<p>Hey, everyone. I'm a rising sophomore EECS major at UC Berkeley. I may come off as a bit soft, but I really don't think Berkeley is for me. I came here from the east coast in the (sort of) mistaken belief that it was a haven for intellectuals and liberal thought. Instead, I found that this just wasn't true. Don't get me wrong - UC Berkeley is a wonderful school, with incredible faculty and many smart, friendly people, but most people I see here are simply after jobs, medical school, law school, etc. For example, everyone on my floor was obsessed with just getting internships and grades. I'm not denying that it is good to focus on those things, but it's just not the crowd I would choose to hang out with. It's honestly a bit sad for me, because in high school, I had a pretty wide friends circle, all of whom avidly discussed politics, economics, literature, science, etc, and I was expecting Berkeley students to be much like my high school friends, but so far, I've only found a couple of similar people here. In addition, I don't feel like I've found close friends at Berkeley. I have plenty of acquaintances, but only small number that I would be down to "chill" with like I did in high school. Moreover, I feel like with the gigantic class sizes, it's hard to make friends or interact with professors. I definitely make the effort to do so outside of class (I've grown especially close to my old Physics professor), but... I don't know... I feel like I would've had more one-on-one time with my professor if I had gone to a Liberal Arts College. I've joined activities and clubs that are in knowledge areas I'm interested in, such as BIG and interning for the ASUC, but a large number of the students openly admitted that they were resume padding for Haas. Moreover, I am not doing extraordinarily well academically here. I have a 3.3, which is above average, but not great by any stretch of the word. I've been doing well in my extra-curricular activities, however, and have won a grant to create a non-profit project in Computer Science. Frankly, this is one of the few things that I enjoy about Cal. Where can I find a smaller community of knowledge-craving intellectuals? Should I just transfer out of here and go to a liberal arts college? Once again, I think this is an awesome school for a lot of people, especially those who like meeting someone new every day, but I feel like I might function better in a smaller place with a more intellectual mindset.</p>
<p>The problem with starting at a big university like Berkeley and transferring to a small LAC is that you will maximize the disadvantages of each while minimizing the advantages. LACs’ advantages (smaller class sizes) are biggest in the frosh/soph years, while their disadvantages (more limited upper division and typically no grad-level course offerings) are biggest in the junior/senior years, while big universities’ advantages and disadvantages are the reverse. In addition, few LACs offer EE, and many have relatively limited CS departments.</p>
<p>Comparing high school to college students, pre-professionalism probably increases among college students relative to when they were in high school. Having to find work to support onself is at least in the near future, or may be a current need for many students on financial aid and needing to make the student work or work-study contribution. Academically, 4-year-college-bound high school students mostly take the same classes and try to do well in all of them; professional goals are more abstract and tend to have less effect on choice of classes. In college, students have to select courses and majors usually in context with their professional goals.</p>
<p>Berkeley also has a relatively high percentage of students from the lower-middle to lower income family income ranges, based on its Pell grant recipient percentage. Such students may have more “need” to consider professional goals due to not having a “family safety net” (i.e. wealthy family being able to support the student for a while if unemployed at graduation, or family with connections being able to get the student a job).</p>
<p>The economic downturn and slow recovery may also have steered many students in general toward more pre-professionalism.</p>
<p>Wow… I didn’t think of things in that way. I probably seemed a bit snooty. I definitely feel like I have a better understanding of why people may not be as inclined to be passionate about their studies since they are working so hard. I just feel like people should enjoy the work they do (and I personally have loved all the jobs I’ve had thus far), but I suppose that’s not possible if you don’t have that family safety net. I think I’ll probably stay here. Still, how can I find like-minded individuals? I’ve heard co-ops have a lot of intellectuals. </p>
<p>I always talk about how awesome Berkeley is and how we’re mentally tough if we survive through. However, I realize the way Berkeley does things is not for everyone and it is understandable where you’re coming from. As long as you know why you have to leave Berkeley and ready to move on to the next chapter of your life, I wish you nothing but the best of luck and I hope your time at Berkeley was worthwhile realizing what you like and don’t like.</p>
<p>There was a time for myself at the end of my sophomore year that I just wanted to take a break since my GPA was nothing satisfactory and I had no one to talk to, but my dad flipped out on me and demanded what are my plans are if I stop school. I just shut up because i was so intimidated and got over it and did better in my junior and senior years, but I still have a lot of disappointment over my dad the way he handled the situation and the fact that he didn’t even listen when I was saying something similar to your above post.</p>
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<p>There are probably certain courses where such people tend to be more and less likely to be found in.</p>
<p>Probably more likely (these courses also tend to be smaller):
- Honors courses (e.g. Math H53, H54, H104, H110, H113, H185; Physics H7A, H7B, H7C).
- Graduate-level courses for PhD students, since PhD students’ professional goals are mainly academic and research.
- Elective courses with reputations for “difficult” or “too theoretical” or “[professionally] useless” material (e.g. CS 172, 174).</p>
<p>Probably less likely:
- Courses required for pre-med purposes.
- Courses required to apply to the business major.
- Undergraduate courses with obvious professional applications (probably most EE and CS courses).
- Courses with reputations of being “easy” (tends to attract grade-grubbing pre-med and pre-law students).</p>