<p>I officially hate Cal. Ive been a defender for a long time, but Ive reached my limit with the bureaucratic garbage that permeates sproul hall. From now on I will bide my time until I graduate, at which time Ill put in my app to Stanford, where I will be pampered.</p>
<p>So.....what did they do to you? I can tell you are really angry about some injustice....share it.</p>
<p>LOL, ahh, Berkeley bureaucracy. Hasn't been too bad for me, so far. Then again, after having to deal with my high school on many issues (can you imagine waiting 3 months to get reimbursed $10?), I've come to tolerate it.</p>
<p>part of the berkeley experience is learning to deal with bureaucracy. anyone who thinks otherwise, is in denial. this experience should help when you are unleashed on the world</p>
<p>G&S: buckle up, chin up, soldier on......</p>
<p>forget the bureacracy.....you should see their policies regarding changing majors. A student has completed all of the lower division requirements for a particular major and can graduate on time....yet they want this student to petition after a year. The messed up thing is that this particular student is a recent transfer admit and it says clearly that petition for a major change CANNOT delay graduation. Obviously...petitioning after the junior year will delay graduation. It just seems to me that these administrative ppl just don't care what happens to a student.</p>
<p>My latest qualms are with fin. aid. Normally I'll get my refund check at least a week before school starts, and I haven't heard anything yet so I went to the fin. aid office and asked. Turns out the refunds wont be available until "sometime next week, maybe." So, knowing Cal, that means two weeks. Which means no books for class, no supplies, no gas for my car, no food or beverage for my belly, no nothing. After some cooling off time I'm offically back on the Berkeley bandwagon, but I'd like to shake some sense into the people at sproul, because they are clueless.</p>
<p>Hah! Welcome to my world! ;) Yea, I know how the Cal Bureaucracy works and that was my #1 flaming complaint after the large number of nasty, "If you don't agree with me on everything (mostly on politics), you aren't worth it as a human being" kids.</p>
<p>I'm in Germany for a year and let me tell you, the bureaucracy here -is- bad. And it's in a foreign language. Just to put your plight in perspective and hopefully put a little humor to it. But for whatever reason, the Germans LOVE being helpful... whereas Berkeley bureaucrats give you the brush off. </p>
<p>Though, look into an EAP program and get away from Cal for a year. IT's what I did and it couldn't have come at a better time! I thought I was gonna go nuts.</p>
<p>Ah, smell the red tape in the wee hours of the morning!</p>
<p>i've only been here for a few days but it's so overwhelming the size and the city, and i'm not at all adjusting well to it. it's hard to find your niche when everybody already knows one another from high school. anybody else feeling the same way? i'm out of state by the way, and am already having transfer thoughts. :(</p>
<p>pinkearmufs: no worries, there are many people who go through the same nightmare as you every year. And rest assured that while people will maintain friendships from high school, the mass of their friends will be with people like you, interesting folk from interesting lands...people who they meet through clubs, sports, and even discussion sessions. Just remember that those other freshies are just as scared as you, and they're clinging to familiar high school people as a defense mechanism. Once they get used to being in Bezerkeley, and once you get comfortable in some of the kajillion clubs on campus, you'll feel great. Don't give up! Take a plunge and join a club! I'm sure you must be drowning in flyers every time you walk through Sproul. Keep that in mind and I'm willing to bet dollars to pesos that you'll be having the time of your life by November.</p>
<p>pookdogg's right. Don't get frustrated by Berkeley's size. There's ALWAYS a niche for you. 4 people from my high school went to Berkeley and I met with them maybe once or twice the entire year. The people I met in the dorms are better friends than my high school buddies that went to Cal.</p>
<p>Likewise, I spent a lot of time with the mock trial team (let me know if you want to join, I can send you info.) and got to know a bunch of people well in that club. There are plenty of opportunities out there, but you have to be willing to go out and find them. Don't get discouraged, go out and do whatever you can. You'll enjoy Berkeley much more that way.</p>
<p>Woohoo, I got my refund today. I signed up for EFT and had about 850 dollars deposited to my account today. Books and clothes, yeahhhh.</p>
<p>See, GS, you know what I'm talking about when I say that I hate the Berkeley bureaucracy. And the fact is, it doesn't have to be that way. For example, everybody knows that financial aid can get screwed up. So why doesn't Berkeley implement a policy where students can get a interest-free cash-advance on their financial aid that will tide them over for a couple months until their aid is sorted out? I've never been able to figure out why Berkeley doesn't do this. Other schools do it, why can't Berkeley. Seriously, Berkeley is supposed to be paying that money out anyway in the form of financial aid, so it's not like giving students interest-free advances is really going to cost much. To eliminate fraud, you just implement a policy where if the cash advance was later found to have been given out under false pretenses (i.e. you didn't really have a problem with your financial aid), then you get slapped with some huge interest penalty. </p>
<p>The point is, it is precisely these kinds of things that tick people off about the Berkeley experience. It doesn't have to be this way. This is a problem that could be easily fixed. I don't expect bureaucratic perfection. Obviously mistakes will be made. Fine, fair enough. So in response, you devise systems and processes to mitigate the effects and create safety nets to help those students who get caught up in bureaucratic hell. The fact that this problem has been going on for years and still no such safety nets have been created indicates to me that the Berkeley bureaucracy doesn't really WANT to help the students.</p>
<p>Sakky, I don't believe I've ever argued with you on that point. I think it an issue (probably the only one) that we see eye to eye on. But its funny of you to mention interest free loans, because I didn't know about them either. Turns out we get them! I still haven't gotten my refund check, but I did get an interest free loan of 650 dollars to tide me over until I get the "real" money. This doesn't really change my oppinion on the bureaucratic mess that is UC Berkeley (because I should have had my refund check anyway), but it does put food in my belly and books in my backpack, so thats all I can ask for at this point.</p>
<p>Well, good, at least I see that Berkeley has done a few things for the better. Although, honestly, $650 ain't gonna last too long in Berkeley. When the rent is due, it's due, and I don't know too many people that are paying less than $650 for rent. But hey, I agree, it's better than nothing. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, it is still strikingly sad to see that the bureaucracy has been this bad for this long. I could understand how it might be bad in certain years. But to have things be constantly fouled up every single year, come on, that's ridiculous.</p>
<p>I would argue that consisently bad makes more sense, because the system itself is wrong. It's not like the people working there make a difference. But anyway, I got a $4,300 refund so I'm happy. I should get another $3,000 sometime during the semester.</p>
<p>I hate berkeley too, the schools smells like mugster, a bunch of hairy hippies, and the girls well lets just say you need youre berkely goggles, if you know what i mean. UCLA is better</p>
<p>ROFL. Oh boy, the people on these forums. I won't even bother responding to you, but I'm sure you'll get your flames in time.</p>