<p>Thousands of kids enroll and graduate from Cal every year. Yes, it is a stressful environment. I think the OP had outside extenuating circumstances that exacerbated his particular situation. </p>
<p>Cal’s retention rate is over 97%.</p>
<p>Some of the replies in the thread are simply mind-boggling. Referring to OP as a sociopath for sharing his experience? </p>
<p>It sounds like EE/CS majors are more likely to experience this. Without a doubt, the competition is going to be extreme. Anyone applying to Berkeley should acknowledge this, or at least attempt to. It’s not just Berkeley, many of the other UCs are very competitive. </p>
<p>I only have firsthand experience with the dorms, weather, and location. I live pretty close to Berkeley and the weather sucks for most of the year. But when it’s in the high 60s, low 70s, partly-cloudy with a light wind, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. That’s just me though. </p>
<p>I spent a week at Berkeley for football camp a few years back. Homeless people were definitely a problem. But on the flip-side, homeless people get picked on a lot. It’s more magnified with high school jocks. This was probably the biggest turnoff for me. Also the dorms weren’t the best. They were decent. White walls, two beds, and some generic drawers. I haven’t seen all the dorms though.</p>
<p>There is a lot of good information in this thread. Very insightful and a big thank you for sharing it. Also OP I hope you’re feeling better. Sometimes you just need to vent and let it all out. Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I am guessing it is not a class about scheme. It is a class that teach something else but you need to use scheme to build something that is taught. There is a reason that this same class with the same text book is taught by many top universities for the past 20 years (I am just guessing which one it is).</p>
<p>Not trying to dispute your impression about weather. I don’t disagree with it. The main thing is that it did not ran that much for the past two years. It is a record dry winter this year and a another equally bad winter the year before, while it had one record wet winter before that.</p>
<p>
Hi, EECS major here. Admissions are competitive, but the major/classes themselves are not. Are classes graded on a curve? Sure, but that’s the extent of competition. People work together, collaboration and study groups are generally encouraged. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone treat class as a competition, but I always see people helping each other out, explaining concepts, giving hints, etc. Now, that’s not to say that classes aren’t difficult, and that they can’t be extremely stressful. The people here are smart, and the pace of the classes match that, as does their rigor. The environment, however, is more cooperative than competitive.</p>
<p>irisss: Correct, CS 61A is not a class about scheme, and they’re actually starting to teach it in Python. They introduce a couple different paradigms and languages in the class, along with higher level concepts like implementing classes and basic data structures. Scheme still shows up in 61A of course, in the interpreter project. The only classes that are really about the language are the 9 series (titled things like “Java for programmers”).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, according to <a href=“http://opa.berkeley.edu/surveys/UCUES/StayDay2011FiveMeasuresOfSuccess.pdf[/url]”>http://opa.berkeley.edu/surveys/UCUES/StayDay2011FiveMeasuresOfSuccess.pdf</a> (page 12), EECS has a below average non-graduation rate at 6% (overall non-graduation rate is 9%).</p>
<p>However, the total number by major is low (e.g. 9 EECS majors; at 6%, this would be out of about 150 frosh EECS majors being counted in the cohort), so small variations year to year can make seemingly big changes in the percentages.</p>
<p>I completely agree with TheBanker and UCBChemEGrad. Many of the problems you encountered had more to do with you than the actual university. It is almost as if you have this entitlement attitude the prevents you from being able to overcome seemingly minor obstacles. For example, the women at Berkeley aren’t good enough for you? You think you have a RIGHT to keep alcohol on school property? Come on kid.</p>
<p>^couldn’t agree more.
