<p>Well, I got accepted yesterday, and I am pretty excited </p>
<p>I mean I was a little sad when Stanford rejected me today (deferred-->rejected...) since it was my dream school, but now I guess its up to cal or la atm haha.</p>
<p>I am currently undecided, but I plan on doing biology/medical research/(maybe doctor?). I know UCLA has better premed opps, since a hospital is right next to it..but my parents might not send me there, due to cost of traveling, etc. </p>
<p>I'm still oging to visit both and make my mind, but untilt hen...</p>
<p>Could anyone tell me how the pre-med/bio programs are at berk? Is everyone competitive and do they try to screw each other over (not saying its true..but a lot of people ahve told me this....)?</p>
<p>How nice are the people in general? Is everyone accepting?</p>
<p>What about dorms and stuff? Food on campus?</p>
<p>In general, almost all premeds at any school (there are some exceptions to the rule of course) are competitive and try to screw each other over. At Cal, there is no grade inflation, which means that the premeds get more desperate.</p>
<p>But you can ignore the premeds and join the science majors who are interested in the science, not the parental cocktail party glory. The non-premed science majors are very friendly and usually are very willing to work together to succeed.</p>
<p>Haven’t taken a bio class at Cal yet (I’m a chem major), but I’ve heard that they’re challenging but well-taught. the premeds (again, like at any other school) put a damper on things, but otherwise, the bio departments are very strong.</p>
<p>It’s berkeley/the urban part of the bay area. everyone is accepting.</p>
<p>Dorms are nice, but rather expensive. food, like any college dorm, is rather nasty. I’ve been shifting my points this semester though to the on-campus retailers that take meal points (like peet’s) and the golden bear cafe (which serves better food than the dining commons), and cooking my own dinners in the dorm kitchen. Works so far.</p>
<p>I love Cal very much, and all of my friends would say the same.</p>
<p>i applied for neurobiology…but i’m not a genius. do u think that would be way to hard for me? i mean…i got an 1850 SUPERSCORED on the sat’s and probably 1750 or so not superscored. so i dont consider myself very smart lol i know i know…sat’s dont measure intellectuality but it kinda does…</p>
<p>what do u mean the food sucks?! ahh i thought it would be good. im gonna visit in april for the overnight program…but at other colleges, the foods good! i went to claremont and it was DELICIOUS. better than home almost or about the same. it was like a 5 star restaurant with 50 things to choose from! like they even make fresh smoothies for u!</p>
<p>how far is berkeley from san francisco union square area? hard to get there?</p>
<p>how many ppl share a bathroom in the dorms?</p>
<p>It’s too early to tell. I think you should just continue on the track you prefer, and see how it goes. You never know!</p>
<p>mmmm dining commons food really sucks (although I am kinda biased, my mom is a really good cook and I kinda learned off her). Berkeley food is amazing though. Tons of good places to try that are close to campus and fairly cheap. Berkeley has a large ethnic population, which means a lot of different restaurants to try! (Recommendations: Thai basil (southside asian ghetto), House of Curries, Vik’s Chaat Cafe, Smart Alec’s, the taco truck on Bancroft and Telegraph, Sunrise deli, Sunday thai brunch @ the Thai buddhist temple (google “Berkeley thai brunch”), and more!!!)</p>
<p>wouldn’t exactly surprise me if claremont afforded better food. Cal’s dining commons food is largely mass-made and pricey. This is why I’m excited to move out to apartments next year…I get to cook my own food!</p>
<p>It’s a quick BART ride to san francisco. I’ve gone a couple times with friends on the weekends. Just take BART from the Downtown Berkeley Station to Powell Station. It’s about 4 bucks for a trip I think? Otherwise, if you feel like a spendthrift and don’t mind the longer travel time, you can also use your Class AC Transit pass and get on the F line (it might be changing names in a bit), and go transbay. That’s a free ride (well, you already paid 68 bucks for it during registration).</p>
<p>Depends on which dorm you’re in. I’m in a small single-gender suite in Foothill, so it’s just 8 of us sharing 2 showers/2 toilets/4 sinks. The co-ed suites in Foothill are about 20 people sharing separate male/female bathrooms of 2 showers/2 toilets/4 sinks each. The units I’m not too sure about, but I think it’s a floor (~20 people) sharing some giant bathroom with like 5 toilets and 5 showers?</p>
