Given the ongoing financial crisis affecting UC Berkeley and the huge demand for Research Opportunities among EECS students, how hard is it for students (especially Freshman and Sophomores) to obtain research assistantships? Is the competition for such opportunities cut-throat?
From what I know, the funding for RAs largely comes from grants, not from the state budget. The “ongoing financial crisis” does not have a big impact.
In general, freshman students (at any school) always have a hard time finding RA positions; they just haven’t acquired the basic knowledge and haven’t got to know (or to be known by) the professors yet. It is much easier from sophomore year on.
The opportunities are there, but don’t expect they are handed to you. You’ll have to find them: ask around, go to the seminars (there are plenty of them), talk to the professors and the TA. If you are more CS than EE, check out the bootcamps, short courses, seminars, workshops, … from Simons Institute. As my D had it: In a classroom, there is one person (the professor) who might need one or two RAs, while there are a few hundred students wanting to be RAs. In a seminar (at Simons), there are dozens of professors in the audience who each might need one or two RAs, and at best a few dozens of undergrad students in the audience…