<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>The transition was hard in some ways, easy in some ways, and just plain weird in others. It was hard studying day in, day out all of my first semester. It was hard going from the top of the class at CC to just an average joe at Cal (seriously, I consistently score around the 50th percentile in all my classes). It’s hard trying to balance school and career. Applying to internships and such is insanely stressful, but you may already have a taste of that.</p>
<p>It was easy transitioning into my living situation. I decided to live in the dorms my first year because I really wanted the dorm experience. I lucked out in that I ended up with a fantastic floor of people. They were supportive and fun and all around excellent friends. I also had a great roommate. Living in a dorm was really an ideal situation for me because it started me off with a built-in group of friends. I’d highly recommend doing that if you can.</p>
<p>Then there’s the weird stuff. It’s weird living in an entirely different city from the one you grew up in. The hobos walking around every street corner are weird. The co-ed bathrooms were a little weird but everyone got over that very quickly. It was weird (at least for the first couple months) waking up in a dorm room. The weird stuff either becomes less weird as time goes on or it just becomes something you live with.</p>
<p>I can’t speak for the CoE as a whole, but my experience in EECS has been very collaborative. It’s competitive in that your peers are all pretty dang smart and hard working, but just about everyone is willing to help you out. Note: my roommate had a very different experience in ChemE; he found the students fairly walled off and unwilling to help.</p>
<p>Tips:
- Live in the dorms your first year so you can make a lot of friends.
- Apply to internships (if you want one) the very first semester you get there! I didn’t do this because I thought I didn’t have enough experience to even bother, but I regret that now.
- Try to request a roommate you know you’re compatible with. You’ll be seeing him/her a lot, so it really pays off.
- CalSO is a waste of money IMO.
- Don’t take 3 technical classes your first semester unless you absolutely have to. I did, and I lived, breathed and ate math, ee, and cs for 5 months.</p>