University of California-Berkeley Top Questions

I wish I had really understood fully the impact of California's budget cuts and the great expense of tuition here before coming to UC Berkeley.

I wish I would have looked into the kind of clubs that the school offered. I feel like I am finding things i like and it's a little too late now that I am going to be a senior.

I wish that I had known that Berkeley is a very competitive school to get into and compete in. The science classes are very difficult but after a little time and hard studying, they are very manageable. The city is a lot different yet it is beautiful. I have grown up a lot and become very independent since I moved to Berkeley.

Lot of club opportunity and more contacts

Academic and personal success is not measured by how many hours you spend in the library or by being bookish. It is about having passion and conviction for what you are learning and allowing that shape the person you are. Personal discovery and a strong sense of self is just as crucial to doing well in life as doing well in school. Pick yourself up when you encounter adversity or if you fail at something. The road is long and there are many future opportunities awaiting you. Love and be good to yourself.

there are 11 biology majors on campus; just because one seems to house more than 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the biology student population doesn't mean it's the best one

I wish I had prepared better and work harder.

I would have liked to know more about the resources available to me, such as the career center, libraries, and computer facilities. I would have also liked to know the locations of buildings near and around campus better. Transportation was intially difficult, so it would have helped to learn how to use the bus system. College can be extremely intimidating at first, but once you learn how things work, everything seems simpler. Had I known all of this, my transition to college would have been much easier.

I wish I had known how to be comfortable with the differences between myself and the other students on campus. Although I excluded myself from groups based on these differences, the Berkeley experience is all about combining our unique backgrounds in such a way as to effect change on a campus, national, international, and global level. By including input from other, possibly alien, sources, ideas for improvement are more effective and have greater potential permanence.

How often it's actually freezing and raining. Also, that this school is a LOT tougher than your standard LAUSD high school.

I wish that I would have known more about the campus life in general. Berkeley is a hard school, with hard classes and strict professors. It also has a history for being one of those schools that protest and fight for what they believe is right. I wish that before I came to Berkeley I had better knowledge about the clubs, groups ect. on campus. I feel that everything they focused on was the difficulty and their historic roots in protesting. There is mroe to Berkeley than that and I wish I knew more about it.

i wish i would have known more clearly what requirements i had to fullfill, and i wish i had known of more outlets for help picking classes.

During the application process, I was looking for colleges that had a moderately sized student population. I knew the numbers, but I hadn't experienced the numbers. UCB has about 25,000 students and when I walked to my first class, I was overwhelmed by the amount of people walking on campus and in each class. I regret not taking a campus tour, but I don't think it would have changed my decision to attend Berkeley. Although there is a high number of students at UCB, the academic structure caters to every student helping them educationally and personally.

I wish I had better communication skills and the ability to not constantly believe others are watching me, hoping I will fail. I wish I could have come to Cal not caring what other people think. However, being here at Cal has taught me to be myself and not follow the crowd. I also wish I knew how to work public transportation systems better. I came from a small town to a large city. I have gotten lost on the bus many times, but now I am more comfortable.

I wish I had known how competitive it was. The truth that someone's always better than you is really made known and there's a constant feeling that no matter how hard you try and how much effort you put in, it's still not enough.

Try to do as much online research about the school as possible beforehand. Especially look into major/general education requirements asap; classes fill up really fast so know early on which classes you want to take. Try to prioritize what you want to fill your extra time with and schedule accordingly. There are so many research/club/extracurricular activities, but only so much time in a week. When planning your schedule, know your limits and remember to leave ample time for studying.

One of the challenges that i encountered during my first semester here at CAL was dealing with finances. Altough financial aid took care of my tuition, room, and board, there were still many expenditures that i had to make. Because i come from a family who struggles with finances, i had no money saved up in order to prepare for unexpected expenditures.

I think that I adjusted as I came in, and learned what I needed to as different scenarios came up. UC Berkeley fit my expectations quite well, but I do think that one who comes into this school needs to be very aware of what kind of campus this is: it's big, it's somewhat messy, it's for people who are extremely passionate and open-minded, and it has rigorous academic standards.

my major

I wish my school had been more academically vigorous. It was a big disadvantage to come out of the public school system of Los Angeles that was also extremely overcrowded because it did not prepare me for the courseload that I would face in Berkeley. If I would have known then what I know now, I would have definitely tried to prepare myself for a bigger workload as well as refine my study habits.