033-does-berkeley-degree-have-wow-factor-hpysm-america.html</a> -</p>
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<p>I think that you came to Berkeley and realized that you were just a number, that you wouldn’t be doing any ground-breaking research, and that no one really cares about you – you’re on your own. And maybe you became stressed from this realization. Certainly not what you expect from a “Top 5 worldwide” university, and the surroundings didn’t help.</p>
<p>This may be especially worse for internationals who hold Berkeley to the same esteem as HYP (and pay ~$60k/year) only to realize the discrepancy between international and domestic attitudes toward Berkeley as well as the environment and academics. An international buddy of mine chose Berkeley > Harvard based on international rankings, and guess what, he is pretty peeved right now.</p>