<p>I should also note that you kinda get used to sharing a bathroom with a lot of people after a while. It might be a little awkward at first, but afterwards, it’s no more awkward than sharing a bathroom with your family. </p>
<p>It depends on which dorm you’re in, whether the bathrooms are coed or single-gender. I used a coed one once in Clark Kerr, it wasn’t too bad. In the coed ones, they install stall doors that go almost all the way to the top and ground so that it minimizes awkwardness. Also, showers are all in the individual double-door system–there’s an outer stall, a small area to put your clothes and change, and then a curtain, and then the shower. So there’s no marching half naked people (although in the single gender dorms, there is a little bit of that since…we’re all the same gender).</p>
<p>Once you’ve visited both, the comments here will be relatively useless, but here it goes:</p>
<p>I have a lot of friends who are in MCB / BioE, and they all seem to have a wonderful time. THe program seems solid and the size is large and healthy.</p>
<p>Dorm food is not that great, but compared to dorm food on other campuses, we have it good. Just come over and give it a try. If you hate it, there’s an awesome selection of restaurants nearby.</p>
<p>I find the population to be very friendly in general, but I think that’s also true for UCLA. I love Berkeley, but you may find things different.</p>
<p>Honestly - if you think Stanford was your dream college and UCLA provides more opportunity, I feel that you’re probably going to like UCLA better. I’m from SoCal, and travel expenses only take up approximately $300 per year. It should be similar if you’re from NorCal and are going to UCLA. Just remember that college is a place to experiment and explore, and having some distance from your parents can be good!</p>
<p>I don’t know… I don’t think premeds generally try to screw each other over, how exactly would they do that? Try giving specific examples of premeds you know who screwed others over, see if any come to mind… it’s not like they’re giving each other false study review notes or something… </p>
<p>It’s more the case that in berkeley, the premed courses here are pretty difficult… (atleast they are for me.) The professors are unforgiving about the grade ranges they set, and it’s hard to get an A in most premed req’s. Try to find out about this about UCLA - whether it’s easier to get A’s in premed classes, that could help you decide. </p>
<p>berry: I had a very similar SAT score to your superscore, so just calm down about that part, SAT scores don’t tell you everything about intelligence… it’s more like they can only predict performance of a limited range mathematical and literary abilities, aren’t really proven to predict beyond that. About whether or not you’ll do well in neurobio classes, you’ll find that out once you take the class… it’s prob a mix of interest and focusing effort. I haven’t taken any MCB neuro classes yet, but I’m planning to soon.</p>
<p>ok no premeds do not try to screw each other. the classes are hard, people study a lot and freak out a lot, but there really isn’t any way to actually screw somebody else over</p>
<p>and yeah dining halls get annoying after a while, you really can’t go there more than like 4 meals a week. It’s not because the food is bad.</p>
<p>*I don’t know… I don’t think premeds generally try to screw each other over, how exactly would they do that? Try giving specific examples of premeds you know who screwed others over, see if any come to mind… it’s not like they’re giving each other false study review notes or something… *</p>
<p>Only specific stories I’ve heard for Cal are of people checking stuff out of the library specifically to prevent other students in the same class from having it available to review with, and sometimes even going so far as to tear out the relevant pages or never return the book if it’s something longer-term.</p>
<p>That said, I’ve heard horror stories about guys at Hopkins coming back from class to find that someone’s broken into their rooms to ruin their filing cabinets and mag their HDDs shortly before major project deadlines. Strongly doubt that that happens here (…and am skeptical that it happens there, obviously), but it seems unlikely that these stories would exist without some thematic realities to support them.</p>
<p>Those rumors about premeds screwing each other over seem pretty exaggerated. I can’t really imagine it happening as far as my experiences go. But then again, I don’t live in that world.</p>