some insight of cal!

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

<p>Hello everyone,
I am very interested in studying political science and french at berkeley.
I am an athlete so I will be taking part of a sport at the uni.
I will not be traveling to visit the uni and I would like to know some insight on the following things:
I am used to small classes at my hs. Would attending a polsci class be totally different?
Are the dorms outdated?
What about the campus? How would you qualify it.(beauty, green, spacious)
How about the quality of the food?
And my last question is: Do students like to be taught by GSI?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!
Any reply would be nice!</p>

2

<p>I don’t know about poli sci but I imagine that the classes won’t be like 20 people, as most lower div classes aren’t. However, before you come, people like maybe idk parents make you think that big classes are not good to learn in but I don’t think it has made a difference for me. It really depends on what your teacher’s teaching style is and the material that they bring to lecture. GSI’s are pretty helpful and to me, it really doesn’t matter if I’m taught by a GSI or professor as long as I learn the material. It’s harder to know about short cuts or tricks to use on some problems if the GSI doesn’t know it and the prof does. But essentially, it doesn’t matter who teaches.</p>

<p>The dorms are new in some places, old in others. Unit 3 is “older” but the Beverly Cleary dorms which is part of unit 3, just across the street, are newer. I haven’t seen bowles. Unit 1 and Unit 2 are pretty new. Unit 1 is nicer I’d say. Clark Kerr is old on the outside, new on the inside. Stern and foothill are pretty old looking. </p>

<p>I LOVE the food and gained a lot of weight lmao but that’s okay. some people don’t like it. I guess if you had a chef in high school, then no the food’s not good. but if your mom barely cooks at home, then yes it’s good.</p>

<p>However, the food is always fresh. Late night is amazing…you’ll see.</p>

3

<p>I’m an intended poli sci major, just finished my first semester. My intro to American gov class this semester had probably 400-something people in it, but my discussion section had something like 25. For this particular class, I found lecture was rubbish but section was worthwhile. On the other hand, I’ve had classes were lecture was good and discussion was just okay. It all depends on the quality of the instructor. Later on in poli sci I’m told the class sizes get a lot smaller.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t really call the dorms totally outdated. Unit 3 is pretty old and it doesn’t exactly look nice; Units 1 and 2 are similar but they were recently renovated. A lot of times, though, people want to live in these places because they provide a greater sense of community. If you’re looking to live in a nice dorm, Clark Kerr or the minisuites in Units 1 and 2 are much more modern than the older dorms.</p>

<p>Personally, when I visited before I enrolled, I fell in love with the campus. I love the library, Memorial Glade, the trees, Sather Gate! It’s pretty cool.</p>

<p>If you’re talking about food that you can use meal points on… Eh, hit or miss. The on-campus cafes have some pretty good options. The big dining halls that serve the dorms sometimes have really good food, but occasionally there are days where the menu is very blah. Most of the time it’s in the middle of these two.</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>UC Berkeley is a major research university, so you’ll need some confidence and drive to deal with its size. During your first 2 years, you will take introductory courses, which are typically lecture-style, with 300+ students in them. These lectures are accompanied by discussion sections of ~20 people. While your professor teaches in the lecture, your GSI will lead the discussion section. Your GSI doesn’t really teach. He/she will mostly help the discussion section concerning the topics of lecture, answer questions, and deal with homework. Then during your 3rd and 4th years, (once you’ve officially declared your major), your classes will be quite small. Many upper division classes are in the 20 person range, and they are obviously all taught by professors.</p>

<p>Also, no matter what year you are, office hours are always available. So if you are in your 1st year, and you want to see your professor, personally, on a weekly basis, you simply take the initiative to visit his/her office during their specified hours. This allows you to maintain (almost) Liberal Arts College - like relationships with your superstar Berkeley professors :)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I personally wish my building was newer, but everyone I know is happy with it. However, our elevator is quite slow, and this is a little annoying. But in the end, it makes VERY little difference to us. Also, my high-rise building is the slightly older version. The new buildings in the units are very nice! Their top floors have VERY high ceilings, which is really cool, and their elevators are super quick! Here is a picture: [link[/URL</a>]</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I find it absolutely beautiful. From my dorm I see the sun set every day on the San Francisco bay. There is a stream that runs through the entire campus, and you will probably cross it everyday. Along this stream runs all kinds of vegetation, including tall sequoia and evergreen trees. There are large patches of lawn, with hills, where you often see couples, and many people sleeping, playing frisbee, or reading. Memorial Glade is one of them. Faculty Glade is also really nice. There are also random little forests spread out through the campus for you to get lost in, if you’re bored! There is an area called the Eucalyptus Grove which is stunning, because the trees there are so incredibly tall. Also, if you look on Google Maps, a huge part of Berkeley’s campus to the east is pretty much a huge forest, including their botanical gardens. Redwood grove is stunning. All of this is on the Berkeley campus, which is huge.</p>

<p>[URL="<a href="http://www.onefinedayevents.com/wordpress/real-weddings/forest-fantasy-the-uc-berkeley-botanical-gardens"]Check"&gt;http://www.onefinedayevents.com/wordpress/real-weddings/forest-fantasy-the-uc-berkeley-botanical-gardens"]Check</a> this out](<a href=“http://www.theory.chem.vt.edu/mqm2010/images/unit1.jpg"]link[/URL”>http://www.theory.chem.vt.edu/mqm2010/images/unit1.jpg)</p>

