<p>So after i graduated from high school, I thought I would have done a lot of things differently. I kinda wished life had an undo button sometimes.</p>
<p>My question is, if you could start all over again as a freshman at Berkeley with the knowledge and experience you have now, what would you have done differently? This can help us new people avoid some mistakes. =]</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Take some kind of applied math/statistics course every semester. When it comes to classes, they are about as useful as it gets. The humanities, life sciences, and physical sciences all rely on empirical information and you are always better served if you know how to analyze data properly.</p>
<p>Go out with the opposite sex and meet a lot of new people. If you plan on sticking with the same group of friends or playing games/watching tv when you aren't studying, you might as well enroll in an online college. Take full advantage of the fact that you now have a much finer selection of potential friends and mates. </p>
<p>Get comfortable with trying new things out alone - clubs, social events, seminars, etc. It's a great way to meet new people and sharpen your social initiative. </p>
<p>Take worthwhile courses outside your major whenever possible. People who take "fluff" classes to pass on units are totally wasting their college experience. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take something really interesting and specialized that you always wanted to learn more about.</p>
<p>Go to San Francisco. There is no excuse to not be familiar with the city by the time you graduate. It's an awesome place to be, and there are always free activities going on during weekends.</p>
<p>Learn to budget your expenses. It would be a good idea to make a spreadsheet to see where your money is going to on a monthly basis. Set a strict cap for yourself and see if you can manage to get by under it. </p>
<p>Accumulate work experience over summers whenever possible. A degree is practically meaningless these days. No one wants to train an oblivious academic for a real job. Your internship can easily be the factor that sets you up for a real job after you graduate, not your degree or institution. Getting paid is also a nice perk and can help you get used to financial independence.</p>
<p>Don't go home every weekend. Unless you have extenuating circumstances, stay around campus. Non-class related activities are what really mold you into a (hopefully) more refined person after four years. </p>
<p>Get in touch with me if you are an attractive female.</p>
<p>I laughed. Great help.</p>
<p>lol.. all of that is actually pretty good advice.</p>
<p>Take a language and stick with it. Wish I would've kept up with French after high school -- getting back into it now means I have to start all over again.</p>
<p>Talk to your professors. Seriously. I know it feels awkward to go to their office hours and "strike up a conversation" but the networking you do with faculty will help you -SO- much later in life. Even if you don't make a long-term connection, keeping up with your professor during the semester can help head off any problems you might have.</p>
<p>Exercise. It's really easy to put off going to the gym, but regular physical activity -- even if it's just pick-up basketball or frisbee with friends -- will help you stay focused the rest of the day.</p>
<p>Are languages worth the 5 units + time?</p>
<p>Languages are worth a hell of a lot. They will give you a great deal of flexibility post-graduation, and it's surprising how much the discipline required to pass the class (not to mention do well in it) bleeds into the rest of your studies.</p>
<p>Being bilingual+ is a huge asset in just about any field, and in the increasingly global economy it feels as though it's going to become a requirement for advancement before long.</p>
<p>Flexibility post-graduation? Can you explain what you mean by that? :o</p>
<p>I think the word is kind of self explanatory. Maybe you have more opportunities and job offers once you graduate.</p>
<p>Flexibility and having more opportunities are two different things, Viromonkey. :p</p>
<p>No!!!!! in my awsome world of debauchery and drugs it all means the same thing.... muahahaha</p>
<p>^^ i love reading the minutia that folks get bogged down in. :)</p>
<p>I'm kinda curious why that word got caught, but...</p>
<p>Flexibility. Bilingual candidates have a great deal more selection when it comes to jobs, and they often get the bump on salary because they bring more skills to the table. If you choose not to go straight into the workforce, you can head to a country speaking your new language and combine strengthening your fluency with travel/work/study -- again, candidates familiar with English and <x> language would be in high demand for all sorts of jobs there.</x></p>
<p>Humanities grad schools absolutely require knowledge of at least one if not two foreign languages, I know; getting a head start puts you in a good place when applying (because grad schools often don't want you to "waste" your time taking the courses with them when you could've done it before; won't keep you out, usually, but it's definitely a plus), and it makes it easier for you to get started on your research, which means less time spent overall in a grad program.</p>
<p>Learning one language puts you in a place to more easily pick up another later. Doing it in college means that if you decide to retire in Germany, your knowledge of French will make it a bit easier to acquire German. (Not because they're related, but because the phenomenon of "breaking" the wall that prevents you from acquiring a new grammar/vocabulary). </p>
<p>So, basically: you will have many more job opportunities (though they're not all traditional); you likely have a leg-up on salary negotiations domestically; you'll free yourself to learn more languages later; you'll get a great head start on grad school requirements; you'll know another language. :p</p>
<p>Do the Cal language classes actually prepare you for "real world use", or do they just provide the bare basics and leave you to learn the rest?</p>
<p>So far all I've taken is Latin, so I can't help you on the "real world use" issue just yet. (Taking French this semester. The title of the thread is "If you could start over in college...")</p>
<p>The two semesters of Latin, leading into this semester of reading Latin, have more than prepared me to read texts in Latin, however, which is exactly what I need in graduate school and exactly what Latin is supposed to do. However, I know the Classics department is well funded and run, so the usefulness will probably vary by department.</p>
<p>I can't comment on the language courses at Cal, but my 3 semesters of Spanish at a CA community college enabled me to read Spanish fairly well, write in rudimentary Spanish, and to some extent, speak and understand spoken Spanish. I augmented my learning with travels to Spain and making a point to communicate in Spanish with Spanish friends (at least typing to them in Spanish and asking them to type to me in Spanish). It definitely helped me in a real world situation when I went to return a rental car in Barcelona, but the rental agency had moved the office without informing me and I had to call Gij</p>
<p>Oh, what would I do differently if I could start college over? I think I would try to be more focused on what I want to do, and not let my doubts and work schedule persuade me to choose an "easier" major.</p>
<p>Switch major early before it's too late:o</p>
<p>hmm..around when should you decide what you want to major in and make of your career?</p>