University of California-Berkeley Top Questions

I wish I had known how many protests took place on campus they were definitley distracting during class time.

The amount of pressure and the level of competitveness at Berkeley is unbelievably high, and can become easily overwhelming for most students. I wish I had been better prepared for this type of environment. This school is only for the serious student, who wants to further their education in a determined and practical way. Do not come to this school unless you are ready to work incredibly hard.

I wish I had known to not stress so much about little things, like being waitlisted for a class or forgetting to pack a hairdryer. The focus of your first year here should be building friendships and creating a network of people whom you trust. College life certainly gets too much hype, in my opinion, and I wish I had known not to sweat the small stuff when I first came here. At least now I know to focus on the big picture-- my education, my relationships, and most of all my entire college experience!

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I wish I had been more aware of the immense diversity of research opportunities, community service groups, and other student organizations on campus. I also wish I had realized that the choice of major does not always have a significant impact on post-graduate endeavors (if you plan on pursuing medical school, for instance).

I wish that I had known about the amount of controlled substances at Cal. I came here thinking that the presence of drugs and weed would only be in certain areas in and around campus. But when I finally moved here, I realized that the smell of weed is everywhere. My neighbor's room reeks of the smell everyday and the RA doesn't seem to do anything about it. It is really annoying from time to time but other than that, it's manageable.

There is nothing I wish I had known before coming to Cal. I look at every experience as a learning one, and all the things that would have been helpful to know prior to my enrollment have not negatively affected my experience at Cal. For instance, there is an abundance of terms that I had to become familiar with my first semester on campus. I was behind many other students because I had to memorize the meaning of such terms. This forced me to work hard and stay focused, which was a learning lesson in itself. Perspective is everything.

I am a transfer student, and no matter how much they prepare you for the college you plan on transferring to, especially for UC Berkeley, the workload gets to be overwhelming sometimes. It gets really hard to balance your social life, school and everything in general.

The science majors are much harder to stay competetive in than the liberal arts and social science majors. It takes a lot more studying, focus, dedication and resolve to get a good GPA than it did in High School, and the weighting of the grade is much more heavily focussed on midterms and tests which can be difficult to adjust to. The College of Chemistry is home to one of the most difficult undergraduate curriculums in the world, and as such having a successful social life as well as a successful academic career can be hard to balance and manage.

I wish that I had known that some of my classes in the first two years would have five hundred students in them. Furthermore, I wish I knew that teacher assistants in those classes, who were graduate students, would be grading my final exam and not the professor.