whitecadillac

hi guys! i'm applying to berkeley and was wondering if you could tell me the top 10 things i should know about it.

maybe the top 5 best things about it and top 5 worst. traditional, yes, but gets the job done.

thanks in advance! berkeley is one of my top choices.

J01001000

Good Things:
1. Top 5 in nearly all of Engineering and Science disciplines. (Try to take at least one graduate course in your major before you graduate.)
2. Football team is decent.
3. Chipotle
4. Plenty of research
5. Awesome libraries filled with textbooks

Bad Things:
1. Hippies/Homeless
2. Ultra-liberal students
3. Haas (Rampant Cheating)
4. High cost of living
5. Lower division courses (Try to do fulfill as many lower division requirements as you can in community college before coming to Cal.)

whitecadillac

thanks!! i wouldn't be going to a cc first, though, so what's SO terrible about lower division courses at ucb?

anonymousername

weed
(10char)

whitecadillac

how prominent are drugs really? i've heard mixed things.

J01001000

If you don't look for drugs, you won't see drugs. I never saw anyone using drugs and I'm a second year here so yeah (maybe someone was but I wouldn't know).

Btw, upper division and graduate level is where the money is at.

whitecadillac

if chipotle is one of the top 5 best things i'm kinda worried. :P

maybe you guys could answer some specifics for me?

1.) how intellectual is the school? i always hear about ucb being intellectual, excited about ideas, and enthused about learning. how true is that?
2.) how big is the sports culture? i'm not big into sports but would still like my school to have a good amount of spirit and attend the games, you know.
3.) what's the social scene like? i don't drink and don't "party". i'd love to join a lot of student organizations though, and i know ucb has a LOT, which is awesome. but how prevalent is partying/drinking as compared to being involved with organizations, and just in general?
4.) i'm a bi guy. i know ucb is very liberal...does that include acceptance of bi's and not just gays? (a lot of times, gay people and their allies discriminate against bisexuals.)
5.) what is the city of berkeley truly like? i know it's one of the best college towns, but why exactly?
6.) if berkeley IS so liberal, are people always constantly talking about politics, etc? or are there plenty of people who are liberal but not crazy liberal?

thanks, guys!!!!

Batman17

1.) True to an extent. V. impersonal school. Pretty much half the students live for the weekend and the other half are room rats.
2.) Legit enough. Don't worry. Unless our football team absolutely sucks balls next year or something.
3.) General parties held at a frat= general ones...dancing, pong (occasionally), themed. Clubs - a plethora though we'll see what happens next year.
4.) Honestly, no one really cares what you are unless you like to wear it on your sleeve and parade around everyday telling every single stranger that you're bi.
5.) I didn't even know berkeley was a good, let alone one of the best college towns. it's got tons of hobos who are pretty ******* rude at times and frankly, it smells like **** near campus (telegraph) in the morning. I guess all the shops and small time restaurants are pretty cool. That's pretty much it for Berkeley. Next thing to do is go to SF, but that takes a good chunk of time and some money. Oh and I've yet to get a haircut here because apparently it's 20-30 dollars (or that's how much my friends have paid =\)
6.) No. I don't hear that many people talking about politics. It's just a pretty ultra-liberal place that "accepts" everyone in general (except for the opposing side of course). lol

whitecadillac

thanks for the info! but it sounds like you don't really like it too much there, huh?

cavilier

There is an outspoken conservative minority at Berkeley. These guys tend to be much more visible than the liberal majority. There are even some conservative pot smokers on my floor.

However, if you dislike political discussions you can very easily avoid them.

Edit: I live at Clark Kerr and I smell weed somewhere in my building on a weekly basis. Drugs probably aren't as prevalent elsewhere.

whitecadillac

outspoken...like they go around spouting homophobic stuff, "abortions are killing children!!!!!", etc? lol

jbtheeunknown

1.) The school is rather intellectual. If you're just walking around, you will hear some people discussing relevant ideas and academic topics. However, you will also hear some "omg, my make up is all smudged!" and the like.
2.) The school spirit here is pretty big (I think). There are always a ton of people going to the games. Even if people don't go to the games, they still cheer on the bears.
3.) If you aren't interested in drinking/partying, then it's pretty easy to avoid that whole scene. Just go and join the organizations that you're into.
4.) I feel that Cal is very accepting of LGBT people. I understand what you mean when you say bisexuals tend to be discriminated against by their allies, but from what I've seen that doesn't happen here. The people involved with QARC are a pretty tight knit group.
5.) IMHO, I'm not a fan of the city, at least the southside. It's rather dirty and crowded all the time. The northside is quieter and prettier i think. What makes a good college town will vary from person to person.
6.) There will be people who constantly address politics as it is just in their nature, or that's what they like to talk about. But most people I've met don't talk about politics on a daily basis. Only when there is something relevant that happens or is happening. The school has its fair share of conservatives as well, they just tend to get overshadowed by the liberals.

cavilier

Not quite. It generally takes the form of people saying conservative things because they are spoiling for a fight. It's best to ignore them. You will also see people handing out flyers at Sproul that are partisan to the point of nuttiness. Their stuff makes Bill O'Reilly seem liberal.

Liquidus

I have to disagree with the previous responses to number 1. I live in a dorm, and except for homework I only hear people talk about their day, sports, getting ready to go to a party, and drunk talk after coming back from a party.

Batman17

Only because most dorm kids are freshmen. I'm not sure what you expect from incoming 1st years in their first semester.