University of California-Berkeley Top Questions

Confident, motivated, and determined is what I am. I am very determined to keep going until I achieve all my goals. I am majoring in Motion Graphic Design at Expression Digital Art College. I always wanted to be a designer, because I'm a very creative and artistic person. But Motion Graphic Design stood out from other types of designing fields to me. I love how Motion Graphic Design has more of a variety of things you are learning. I feel that the variety of things i am learning will give me a opportunity to work on different projects in my future. My future is very valuable to me, because my life is something I cherish. The key to being successful is to get an good education.

I have learned how to make connections between various subjucts, and dedicate a certain determination to all that I do. I have have also learned life skills such as how to live with difficult people, and function in a very proffessional environment.

I learned alot about myself and other people. It has also introduced to a much more diverse atmosphere than high school and working allowed me to see. Attending college allowed me to better mine and my family's future.

I have gained a lot of confidence and a sense of achievement. I got a very low GPA in high school due to stressful living situations, and in my first semester of college I have received a 3.75 GPA and got on the Presidents List. I have overcome a lot of hardships in my life, and college is very important to me and I am so grateful for the support that I have gotten in my choice to attend college. I am hoping that I am also setting a good example for my 2 children who are 5 and 3 by finishing school and working towards a degree.

While I only just finished my first semester at the University of California, Berkeley, I have already met 110 sorority sisters within a house that I will always be a part of, as well as a roommate who has become my best friend. All the way from Germany, my roommate and I would have never met, had it not been for Berkeley. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and that the people that I come in contact with throughout college will shape my life and lead me through experiences in order to become the person I am supposed to be. These people will help me realize who I am as an individual and aid me in discovering what I want to do for a career. While my education will lead me to future success, I can take classes anywhere. However, the reason that I know I made the correct choice in attending UC Berkeley is because of the friends that I have met here thus far, who will undoubtedly effect my future.

Going to my college has, of course, taught me maturity and acceptance. I have been able to learn how to be and act like an adult and deal with a variety of aspects of life. Working with other classmates has also taught me how to work with a variety of others from myself. I have had the opportunity to work really hard at my academics and the grades to show for it. Getting praise from the teachers and the praise shown from the grades has given me confidence in myself socialy, academically, and successfully. Going to my college has been able to show me that I can achieve my goals in life and have success in life and career if I stay focused and work hard. It has given me much pride and joy to acheive a hard working ethic and hunger for education and knowledge. It has given me excitement for future and higher achievements in both life and career.

I received a degree in Public Health that no one can take away from me. Not only did I receive a degree from one of the top public schools in the country but what I got out of my college experience was the best four years of my life. What I gained from college was so valuable. I gained: a strong work ethic, dedication, transitioned from a teenager to a young woman who had to make difficult decisions on her own, life long friends, the opportunity to see the world through a a six month study abroad session in Rome, the opportunity to challenge myself every single day through stimulating courses and lastly, I gained a career. Going to college has given me the confidence to know that I can balance any challenge that comes my way. Living on my own for four years in college, making decisions on my own and the education I received from college gave me the tools to succeed and transformed me into the person I am today. Without my college experience, I know I would not be the well rounded, intelligent, caring and cultured person I try to be every day.

Berkeley redefines the paradigms within which its students live. Attending Cal means having your mind dissected, put under a magnifying glass, and examined, scientifically discovering what makes you tick. It makes you cry and sweat with stress, but if it doesn't kill you, it makes you that much stronger. Cal made me realize that I can be successful, but my classmates are among my competition. Between deciphering Gramscian texts and evaluating Supreme Court cases, I learnt how to challenge myself to work harder than my peers, not because I had to, but because I wanted to be the best. Because Berkeley ranks as one of the top universities in the world, opportunities for career-related advancement and social work are abundant. Coming to this school taught me to take those chances, to put in the effort to get the coveted reward. Finally, Berkeley introduced me to infinite social, ethnic, and political perspectives. I truly feel that I am becoming the person that I envisioned in my youth: adaptable, savvy, sensitive, compassionate, and intelligent. I love everything about Berkeley, even the disappointments and the difficulties, and could not imagine having had a better experience in any other school.

When I first started college, I thought it would be all work. However, I have since learned that the most valuable thing that college has given me is access to loads of people who think and act like me. College is a place where tons of ideas and beliefs are shared and exchanged and is truly a place to gain knowledge and network. In the little time that I have attended college, I can already say that college is one of the best experiences of my life. Nowhere can you find such diversity and culture in a relatively small place. I have also learned many life lessons. College is very different from high school in terms of work. The demands of college far exceed anything in high school and its been a diffifuct journey adjusting to the new standards. I have seen in myself newfound determination and perserverance to overcome these challenges. I have learned to not give up, to push forward past these roadblocks. College has provided me with so many new changes and wonders that is invaluable to me. I cannot wait to see what else this wonderful place has left to offer.

I believe that everything happens for a reason, but there is not a reason for everything. The former part of this statement explains that every choice an individual makes leads to a learning experience in this process called life; however I do not believe that things happen for a reason because each person is capable of creating their own future. By attending U.C. Berkeley I have met amazing individuals with such diverse thoughts and ideas that I would have otherwise not met elsewhere. It is with these peers of mine that I have gained the harsh lessons of truly striving towards one’s passion. In this step into a more realistic world, I have learned that you can only rely on yourself to go out there and fight for yourself and your dreams because there is no director that will magically give you the things dear to your heart. It has taught me the true value of independence and ambition, the ability to put oneself out there despite the potential damage and reach for that possible goal.

