My experiences at Berkeley - the Leadership Overnight Staying program

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>** Day one- Sunday **</p>

<ol>
<li><p>There were 7 hobos on campus. Yes I counted. Though they are pretty harmless and will only come ask you for money if you are by yourself during the night.</p></li>
<li><p>Food is ridiculously expensive. $1.80 for a soda(though refillable) and $5 for a pizza that's like 3 inches radius. </p></li>
<li><p>There were over 100 people who went, and we were separated into 14 groups. Someone messed up and forgot to press the "randomize" button, because we were all segregated by gender and race. lol I thought it was pretty funny though, since my group was all Asians. There was also couple of all female groups/ all Caucasian groups too. We tended to stay in our groups, but I went and mingled with the other groups too. You need social skills here, not just study all day.</p></li>
<li><p>There were a lot of people from out of state who paid for their own plane tickets to go. Me included. I don't know why there are multiple topics on CC stating that their son/daughter got a Free ticket with a round trip plane ticket. bs. no one there got a free ticket at all</p></li>
<li><p>The city/ campus is on a hill. If you ever heard of the foothill residence hall, you'd probably think: "foot" + "hill" = at the bottom of the hill right? wrong. Its at the TOp of the hill. The whole campus is slanted towards the east (top) and west (bottom). To get to classes, you will probably have to walk up the hill a couple of times. oh and it's not one of those small hills. Its a really big hill. Most slopes are under 45 degrees but some are like at 50.</p></li>
<li><p>You actually get along with others that are of the same intelligence level, unlike those r-tards in high school we know oh -so-well. no offense to some of you people on CC.</p></li>
<li><p>I lived in unit 2 for the night. How good your dorm is really depends on the people on your floor. If you like weed and crack, go live in unit 3, because there are at least 1 pothead that's throwing a party there once a week. if you don't like walking an extra 2 small blocks, live in unit 1 or 3, it's the closest. Unit 2 was the most recently renovated and looks brand sparkeley new but is 2 blocks further than unit 1 or 3. One of my friends went to clark kerr and said it's huge (complete with a lounge and big screen TV). No one went to foothill because apparently all the engineers were studying (like always). Units are pretty cramped, but It's bearable.</p></li>
<li><p>At like 9PM one of the dance clubs had a show in the plaza. Most of them were pretty hot. btw, There's this thread on CC with the topic name "girls." I don't know what some of you trolls are smoking, because there are a lot of decent looking girls on campus. Of course, like a typical bell curve, there are also supermodel and ugly ones too. I'm a guy and i'm not gay so I can't speak on how the guys look</p></li>
<li><p>Did I already say that you have to walk up a steep hill every day ( at least a couple of times per day) for the next 4 years if you decide to come here?</p></li>
<li><p>The CoE adviser didn't want to speak with me. Jerk. I talked to the student aid guy instead. </p></li>
<li><p>Co-op bathrooms. Horrible first experience. I saw a half naked hot girl when I walked in and I was like "holy sh1t i went in the wrong bathroom" and ran off. 5 seconds later I realized that it was co-op...that girl must have thought i was some idiot or something...</p></li>
</ol>

<p>** Day two- monday **</p>

<ol>
<li><p>i only saw 2 hobos today. w00t.</p></li>
<li><p>There are a lot more people on campus at 8AM. At around 9AM people start going to the plaza to hand out fliers. There are also people selling fresh fruit, hippie shirts, etc. Oh and there was this old doomslayer woman that preached that the world would end iin like 3 years. lol</p></li>
<li><p>I got lost a couple of times going to class, and everyone I asked was really friendly and helpful and helped me find my way</p></li>
<li><p>I did my research before going to class and I only went to the classes with the best professors. They are amazing (I went to CS61 b and MA1b). my unlucky friends decided to go to MA53 to listen to this Russian professor that had a very thick accent. They did not have a good time. Lesson: don't sign up for random classes.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>5.</p>

<p>Ok, by now I only talked about non-specific stuff, but that's because they apply to everyone. The only reason I went was because I wanted to know how competitive/hard/rigor the CS program was there. Since most of you guys on CC are not doing CS, I won't talk about it. </p>

<p>Btw though, I talked to 52 CS majors (undergrad, graduate, and graduated). Yes I counted and took notes when they talked. I didn't hear a lot of good things. Send me a private message if you want to know more about Engineering at Berkeley, I don't want to scare off other people because 80% of the stuff they told me was pretty horrible.</p>

<p>Other major Class Info
for the other majors if you can, try to avoid bio1A, chem1A at all costs. Major GPA killer. Though if you have to take it then good luck.</p>

<p>The math 1A is basically calculus AB, math1B is like Calc BC+1st and 2nd order differential equations with a major emphasis on mclauren and power series. </p>

<p>CS61a is python, CS61b is JAVA, CS61c is C(++?). I already took the Ap test and did a lot of programming already by myself because I love it so much, but for the people who never took a programming course I would suggest you first self learn during the summer because each course is 1 semester, not 1 year like in high school where you can just procrastinate.</p>

