<p>hey kchen, thanks for offering the help.</p>
<p>i was accepted to L&S, applied for Haas business... how hard is it to get into Haas before junior year? how competitive is it?</p>
<p>also, how good/bad is the neighborhood surrounding UCB? do you know how it is in comparison to USC's neighborhood? </p>
<p>thanks so much for the help</p>
<p>Hi I have a couple of questions concerning lifestyle, I'm considering Berkeley and LA at the moment...
1. How clean are the dorms? This one's pretty important to me, because I am a neat freak. Are the hallways messy, are the bathrooms dirty? I have a cousin who went to Berkeley and she didn't have a good impression on the cleanliness of the dorms.
2. How's the weather? I've been to San Francisco a couple of times, and it was always pretty windy and chilly. Is it like this throughout the year?
3. Is the campus safe? Some people say it is, while others say its not so much.
4. (Academics related) How difficult is it to get into classes you want?
5. One more: Why would you choose Cal over LA?
Thanks for doing this thread!</p>
<p>kchen,</p>
<p>Is it of any benefit to apply earlier to housing? Is it first come first serve or does it not matter as long as you get the housing application in by May 3rd?</p>
<p>moey: Well, classes here aren't exactly easy, if that's what you're thinking. It really depends on what classes you're taking. Business prereqs are pretty competitive, especially the ones with steep curves. What should be an A can become a B to even out the grade distribution. The acceptance rate for Haas is more or less 50%, but you have to realize that you're competiting with very strong students too.</p>
<p>peachjelly: I'm not sure if you can transfer out of CNR before doing a semester. Keep in mind that CNR and L&S students will take the same classes, so it's not much of a difference, especially the first semester, when all you want to do is get your requirements out of the way. Since you want to transfer into L&S for sure, you can just follow L&S requirements instead of CNR's.</p>
<p>atrophicwhisper: I believe the Chemistry BA & BS differ mainly in the courses that you're required to take. The BS degree has more requirements than the BA. Look up the chemistry majors for both colleges - you'll see the differences once you read about each one.</p>
<p>mikez4m: Most people apply during the fall semester of their sophomore year, and results come out mid-March. About half of the applicants get in, but you have to keep in mind that the competition is tough. The area surrounding Berkeley is honestly not that bad. There are certain streets/areas that you should avoid at night if you're walking alone, but in general it's pretty safe. I have never visited USC, so I can't compare the two, although I have heard that their area isn't exactly the safest either.</p>
<p>sometimesno: Cleanliness in the dorms is pretty much up to you and your roomie. On your housing assignment, you might want to put "neat" instead of casual or messy (although that may not guarantee you a neat roomie since some people lie on their housing apps). If you live in a residence hall, the hallways, lounges, and bathrooms are cleaned daily, so if it ever gets messy, the mess is usually cleaned up in a day. If you live in the suites, the bathroom gets cleaned every week, so it's pretty much up to you to keep it in good order. Most freshmen live in residence halls though, so I don't think you'd have to worry about that. </p>
<p>Weather is similar to San Francisco but maybe a bit warmer. Picture a sunny day with a slight breeze, so it's kind of chilly but kind of hot. During the winter, expect days where rain will consistently pour.</p>
<p>Campus safety, in my opinion, is pretty good. I mean, if you don't want to walk alone at night, there's always shuttle services or people to walk you back to your dorm. </p>
<p>Waitlisting shouldn't be that big of a problem cause most people end up getting into the classes they want. I was waitlisted for all four of my classes at the beginning of this year but I still ended up getting in to all of them cause people dropped out after the first week. When you choose your classes, keep one or two classes in mind as backups in case if your original schedule doesn't work out.</p>
<p>Why Cal over LA? Cause we're just better. Haha. LA is just as good as Cal, so it pretty much depends on whether or not you see yourself at this school for the next four years, and also the major you're interested in pursuing. I basically visited and made my list of pros and cons before making my decision.</p>
<p>hydralisks: Only spring admits are on a first-come-first-serve basis. If you're accepted for the fall, everything's done by a lottery, so there's no point turning it earlier than other people. Just get it in by May 3rd and you're set.</p>
<p>Question: Can I switch school from College of L&S to Haas?</p>
<p>Do Regents scholars get more priority in terms of what TYPE of housing they can get? i.e. I'd like a double in a res hall, would I have a better chance as a scholar? (how hard is it to get a double in a res hall, for that matter, as opposed to a triple?)</p>