Probably the OP himself wasn’t interested in studying, i.e., he’s lazy. In addition lack of motivation, poor learning habits, and neglection from his parents (they should’ve known) possibly contributed to his failure at Berkeley.</p>
<p>IMO, the OP could have changed the title to “any college” landed me in the loony bin. The factors and stressors that the OP states could happen at any school. This is not a UCB issue, it is an OP issue.</p>
<p>I have to agree with others in that I don’t think much of your situation is specific to Berkeley, but could be foreseeable at any competitive large university. Other than the homeless problem, extreme political climate, and weather, the last of which you probably should of been aware of before you decided to spend 4 years in NorCal, nothing you mentioned seemed all that unusual. </p>
<p>Crappy freshmen dorms, annoying RAs / roommates, highly competitive engineering classes, bad parking, tuition hikes, etc. a lot of that isn’t at all specific to UC Berkeley as an institution. Even your remark about “Berkeley Goggles” isn’t unique, here at UC San Diego we call it the Triton Eye. I’m sorry you had such a difficult time, but I highly doubt your situation would have been much different elsewhere, especially at another institution in the UC system. I think theBanker made a great point about your expectations versus reality. It just seems like your expectations of the college experience in general were a bit naive and you simply would have realized that regardless of where you went to school.</p>
<p>Got hung up right here:</p>
<p>“I looked through the list and saw some politically based classes (yuck!), religious based classes (everything except Judeo-Christian), and a few gems like film and music.”</p>
<p>Exactly what list did you look through, dear? </p>
<p>In less than 30 seconds I found:<br>
History 165A, The Reformation of Christendom
History 185A, History of Christianity to 1250 - a course I took 30 years ago taught by Paula Fredriksen (look her up).</p>
<p>Courses at Cal are world class, taught by world class scholars.</p>
<p>Lower division courses are definitely a place to “weed” - have been for 40+ years.
Lower division courses are designed as stepping stones to the upper division courses.
You must master those before moving on.
There’s no room for babies or the ungrateful.</p>
<p>Too bad you wasted a golden opportunity. Time for you to stop whining and move on.</p>
<p>MC - Class of '82
BA, RELIGIOUS STUDIES.</p>
<p>For adults that graduated ~30 years ago, I am amazed at the lack of the maturity here. Calling people whiny babies and belittling what was obviously a hellish experience? People have breakdowns like this not because they’re weak and unwilling to confront difficulties, but because they try to push through, just like BerkeleySurvivor did, and then suddenly snap once it passes a crucial point. How the hell did you even get that old without knowing this? Do you think it makes you better than other people because you’re a Type-A who works well under pressure (like me) rather than someone who stresses under it? Get the **** over yourself.</p>
<p>Nobody CHOOSES to drop out of school and wind up in a mental hospital. If this guy was being “whiny” because the pressure at Berkeley really wasn’t that bad, don’t you think it would have been WAY, WAY better than having a nervous breakdown, and that he would have CHOSEN to “snap out of it” to go back? Even subconsciously? Use common sense.</p>
<p>He’s been remarkably level-headed and objective about not projecting his experience onto everyone else’s and trying to analyze the factors that caused him to have the experience that he did. Many of these would be found at any high-pressure, top-ranked school, AS HE ADMITS, but you know what? Berkeley is one of those schools. It IS an issue - and that you come on here to trash someone who bravely shared their story even knowing they’d probably get some responses like yours, so they could prevent it from happening to others, just sickens me.</p>
<p>Bravo, BerkeleySurvivor! (- From someone enjoying their time at Berkeley)</p>
<p>Was your teacher ethnic studies professor Andrew Barlow?</p>
<p>No, the ethnic studies prof was not Andrew Barlow. And yes, there are probably one or two other humanities classes like MommieC mentioned, but I’m talking about the ones that could count towards my major which were not the ones you listed MommieC. It would have been nice to see a few more classes that were based on developing skills in creativity and analyzing more culturally relevant works rather than doing strictly historical/political work.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that you consider Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steven Wozniak (who dropped out of Berkeley), Michael Dell, Kevin Rose (founder of some big sites like Digg), Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle), and a host of others who realized that investing all of their energy in inefficiently learning at a big-dog university while stunting their creativity and happiness were “ungrateful” or “babies.” The fact of the matter is, when you are paying for college, you are paying for a service. If you find that what you paid for was awful, you are not being “ungrateful” because they aren’t just bestowing a gift upon you.</p>
