@rocket88 Thank you for all the advice.
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I agree with you on Berkeley very much. I will definitely try to live a more well-rounded life next semester.
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I am not entirely sure whether I want to be a doctor. Certain bodily fluids (not blood) make me cringe, and I think I would be uncomfortable being around people with certain sicknesses, especially if the associated symptoms are unpleasant. However, many people in my life have died or suffered from certain illnesses, and it would mean a lot to me if I could help others in their position someday. Human biology is also very fascinating.
2a) I will look into pharmacy further next semester by joining PILLS (the pre-pharm society at Cal). I was also curious why you believe being a doctor wouldn’t be satisfying for me. I’ve started to have different thoughts about medicine as well.
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Yeah, I’m going to try to be less uptight this semester with the academic experience I now have.
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I will try to talk to my parents someday about grade expectations, but that will be a difficult conversation. My dad does not believe that grade deflation is a thing at Cal after seeing that my math class awarded 25% A’s and 25% B’s to students (which was sadly the class I got a B+ in). Thank you for the reassurance about my GPA.
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My dad never said what he wanted me to major in, but I have the sense that he would’ve wanted it to be something with better bachelor’s degree job prospects (CS, engineering, cognitive science).
5b) I have considered majoring in psychology or public health, but the latter is impacted at Berkeley and the former has a universally bad rap and equally terrible job prospects, so my dad would say no to the first one and not like the second one very much either.
- I have never thought of my roommate’s intentions in that sense; it’s possible, but she is also premed, so I don’t think her intentions are that innocuous.