<p>dont take Math 53 with that russian guy. forgot his name but everyone hates him. His tests are also ridiculously hard and has nothing to do with his lectures lol. Ask around for his name</p>

<p>If you want to be a business major do reconsider your option. Haas is doubely selective, and you only get ONE CHANCE to get in. That means, if you only came to Berkeley only because of haas business and get rejected, you are screwed for life. literally.</p>

<p>R&C1a and 1b are busy work classes. depends on teacher though.</p>

<p>Other random Info'
There are lots of nice people on campus, but like always, there are...um...special...people too. just ignore them</p>

<p>Did I already say the dance team was pretty hot?</p>

2

<p>Regarding point 4): There are many overnight stay programs that are being organised - yours was probably not the one that was “free”. Trust me, there are free ones. I’ve hosted in some before. </p>

<p>Regarding point 11): You probably mean “co-ed”. Co-ops are a whole other different thing (although their bathrooms are probably also… an experience). And why would you be disturbed by a random hot half-naked girl? Haha. Just kidding.</p>

3

<p>A lot of this screams ■■■■■…but then other parts are just simple bits of advice.</p>

<p>but where are you going to get a 3" pizza slice? sounds like crossroads…but then you paid $5 for a pizza slice at crossroads!!! hahahahahahaha</p>

<p>Foothill is on the foot of a hill…did you not look east (up the hill)? It gets a lot steeper and higher.</p>

4

<p>@sllamas1
how does this scream “■■■■■”? all my points are accurate.
I was not talking about a pizza slice, it’s the small round pizza you get at late night. No I did not pay for the food, my dorm host paid for it. </p>

<p>Also if you look at the campus as a whole, foothill is technically located on top of the hill</p>

5

<p>“If you want to be a business major do reconsider your option. Haas is doubely selective, and you only get ONE CHANCE to get in. That means, if you only came to Berkeley only because of haas business and get rejected, you are screwed for life. literally.”</p>

<p>Did you talk to any Haas students? I know the acceptance rate is 50% but I’m sure getting in is much more selective than that because I imagine many Pre-Haas students don’t even end up applying for whatever reasons.</p>

6

<p>@loldanielol</p>

<p>no I did not talk to any undergraduate or graduate students personally but a lot of people at the program wanted to do business and get into haas so I listened in. I do not know the acceptance rate and I know nothing about haas other than what I have heard, sorry. Like I said, i’m majoring in CS.</p>

7

<p>“7. I lived in unit 2 for the night. How good your dorm is really depends on the people on your floor. If you like weed and crack, go live in unit 3, because there are at least 1 pothead that’s throwing a party there once a week. if you don’t like walking an extra 2 small blocks, live in unit 1 or 3, it’s the closest. Unit 2 was the most recently renovated and looks brand sparkeley new but is 2 blocks further than unit 1 or 3. One of my friends went to clark kerr and said it’s huge (complete with a lounge and big screen TV). No one went to foothill because apparently all the engineers were studying (like always). Units are pretty cramped, but It’s bearable.”</p>

<p>Yea, not really like that in regards to the units. If you like weed and crack? Oh god. Honestly, you sound a bit uppity judging by these posts…</p>

8

<p>OP - actually I don’t find any of your points very different than what you would find in a typical college in America. And I find your usage of “ugly” and “r-tard” pretty offensive. You may have the grades to get into Berkeley but sure you don’t have the finesse.
And about unhappy students - talk to some of the students from MIT, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Cornell, Northwestern - someone told me the higher the school is rated, the more overachievers are there, the more unrealistic expectations and more depression and what not.</p>

<p>And wanted to add, you are NOT screwed for life if you don’t get into Haas. Business degrees are a dime a dozen. Someone actually said getting a business degree is learning ‘differential equations without taking algebra 1’…if you get what I am saying. Get an MBA - also a lot of the big investment companies want EITHER of economics, or business or whatever. So not getting into Haas may actually be a positive thing.</p>

9

<p>What did you hear that was so bad about engineering? You were pretty honest about the other points so I don’t see how it could hurt if you posted some of the things people said about engineering</p>

10

<p>Most kids joining these sought after schools usually come from being in their little ponds - the high schools. I remember the following comment from the Director of Undergraduate Admissions during MIT college tour:</p>

<p>“Believe it or not, in spite of being top performers in your high school, 50% of you will be in the bottom half of the class.”</p>

<p>Very sobering fact. Humility is the first thing one learns in college.</p>

11

<p>@tryingforcollege
by r-tards I actually mean bullies,jerks, etc.
And like I said before, for business I just repeated what I heard from other kids.</p>

<p>@nefari
I was kind of exagerrating by saying that all of unit 3 had weed. That’s untrue. Only some floors do. The reason I pointed out unit 3 because people said unit 3 had the most drugs</p>

<p>@everyone else that’s saying that I sound like a do uche
This thread was really meant to be funny and accurate, not insulting. If you don’t like my sense of humor, I’m sorry, but just don’t be a jerk about it</p>

12

<p>i don’t know why, maybe it has something to do with your tone, but I don’t like you very much</p>

13

<p>^haha same thoughts here.</p>

14

<p>^ me too. College could change that…</p>