<p>I didn't like seeing the Top Ten Reasons WHY You HATE Cal thread being on the first page and it annoyed me not to see it's opposite on the first page so I made this...I guess I'll start (I'm a freshman btw):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Blue and Gold were my old middle school's colors, and I really liked that school</p></li>
<li><p>Most of people here that I've met so far are really interesting and each of them seems to have their own personal quirks that make it impossible to place a behavioral streotype of any one individual based on their race, gender, ethnicity, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Student body didn't seem as depressing as some of the ones I saw at the other universities I was accepted too</p></li>
<li><p>It's in California and my parents live in Idaho...need I say more? lol</p></li>
<li><p>I've heard it has a good engineering program and can't wait to gain some new and exciting skills and knowledge in solving the problems that face the world</p></li>
<li><p>Hmm as for now I only have 5 but I'm sure I'll think of 5 more before I graduate!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>PS: Oh wait that bell tower is really cool too!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Academically, every ~200 department has a strong program. Have you seen any other school that has a strong Engineering program along with #1 History and English departments? Don’t even count out our Haas and Pre-med programs. I’m sure you’ll say some majors are a joke, but that’s a relative comparison with other majors in Berkeley. Compared to other schools’ program, I think every major in Berkeley is legitimate and world-competitive. The only other school that I can think of that has the balance in every field is 'Furd.</p></li>
<li><p>This might not be for everyone, but hopefully everyone in Berkeley by now realizes that you are not the smartest person. You have done poorly on a midterm or a project at least once. Sometimes the test was simply impossible, or you just didn’t have good time management or your effort was lacking. Regardless, the ultra-competitive atmosphere keeps everyone stay intellectually sharp and always strive for learning.</p></li>
<li><p>This is my final academic reason, and the most important one. I already mentioned some tests are impossibly difficult and yet some people manage to ace those monster exams. Obviously those people have plutonium for breakfast to increase their IQ to 300, but what is even more surprising are the people who won’t give up even after repeated failures. I am one of those people who get shocked and become depressed every time I do poorly on a midterm, and I have so much to learn from them. Back in high school, usually those who do poorly on tests and get bad grades are the ones who don’t care much about school, but we all know that is not the case in Berkeley. Sometimes, your best effort simply isn’t good enough. But yet, these people constantly try and try and try and learn to accept failures and graduate. They might not get the cum laude or other honorary degrees, but I am certain that they are the strongest people in the world and are ready for anything that will happen in life. In short, doing well in a test is not an easy task, but coping with a bad result is even harder. I think Berkeley makes us strong and prepare what the real world is like.</p></li>
<li><p>Now I’ll be less serious and talk about my personal reasons why I like Cal. I like to climb and walk around places; Big C, Tilden park, Tilden golf course, Lake Anza, Indian rock, Claremont canyon, the Marina are excellent places to go. They have a great view of the bay too.</p></li>
<li><p>Lawrence Hall of Science - I never have enough time to finish their exhibit. If you don’t know what I mean, go there and see for yourself; you’ll find yourself playing with their equipments for hours.</p></li>
<li><p>Decent football team; every away game was a loss, but at least all the home games are 4-0 in a dominating fashion this season and I don’t mind that. I am definitely waiting for the big game week to humiliate Stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>Peet’s Coffee on Vine street - it’s their original coffee shop, and I visit every Friday night and buying their freddo is one of the best ways to spend your 4 bucks. It used to be 2-dollar freddo, but whatever…</p></li>
<li><p>More food - not a single restaurant in Berkeley has disappointed me as of now. I am trying as many new places as possible and I’m bit sad that I will not likely to visit every restaurant in Berkeley before I graduate. So far, the Brazil Fresh squeeze cafe is in the lead, but that might change soon.</p></li>
<li><p>Active, spirited people. Sure, some of these guys are so active that they cause protests and make us be in the headlines, but I rather see activism and energy over passive student body in Stanfurd and other private schools; they won’t protest about anything even if they are paid to do so.</p></li>
<li><p>Do I have to say more? It’s your alma mater! Be loyal and serve her and love unquestionably. To be honest, this thread is like asking your mom top 10 reasons why she loves you.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Bravo UpMagic. I especially liked #3, Cal should hire you to be its official motivational speaker for struggling freshmens. </p>
<p>Me, I’m a fairly simple guy.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Squirrels, the chubbier, the better.</p></li>
<li><p>I always enjoy spotting the Campanile from every possible angle on campus.</p></li>
<li><p>How determined flyer people are. They just do not give up!</p></li>
<li><p>Getting my ass handed to me by a MT. No joke, I think this is one of the best things about Cal. </p></li>
<li><p>More squirrels.</p></li>
<li><p>Walking through Sproul.</p></li>
<li><p>VLSB is the nicest building on campus!</p></li>
<li><p>The giant T-Rex and that one thing with wings (don’t know what it’s called) above it!</p></li>
<li><p>How insignificant you are relative to everything and everyone else.</p></li>
<li><p>People discover elements, build atomic bombs, and win Nobel Prizes here. Nothing you do for the rest of your life will be worthy of being called an “accomplishment”.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Escaping the real world. I’m not ready to grow up.</li>
<li>The libraries are huge. It’s an excellent resource. When someone recommends a book to me on any subject, I take it for granted that the library has it.</li>
<li>No matter what major, the most important thing you can learn at Berkeley is humility. One of my most memorable experience my first year at Cal was seeing long shelves stacked with books as far as I could see the first time I walked through main stacks. I tried to imagine the amount of knowledge they contained, and the lifetimes people spent creating it, and how amazing it was that in a few centuries a single species of great ape came to understand so much about itself and the nature of the Universe.</li>
</ol>
<p>In high school, I had the vague sense that somewhere out there, some people were smarter than me, but I was very arrogant and preferred not to think about it. At Berkeley, you will be reminded of this fact after every midterm. Unless you are the reincarnation of Carl Gauss, or are very delusional about your abilities, Berkeley will teach you to be humble.