<p>What college you went to isn’t important. It’s what you do with your knowledge and degree that matters. I’m finding that I could learn what I need to know in a much more efficient and less stressful situation while cultivating my creativity and still getting the same credentials with a higher GPA and less debt elsewhere. I’m going to just drive up to UCLA or maybe Berkeley and pick the brains of the staff and tutors to learn extra things that I want to know without all the extra BS. </p>
<p>Work smarter, not harder - a lesson I learned from Scrooge McDuck in the episode “Once Upon a Dime” of Ducktales when I was just 10 years old</p>
<p>^ Haha! I loved that show and remembered that line. Ducktales…wooo oooo! :)</p>
<p>I am laughing my butts off at these Moms who claim that it is all the OP’s fault. UCB is way less competitive years ago and I’m sure the environment was much less stressful. And the other parent is a Religious Studies major who graduated back in 1982 and now she’s judging an EECS major…LOL. Btw, the OP wasn’t even whining, he was just sharing his experience which you would probably have noticed if you read his post.</p>
<p>Some of these replies are just really cold-hearted and downright insensitive. Anyway, the thing that questions me the most is how come these kinds of threads only exist in the UC Berkeley forum section? I’ve been lurking around here for years and other UC’s but I don’t ever see any posts like these…I think that really says a lot.</p>
<p>hi op i took the time to read everything it was refreshing coming from someone who suffers anixety panic attacks and such. I know students who went to UCLA and had the exact same issue. Men in there 20’s, well background, knew what they wanted to do, even played basketball. Screaming on their blog how depressed they were - how they should be happy and grateful because- hey! its UCLA right? no, you are human. We are only human. Its critical since most people on these forums ignore the fact these things happen, they are normal and to stop victim blaming if you’re so flabbergasted not everyone handles life like you do. Another was a girl from UC Davis, like you posted with a guy on his midterm, she freaked on her chemistry midterm, dropped everything and went home. Still recovering, very difficult. Works but full of dred because of the pressure to return and get a degree from a mother that GASP! attend berkeley. Its defintely a Berkeley/san fransico personality trait to “buck the **** up I dont care about your mental problems, in fact, because i never had them, I FIND THEM LAUGHABLE!” I feel sorry for 80% of these posters children who comment, treat and react the same way to there crying mentally spent children the way they did you.</p>
<p>^@psiacc, let’s be truthful. As some posters mentioned most of the problems the OP encountered had more to do with the OP himself than the university or his major. But he blatantly put the blame on the academic/living environment. That’s not fair for most of us - Berkeley EECS majors. We are so proud of our quality EE/CS programs and innovative research initiatives, respected and recognized worldwide. And we work very very hard. The truth was that the OP wasn’t a good student. Or perhaps he didn’t belong here in the first place. That’s it. That’s why things went wrong. He shouldn’t be seeking sympathy on this board. Nonetheless I feel sorry for him and wish him a good luck.</p>
<p>I have wanted to go to Berkeley since I was a little girl, and now that I’m a senior in high school, and accepted as a fall admit for 2013, I thought my life goal has been fulfilled. I was very shocked when I read your story as it reaffirmed some inner fears I had about going to Berkeley i.e. the competition, stress levels, rigorous courses, dreary atmosphere, and drab social life. I’m from a very small town, go to a high school with little or no competition, and dreamed of Berkeley as some kind of gateway to heaven. Now that I’ve read your post about Berkeley I’m having doubts, but at the same time I think I could never go on with life without experiencing Berkeley for myself. Its the anticipation of going to a prestigious school and the 4 years worth of hard work/commitment that compounded to this “decision” which already felt decided when I opened my letter of acceptance. I appreciate you sharing another side to the Berkeley experience that we don’t see very often and I could probably take some of your advice when I plan to go there this fall.</p>
<p>Good luck, Sandy! Welcome to Berkeley!</p>