<p>Wow, this thread is still around? Been years since I wrote this…</p>
1 Like
<p>LOL wow almost 10 years</p>
Off-campus housing - What are your best tips? My daughter and her friends are looking now for a Fall move in, but the prices and locations are a bit scary! Rents seem astronomical even if you plan to share a room (for instance 4 people in a 2 bedroom). This is the first time renting for all of them, we just want to make sure they get a decent place for a fair price, with a landlord who will be responsive if there are issues and not try to keep the deposit after as long as there’s no cause for that. They’ve looked on lots of sites, set up a couple of tours (though at places they don’t feel they can afford), so please toss out any helpful hints you have regarding this process! Thank you!
What’s up with this hate against Asian people? Most schools are majority white, and nobody complains. Suddenly, when it’s majority Asian, “quality of life” goes down and there’s “no diversity?” Wtf?!
1 Like
When I wrote the original post 10 years ago, there was a fair amount of resentment, not just from myself, but many students, because of increasing tuition, budget cuts slashing class sizes at the time, and many people felt pushed out of many technical majors which were, at the time, overwhelmingly Asian (this might have included South Asians/Indians as well), and there were rumors of what are called “Vietnamese Libraries” where students would get the answers from their GSIs or exams from older students that were pretty much the same so long as they were in affiliated clubs. That’s where some resentment came from when I was attending. I will fully admit that I was wrong on certain things and I apologize for coming across crassly or ignorant.
If someone is truly the cream of the crop, they deserved to be in their major of choice. I was also personally angry because I had several people, primarily Asians, tell me that I shouldn’t be at Cal unless I was in a ‘real major’ aka STEM. I was incorrect in feeling slighted by an entire group of people for the actions of a few bad apples.
There were implications of cheating and favoritism floating about, but that was 10 years ago and I’m sure things have changed. You grow up, get a new outlook, and realize how justified and foolish some of your feelings were.
It’s also the stereotype that Asians are bookworms who don’t know how to socialize. I know this to be patently false, as I am a Brother, friend, and colleague of several people of Asian descent who are delightful, engaging people. And there are many bookworms in any ethnic group. I’m one such person and I’m now pursuing
I don’t like to use the term race because it’s a b.s., outdated anthropological term used to create dividing lines that should not be there. Please don’t jump on me on that, I am well aware “racism” exists and it is a very serious problem – I just have come to terms with myself and other people and don’t want to see that as a dividing line. Just because I am Caucasian/Euro-descended does not mean I feel superior or different to anyone who is of African, Asian, South Asian, Aboriginal, Native American, or other background. I do own my prejudices and have tried to overcome them.
Can homogenization occur when a certain group gets a large number of people into a small space? Of course, but that doesn’t reduce diversity. If anything is reducing diversity, it’s the encroachment of corporate and underground uni-culture on the Campus and pretty much anywhere. That’s an entirely different issue than “It’s all the Asians/White People/Blacks/etc’s fault we have no diversity!” …it simply is a matter of our culture becoming more uniform due to mass consumption.
2 Likes
andrew tdx, are you by chance in tdx (;
how about sex in college…
@Soviet; ayup.
@ Velocitron: There’s a joke, or at least was when I went there, that everyone has sex at Berkeley, at least theoretically. …of course, hormonal teenagers and early 20-somethings? Just try and stop them if they are determined.
Man, you kinda scare me about doing engineering. Is it really that bad in terms of not having a social life? 
Does anyone have any info about the College of Environmental Design at Berkeley? Any current students? Admissions info? There seems to be no info out there
Any current Cal students can tell us how the budget cuts have been impacting their lives there?
@ShaunakK98 it’s a little bit worrisome what they’re doing. the cuts aren’t really affecting me personally, but they are affecting my view of the quality of this school. the cuts are so bad that they’re thinking about dissolving one of the most valued colleges on this campus, the College of Chemistry. they’re also thinking about getting rid of the public health major. in addition, there have been speaker boycotts by the sanitation workers who were released due to the cuts. the workers are boycotting renowned speakers from talking at this school, and students are losing out on opportunities to meet this influential people. however, the good thing about berkeley is that the students here protest everything, and it actually works a lot of the time. so, nothing is final yet. the chancellor’s office sent an email saying they are heavily considering students’ and workers’ concerns. I wouldn’t necessarily blame the UCB admin for what has happened. they are probably dealing with a lot of factors. also, even though there are cuts, the entire student union building complex has been completely renovated and is super sleek and modern, which is cool. i really like those study spaces. they even just added nap pods which are apparently pretty expensive… i mean it’s nice that they’re concerned about the quality of our lives to this extent but it gets you questioning what the priorities of this school are. hope that answered your question! if you have any more, I’m just finishing my first year here as an enviro econ and policy/soc and enviro major so i can tell you what that’s like 
@kvonnegut Thanks for the reply!
Also, could anyone tell me the total cost of attending Berkeley for an International student, inclusive of literally everything - tuition, housing, food, miscellaneous expenses, etc
@ShaunakK98 I think for international students it’s gonna cost daunting numbers - like $50k+? If you want to save as much money as you can you’re gonna have to be flexible where you live because it’s super expensive to live in Berkeley. More housing is planned in the future but remember that more space for housing does not equate to cheaper living.
Since the issue of Asian students comes up, here I go. My daughter (fillip-Chinese) pretty much grew up normal Chicago kid, no strong Asian-centered social network. My crazy:) Bay Area mother (PhD Cal, born in China) thinks Cal is overrun by Asians (she who rents her condo to international students) and is detrimental to the experience. I know she is just being over the top, but on a serious note, I hope there is not much negative stereotyping and overt problems for students over this issue. When I see a Warriors game on TV, its the only time I see Asians in the crowd of a sporting event, and I hope its because its now just “normal” in the BA, hopefully just “normal” at Cal, no big deal. My D may do math-sci, no pre-med though, hard working but actually kind of laid back.
1 Like
Next year I’ll be attending Cal as a freshman Mechanical Engineer. Is it possible to take the full load that is allowed as a freshman, and still get 8 hours of sleep per night? In High School right now I study very hard so I am used to working hard and this will not be a problem, I just want to gage the hours at Cal. In HS, I do about 7 hours of homework every night after school and after sports, so I only get about 5 hours of sleep a night and am looking for a change for the better. It doesn’t take me 7 hours a night because I am a slow worker, I am an extremely efficient worker, I just overloaded my schedule with more classes than there are periods in the day (ie. online classes).
If you are a straight A’s student in high school, be prepared to receive your first B at Berkeley.
@ShaunakK98 - Here’s the breakdown of expenses for this year’s expected cost of attendance: http://financialaid.berkeley.edu/cost-attendance
@BerkeleyUX I was living in Berkeley since 2014. I had my own room in West-North side for $900/month with all utilities included. So room and board was around $10,800/year. Food was another $600-700/month (I ate a lot protein. If you live on potatoes, you can easily save $300/month) , so overall $19,200/year. If you add small things here and there, I would say for $20K you live in Berkeley like a king. The university “Total Cost of Attendance” is the really worst case scenario for super spoiled kids.
@StevenToCollege Yes! My D got her first B and was THRILLED (Chem 1 - slayer of premed dreams - thought she was seriously not going to pass. Bless the curve.). Major expectation adjustment.