<p>Here are some pictures.
[Strawberry</a> Creek](<a href=“http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/images/photos/strawberrycreek.jpg&imgrefurl=http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/staff/staff_info.php&usg=__9Vw5r0s4zOKL_q7QXjGSxa-Nl9s=&h=367&w=275&sz=25&hl=en&start=0&sig2=udHw-WfNfqqrOKo9-lrGpw&zoom=1&tbnid=nueXw-wmtNlQ2M:&tbnh=144&tbnw=108&ei=CzMgTbaACIuCsQO0nryDCg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Duc%2Bberkeley%2Bstrawberry%2Bcreek%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1C1CHFX_enUS386US386%26biw%3D1249%26bih%3D847%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=125&vpy=50&dur=414&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=85&ty=137&oei=CzMgTbaACIuCsQO0nryDCg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0"]Strawberry”>http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/images/photos/strawberrycreek.jpg&imgrefurl=http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/staff/staff_info.php&usg=__9Vw5r0s4zOKL_q7QXjGSxa-Nl9s=&h=367&w=275&sz=25&hl=en&start=0&sig2=udHw-WfNfqqrOKo9-lrGpw&zoom=1&tbnid=nueXw-wmtNlQ2M:&tbnh=144&tbnw=108&ei=CzMgTbaACIuCsQO0nryDCg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Duc%2Bberkeley%2Bstrawberry%2Bcreek%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1C1CHFX_enUS386US386%26biw%3D1249%26bih%3D847%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=125&vpy=50&dur=414&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=85&ty=137&oei=CzMgTbaACIuCsQO0nryDCg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0)
[Forest[/URL</a>]
[URL="<a href="http://farm4.static.■■■■■■■■■■/3654/3523153613_6263c7a8dd.jpg"]View"&gt;http://farm4.static.■■■■■■■■■■/3654/3523153613_6263c7a8dd.jpg"]View</a> on San Fran](<a href=“Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!”>Desktop Wallpaper: Free Trial!)
[Sunset</a> 1](<a href=“http://cache.virtualtourist.com/2361129-The_Campanile-Berkeley.jpg"]Sunset”>http://cache.virtualtourist.com/2361129-The_Campanile-Berkeley.jpg)
[Sunset</a> 2, Golden Gate Bridge](<a href=“http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/photography%20pictures/2008_01_21_N%20California%20for%20web/IMG_0479_tweak.jpg"]Sunset”>http://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/photography%20pictures/2008_01_21_N%20California%20for%20web/IMG_0479_tweak.jpg)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Dining Hall food sucks! I stick to the brand-name cereal that they have (and there’s a great selection). The fruit is also fine, and occasionally they’ll serve something nice.</p>

<p>BUT, and that’s a big but, the city of Berkeley has some of the most incredible food on the West Coast. It’s really amazing, and I’m sad that I barely had any time to explore it yet. Here are some examples:</p>

<p>My friend had persian food right next to campus, and he said it’s the best persian food he’s ever had. He’s from Iran.
One of my best friends is a huge fan of Indian food. He’s never had better Indian food than at some place right across from campus, not sure what it’s called.
I have never tasted better doughnuts than at King Pin Donuts, nor better Boba than at Sweetheart Cafe.
You have 3 amazing options for frozen yogurt near campus.
Top Dog serves legendary hot dogs.
And much, much more. Chinese, Korean, Sushi, Greek, Italian… there is so much to choose from, and it’s all soooo good! Otherwise, you can always just go to Chipotle haha.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I have loved my GSIs! Mine have been super helpful. My math GSI however had a heavy accent, but that didn’t stop anything. He was a really cool guy.</p>

<p>Since Berkeley has mostly across-the-board top 5 graduate programs, all of my GSIs have been from either MIT, Stanford, or one of the Ivy League schools. The same goes for my friends. So for example, your random english class and your math class will have much better GSIs than at peer schools, like Northwestern or Emory, because Berkeley graduate school [English</a> is ranked #1](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-english-schools/rankings"]English”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-english-schools/rankings) and [math</a> is ranked #2](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-mathematics-programs/rankings"]math”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-mathematics-programs/rankings), etc etc. Berkeley beats EVERY school when considering the strength of all its graduate programs.</p>

5

<p>[Here</a> are the rankings for Graduate school political science](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-political-science-schools/rankings"]Here”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-political-science-schools/rankings)</p>

<p>You might ask why I would bring up graduate school, when you are asking about undergraduate programs. It is because the departments are still similar, with the same faculty etc etc.</p>

<p>Here are UNDERGRADUATE rankings of political science by the Gourman report, which is probably the most reliable undergraduate ranking of specific departments.</p>

<p>Gourman Report undergrad ranking in Political Science:
Yale
Harvard
Berkeley
Michigan
Chicago
MIT
Stanford
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Cornell
Princeton
UCLA
Northwestern
UNC Chapel Hill
Columbia
Indiana Bloomington
Duke
Johns Hopkins
Notre Dame</p>

6

<p>Go here to see some more pictures of Cal, and good luck!</p>

<p>[University</a> of California-Berkeley - Videos, Photos, and Visit Reports](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vibe/university-of-california-berkeley/?entry=image_0_eiaemspy]University”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vibe/university-of-california-berkeley/?entry=image_0_eiaemspy)</p>

7

<p>Thanks everyone for the info!
I really want to visit the univ. before I decide between nu and cal. I already visited nu and I felt it was kind of small and isolated. I really want to be in a lively place. Students at nu do not seem to have the same energy as cal students. But I will see.
Thanks again!</p>

8

<p>Yeah, I have to say, cal students seem a little more alive and outgoing. And it IS definitely in a lively setting for sure, especially south side.</p>