<p>Also, what's the easiest/best way for me to start planning out my courses? I'm an EECS major and I'm considering throwing in some pre-med requirement courses because I'm thinking about entering medicine. How intuitive is TeleBears?</p>
<p>one more thing: does berkeley have this "intellectual aura" about it? that's one aspect of the school i've heard of that really sounds intriguing to me, that the school is full of students who actually want to learn and grow as individuals.. would a current student care to comment?</p>
<p>thank you VERY much! :)</p>
<p>Gary Neville: There's no way to switch into Haas. You can only apply to Haas as a student.</p>
<p>dt_: Good question. I don't know if you'll get your wishes honored, but I hope you do. I'd say that chances in getting a double are about 50%. If you're a girl, you'll have a higher chance of being put into a triple (more girls at Cal and housing can't exactly group people of different genders together).</p>
<p>TeleBears is a registration system, so it doesn't help with planning out your courses. Check out the premed requirements (1 year bio, 1 year physics, 3 semesters of chem, 1 year math) and plan it accordingly with your engineering schedule. The best way to plan your schedule right now is to do it yourself manually. At orientation, you can ask counselors if your schedule looks doable before signing up.</p>
<p>If you're looking for intellectual aura, you'll find it. Same goes for the social environment: if you're looking for that, you'll find that too. There are definitely students that care about learning and are curious about worldly matters and such. Opportunities to chat with professors will spring up from time to time if you're interested. Of course, not everyone is like that - you'll find students that are simply apathetic about college as well.</p>
<p>Continuation: Right now, I am applied to College of L&S but is there really no way I can switch to Haas as an undergraduate?</p>
<p>Gary Neville: You have to apply to Haas as an undergraduate if you're interested in their undergraduate business program. You can't just switch. All Haas undergraduates applied as a sophomore (or junior, for some) before they got accepted into the school.</p>
<p>Can you talk a little about impacted majors? Which schools/majors? Can people change majors after the first year or two (say from physics to engineering or computer science)? How hard is it to get the classes you want? Just a general insiders view please.</p>
<p>I have a question about AP credit. AP sign-ups are going on right now and I'm deciding which tests I should take. I got into CoE and I checked the UC website about AP test credit. It was very vague about the credits for the government and politics test and the statistics test(not mentioned at all). </p>
<p>I guess what I'm asking is should I take the time to take these two tests and will they contribute to my intended major(EECS)?</p>
<p>thank you very much kchen! :)</p>
<p>dellen: The impacted majors in L&S are
Economics
Mass Communication
Psychology
Public Health
Social Welfare
Operations Research & Management Science (ORMS)</p>
<p>They are usually based off GPA and you apply your 4th semester or earlier.
For more information (L&S</a> Major - Capped Majors)</p>
<p>Switching majors with the college of L&S is relatively easy as long as you are in the in your first 2 years or so.</p>
<p>Switching to engineering from L&S is relatively difficult. It is not something easy to do and you have to keep your GPA up and meet with advisers.</p>
<p>People have different experiences with scheduling. At first, it seems overwhelming but usually if you plan ahead and pick classes intelligently (ie picking classes that fill up fast first), you should get most of the classes you want. Last semester, I picked classes pretty idiotically and still managed to get all the classes I want. As long as you wait it out some weeks into the semester and stay on the waitlist, you should be fine.
(Though it is hard to judge if it will be hard or not for you without knowing you major)</p>
<p>Thanks cnat for helping me out.</p>
<p>Zimigir: If the EECS major requires you to take statistics and government/politics classes, you might as well take the AP tests to pass out of them. I'm not sure if CoE has this policy, but some colleges/majors won't let you use AP credit to get out of classes, so I would call CoE to ask about this.</p>
<p>I have got into both, UCLA and CAL.
I have got into UCLA's Honors program...
Any distinct benefit of being in the honors program at UCLA such as class size or individual attention etc?
Does CAL have an honors program?</p>
<p>Another question is that is it possible to get housing for the 2'nd or 3'rd year??</p>
<p>Kchen: what year are you? major? can I add you on facebook?
hahaha</p>
<p>and can you comment on the upsides and downsides of Cal being a public (UC) school?</p>