4. Berkeley gives you many ways to challenge yourself. The pace set by Cal makes me feel like I was wasting a lot of time in high school, and, indeed, I probably was.
5. The weather. I’m from SoCal where the weather is always too hot and I can’t go outside without feeling sweaty and miserable. At Berkeley, most days are sunny and cool (not right now obviously), but I can still experience the seasons.
6. I love being on my own and independent, but not having any responsibilities.
7. College is a great way to meet people. Ironically, because there are so many people, you don’t get to know people very well. As a facilitator of social interaction, college is not as good as high school IMO, about equal to volunteering, but far better than working.
8. There are many kind and thoughtful people. There are a lot of jerks too, but you don’t have to see them again if you don’t want to.
9. Most things are within walking distance.
10. So far, all my physics GSIs seem to really know what they are on about. The same is true for my math GSIs, but to a slightly lesser degree.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>being able to be friends with someone in a competitive class, wishing each other the best, but still working hard to kick each other’s asses.</p></li>
<li><p>those fat furry things that can jump like no one’s business that people here claim are squirrels. </p></li>
<li><p>biking around and discovering new spots of campus and being amazed when you realize how obscurely connected parts of campus are. (</p></li>
<li><p>3rd floor VLSB library – my favorite study spot on a rainy day, looking out the windows to the labs and creeping on all the lab workers working til 10pm.</p></li>
<li><p>the fact that if you have an hour break between classes you can totally just find an empty room and cram for a quiz in peace or just nap.</p></li>
<li><p>people here actually know of Watson&Crick AND Rosalind Franklin, of Taylor AND Maclaurin, and of Marx AND Engles. to name a few uncredited minds. </p></li>
<li><p>the teachers!!! I love our professors! Some can be jerks, some give killer tests (and okay some are just plain boring) but overall theyre great and always seem to squeeze in awkward moments, funny moments, moments when they change your perspective on an entire subject or topic, and sometimes even life lesson moments.</p></li>
<li><p>Telegraph and all the craziness that ensues every day, especially saturdays. or maybe sundays</p></li>
<li><p>that cool semi-interactive, mini-museum-esque place inside Davis Hall that is super fun for a non-science major like myself (+ the cyber cafe!)</p></li>
<li><p>going to star parties even though im not in astroC10 anymore – those telescopes on campbell hall’s roof are always fun :)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>contrary to what have been said on CC, in reality, you’ll see plenty of pretty girls at Berkeley. it’s the perfect place for “catching” pretty girls. :)</p>
<p>RML, are you from china or underdeveloped nation!? You can’t possibly be serious about your claim… Either that or you haven’t visited other colleges in the east or in socal.</p>
<p>hds404, i’m italian and married to a filipina, so asians are attractive for me. </p>
<p>they say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. There really are lots of pretty girls at Cal, more so than at many campuseses i have been to around the world. My friedns and relatives agree with me. :)</p>
<p>It was fun reading these posts and please keep them coming! UpMagic that was an amazing post, and I know exactly how you feel. Admittingly I used to have quite an ego, especially after graduating valedictorian of my High school class, and I’m so glad Berkeley knocked that false pride right out of me! The competition at the university level can be compared to an RPG video game. At first at the lower levels (Grade school), defeating easy problems would not give you much exp points, but you’d still level up at a decent rate. Once your level gets high enough however, your need stronger enemies (tests) to defeat that give much more exp but since your exp required to level up is exponentially greater than what you needed in grade school, it’s only a good thing to be at a university with enemies (tests) that although harder, give more exp when defeated. So essentially don’t see it as competing with your peers, but rather see it as competing with yourself to reach the maximum level you feel you can attain (ex. Over 9000!)</p>
<p>PS: sigh this is probably one of the nerdiest things I’ve posted on CC lol but I don’t care!</p>
<p>The animals hear aren’t shy at all, and the squirrels are nice to have around. There is something extremely entertaining about watching a squirrel dart back and forth as it waits for an opening in a busy sidewalk.</p>
<p>
I agree generally, but didn’t MacLaurin just plug a=0 into the Taylor expansion?</p>
<p>^lol yeah Go Taylor series because Taylor was smart enough to realize people who make general or n case conclusions about something in science or mathematics get more credit than the guy who only deals with a special or specific case like Maclaurin and his 0.</p>
<ol>
<li>Dorm life</li>
<li>The ambitiousness of the students</li>
<li>The campus</li>
<li>The city’s culture</li>
<li>Prestige</li>
<li>The random **** (like the convos on the bathroom walls)</li>
<li>The fact that I can still wear flip flops at this point of the year</li>
<li>The shuttle buses so I won’t have to walk back home alone in the dark</li>
<li>The fact that there’s always something gonig on </li>
<li>Football games!!</li>
<li>And as UpMagic pointed out, the FOOD!!</li>
<li>The RSF</li>
</ol>
<p>I’m sure there’s more! But I’ve gotta do homework.</p>