bluebeard

my sister's friend went to berkeley as an EECS major and he had a horrible time. his bike was stolen twice (he stole it back once), he was often criticized for his beliefs, and his apartment was broken into once--the only thing taken was his class notes. for him, the atmosphere was very caustic; it was hard to make friends because everyone was too focused on being his enemy.
that being said, he's very successful. as an undergrad, he was paid to write computer programs ($2000 per) in his spare time by a company. after graduation, he started with a salary of about 70 thousand a year.

GoldenBear10

that post is PURE BS

bluebeard

i apologize for posting something that sounds completely biased against berkeley. i hope everyone realizes that this was just one person's experience. despite his bad experience, i am still applying to berkeley and i would be more than happy to attend.

GoldenBear10

I got into Princeton, Brown, and Dartmouth and still chose to go to Berkeley (granted, financial reasons were part of my decision) and i have never regretted it. At all. This is the best place i could have chosen to go to school.

bluebeard

oh i'd definitely choose berk over those schools. nothing outside of california interests me. and to clarify, he left his notes on a table underneath the window in clear view. somebody smashed the window and took his notes.

strawberryfields

I'm seriously considering transferring from Brown to Berkeley. In my mind, there are few better places than Northern California, and I would much prefer Berkeley over the sterile bubble of Palo Alto's Stanford (I got in last year and was not crazy about it). I feel like every college will have it's ups and downs, pros and cons, and it's just about making the best of it.

strawberryfields

Plus, there's the financial aspect. I'm all about having money for grad school.

GoldenBear10

You can apply next november, just maintain good grades this year. Good luck, this is a great school (Brown is, too, of course, but Berkeley's better!!)

smangin

so based on the first post, does it mean that i'll have a worst chance of getting into cal if i declared my intended major as "poli sci" (probably impacted)? i actually want to do environmental policy but poli sci was the only closest thing besides environmental sci....should i call/contact the admissions office and tell them that i want to change my intended major to what i really want (environ sci/policy)?

GoldenBear10

major is not considered and poli sci is not impacted, even though it is the most popular major on campus.

smangin

ok, thanks!

sakky

Actually, MCB is the most popular major on campus. MCB conferred 583 bachelor's degrees in 2005, whereas poli-sci conferred 498.

http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/MCB.stm
http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/PolSci.stm

CalX

strawberryfields, go for it!

punkdudeus

hahah strawberryfields forever

andrewtdx

Major may not be a factor on consideration anymore -- if not, then thank god. It was when I (or at least I was told it was by an admissions counsler -- then again, take anything they tell you with a grain of salt) applied back in 2001.