| Be sure to take advantage of welcome week; it's going to be the most fun you'll have for a full week without worrying about work. It's like summer camp! Hit frats, party, play pool, meet new people.
Your questions are all relative btw. I don't think there's a standard schedule for a Berkeley student. However, if you're pre-med, hard sciences, engineering, or pre-business, life won't be easy. Pre-business may be easier to "slack" or handle heavy ECs, but the other mentioned majors aren't if you want a good GPA. My roommate (Mech-E) gets up early every morning (8-9am) and studies until classes/lunch, then studies some more until dinner, then studies some more until 12:30am, when he goes to bed. He may talk with some friends over problem sets or fool around on youtube, but that's about it. This applies to weekends as well. If you're a hard worker you'll need a similar regiment; if you're a genius you won't, and I see many geniuses spend nights drinking and partying on weekends. Of course hard workers need to have fun too, but it isn't easy maintaining grades at the same time (unless you're a hardcore gunner).
If you're humanities/certain social sciences, there's much more room to slack off and you merely need to do the work. As a Polisci or Comm. major you'll have plenty of time to join frats and whatnot. I know a few pre-meds who pledged frats last semester, but it really took a toll on their health; they look older from many sleepless nights, and I believe their grades suffered. But hey, unlike other graduate/professional schools, it's worth going to any medical school, even the bottom. If you're pre-med and can accept that Harvard Medical School isn't necessary to become a doctor in a desired practice, Berkeley can be a lot less stressful than rumor has it.
This is a long rant, but I hope it helps somewhat. |