Never apply for the Berkeley Summer Internship Program

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

<p>Warning Cal students: never apply for the Berkeley Summer Internship Program. That office is run by an extremely unprofessional manager who should not be running anything on our campus.</p>

<p>In short, the Berkeley Summer Internship Program sucks. Poor communication, poor follow-up/replying methods, slang in emails, and when I finally got the manager Devon Howland on the phone with me, he is as impatient as ever to get off the phone with me.</p>

<p>Now, I am from the Oakland public school district, so I am really used to this unresponsiveness in authoritative offices, but I want to point out that UC Berkeley is NOT the OUSD. </p>

<p>So here is a warning to anyone even contemplating this program as an option next summer, do not do it. There is no reason for you to have to pay them to find you an internship -- that is ridiculous. In addition, the program is still in its infancy (~3 years), and as such, probably still has a lot to learn about how to conduct campus business that is on par with other departments.</p>

2

<p>In general, don’t register for anything related to Berkeley Summer Sessions. First and foremost, it is a ripoff: you’re paying about 5-8X the rates you would at a [local</a> community college](<a href=“http://www.foothill.edu/reg/fees.html]local”>http://www.foothill.edu/reg/fees.html). Second, it is run by a contractor company, not the university/UC Regents itself. This is why the Summer Sessions’ offices are located [outside</a> of campus](<a href=“http://summer.berkeley.edu/mainsite/contact_us.html#]outside”>http://summer.berkeley.edu/mainsite/contact_us.html#).</p>

<p>If you must take summer classes at Cal, check schedule.berkeley.edu to make sure that the instructors are actual Berkeley professors, if possible. This is common in the UGBA department (many Haas faculty members stay during the summer to teach additional classes), but very uncommon in other departments, such as math, computer science, and physics. Most of those instructors are recruited from local community colleges or are simply (under)graduate students–and not surprisingly, their quality varies widely.</p>

<p>Why anyone would pay money to do an internship is beyond me. Most internships in the real world are paid, even if the wages aren’t that high. Even if you can’t manage to find one due to the economic climate, you can travel, or volunteer, or simply enjoy yourself. The Summer Sessions and associated programs are very hit-or-miss.</p>

3

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<p>What? Since when?</p>

4

<p>My kids have both taken summer school at UC Berkeley for the past three summers. They registered on campus with UC Berkeley or through Telebears. Summer school classes are not usually subsidized by the State like the academic year offerings are so when you sign up, you have to pay the full cost of the class, which is considerably more expensive. My older son has taken classes in many different departments, always on campus and always taught by Cal professors.</p>

5

<p>thanks for the warning.</p>