College shattered many of my conceptions about knowledge and the world. For most of my childhood, concepts and ideas were presented so finely and neatly that I supposed all knowledge was so: that discoveries came packed in gift-wrapped boxes, and that understanding amounted to boiling things down into infinitesimal categories in a sort of sorting game. But I've come to learn everything is a lot more complex than that. The stock of human knowledge is the product of thousands of years of human labor, and what we know (or think we know) is constantly in flux. College gave me the perspective to see how we got here--what strides the human mind has made over centuries, and what assets it needs to make them again. I learned that reductionist models about how the world works--however useful--should never be confused with the world itself; that divisions among people by race, class, or even by field of study are by and large mental constructions that can be overcome. College was world-shattering for me, but my world needed reconstructing anyway. Today I'm a better thinker for it, and (I hope) a better person.

I entered college with a stomach full of nerves. I was an academically focused throughout high school, enrolled in the I.B. Program and president of the on campus math club. I went from taking calculus my junior year of highschool to the fine arts department at the University of Arizona. Needless to say, I thought I would fail. College has helped me to develop another side of my personality, while maintain the ability to be that analytical bookworm. I am double majoring in Theatre and Math Education, and the amalgamation between the B.A. and the B.S. has been nothing but helpful, as nightly I switch between math and acting homework. My education has further helped me, as I learn to blend these two subject areas, using my knowledge cross curricularly to further develop my work in each respective area. I am loving school, finals and all, as it really does make me happy in every way, both intellectually and artistically.

from collage i have gotten more of a sense of urgency and responsibility. Having to get up at 6 in the morning to go learn your craft kind of doses that to you. Also I have to learn to deal with my priorities of life because my school counts every minute that you’re not in class against you. Basically what I’m trying to say is collages is the step from teenager status to adult and this collage is really reinforcing that in me.

I have had some great teachers who take the time to explain in depth and give students one on one lessons. I have very high goals for myself and want to provide for my infant son and I believe my college will provide just that. This school will allow me to acheive all my goals and become the nurse I would like to be.

Besides the obvious answer of knowledge in my field of study, I have gotten many other amazing experiences. The first of which is my view of the world. Being around so many intelligent people coming from all different walks of life has allowed me to see similarities in people that I never could have seen before. My peers are of all different race, gender, political view, country of origin, as well as many more traits. These have, with my experiences so far at UC Berkeley, allowed me to understand important differences as well as see how the differences make us even more alike as we pursue knowledge together. Another experience is the independence surrounding college and the preparation for the rest of my life that comes with this. This can be seen in methods of study I must use to succeed, for example should I work in a group, work alone, or ask for help? Collage is making sure I refine this in a way that suits my individual needs best. I believe that finding the balance between handling problems on my own and seeking out help for problems that are better accomplished with those more experienced is very important.

I was very afraid to leave my hometown and family and explore a whole new world, but it has been the best experience of my life so far. I have met the most intellectual people in Berkeley and they are so fun and lovely. I feel that without those people I would be so alone and lost, but I have seen the most nice and caring people in my life. Now in UC Berkeley, I truly know what a challenge is, this school is so difficult and there is a huge workload at the same time we are getting tested. I feel very honored attending such a prestigious school, because I am not only a woman, but I am a Mexican American woman, making me such a minority. I just feel like everything is possible and it has made me see that even minorities in America have the chance to go somewhere, they just have to take it, and that is what I am doing, I am taking my chance.

UC Berkeley is arguably one of the best universities in the world. The students are so academically driven, yet display a true passion for learning and expanding their known horizons. There is so much spirit for football games, political happenings, and music and cultural events. Students are creative and brilliant and are not hesitant to display their gifts. Professors are very engaging and challenging but approachable; they want to develop strong academic relationships with their students. We have the very best graduate students teaching the smaller sections, each so dedicated and diligent in his or her field. Considering this is a public school, the quality of education far surpasses anything one could receive at a private school. There are hundreds of clubs and organizations for every student possible, whether it be a magazine for environmental sustainability or a world-renown Christian organization. There are very few hate crimes, but if there happens to be one, thousands of students will come together to protest the event peacefully and wisely, not imfringing on anyone else's right. I am proud to be a Cal Alum. Go Bears!

Attending college has given me the privilege of interacting with other people who are also seeking to learn more about the world. We live in a society where it is easy for us to become self-absorbed and ignore the going-ons off the world around us, and being surrounded by people who do care is a refreshing change. I love waking up in the morning and knowing that I will probably meet someone who feels the same way about an issue as I do. Or, better yet, who feels differently about it. Being a college student provides me with the opportunity to meet not only people who share my beliefs, but others who completely oppose it as well. By becoming familiar with these people as well as my fellow believers I can strengthen my morals and principles. College is the door to knowledge.

I have been blessed to have met so many talented and aspiring peers here at college. It has been most eye-opening and awe-inspiring to be here with so many different others.

For some young men and women, the minuscule thirteen years of grade school fill those students' appetite for education, but for others the craving to push onward becomes insatiable. I fall into the latter category, but please do not perceive me as somebody I am not: I was not valedictorian or anywhere near that high scholarly point; nevertheless, my heart burns with desire to successfully complete a college degree. Why though? I possess a drive to succeed because I want to know that I am in control of my future. When I hear people above my time speaking about their childhood, I realize that this opportunity that lies before me is simply unprecedented. Today, almost every single student has the ability to continue their education, and for me, I will value and cherish this gift. This gift is almost like a lotto ticket that's already been proven to be the million dollar winner; the only question now is if I will pursue the benefits of it. From here on out, obtaining the full value is my responsibility.