<p>You guys see that kid complaining about Berkeley being liberal?</p>
<p>@failure622, thank you that’s very nice of you! Yeah, that’s the plan, I want to start volunteering as soon as possible. Hey how would you describe the atmosphere at Berkeley, I’ve visited before, but never during a weekday or in the middle of the semester… so I’m not sure what’s the true atmosphere at Berkeley. I hear people are pretty cutthroat in some departments, but I also heard there’s plenty of help and resources available for us. </p>
<p>@calbro It is sad, but true!</p>
<p>@calbro Yeah. I thought it was weird given the fact that the course he mentioned says it’s about race, gender, marriage, and sexuality right in the course description.</p>
<p>I found out it’s almost impossible to do a CS minor due to impaction and that you have to declare the major to have a good shot at getting into most of the upper divs. I’m interested in 188, 170, 160, 186, EE 126. I’m already signed up for the last two classes I need to declare CogSci and was going to take an AC class or random upper div requirement. I kind of want to take linear algebra instead and get it out of the way just in case I decide to pursue CS further. </p>
<p>@calbro </p>
<p>The backlash against him was on point. If he knew Cal was one of the most liberal universities in the nation, why would he go there if he was just going to complain after the first class he takes? [-( </p>
<p>By the way, I was speaking about the overall political atmosphere in Cal, not what the person was talking about.</p>
<p>@ocnative @credulitykills Yep, maybe he’ll be like that kid who had the mental breakdown…</p>
<p>Link to vid? I searched “berkeley kid complaining liberal” but no success lol</p>
<p>Lol, it’s not a video. It’s on the Facebook group page. </p>
<p>He posted on the Berkeley 2016 Transfer Facebook page. </p>
<p>"I’m not sure if I’m the only one who thinks this way…I’m not a die hard conservative, but sometimes Berkeley is just too…liberal for my taste lol…I’m taking a literature class to satisfy my AC requirement, and it just feels like they are trying to force their liberal ideology down your throat…I may change my mind in the future, but this is just how I feel right now :(</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Thanks Noelle, that really made me feel better somehow…I guess I just don’t really like the fact that you can’t get any points in the class if you’re not pro-abortion, pro-Affirmative Action, anti-Death Penalty, pro-gay marriage, pro-gun control…lol And conversations about alternate ideas just don’t end well most of the time."</p>
<p>Total facepalm.</p>
<p>Are any of you Cal students worried about the political atmosphere at UCB. It seems like there is very little room for dissent. If you don’t have an opinion that is compatible with the majority, then you get swarmed with attacks. </p>
<p>Hopefully not, but it will be very hard if they can’t handle hearing other views. I agreed with one of the replies. Applying essentially useless political buzzwords to learning material does not help. Being confronted with conflicting viewpoints either forces you to strengthen your arguments or to alter your views. Both are great for learning and personal development. If you can’t handle it, then don’t take political courses. There’s so many options for AC.</p>
<p>@CollegeDropout1 No, I personally haven’t heard any complaints about this. I think if you don’t want to talk about politics don’t take courses centered around politics or controversial material. Also, don’t insert yourself into political discussions. There’s a lot of students, you’ll find friends with similar values and viewpoints.</p>
<p>@CollegeDropout1 </p>
<p>Nope. I’m actually looking forward to it 
</p>
<p>@credulitykills I would have told him about the other AC options, but dude’s attitude is so poor and is against gay marriage.</p>
<p>@ocnative To me it seems like universities have become echo chambers. When I visited Santa Cruz, and UCLA, it felt like that. I really like being presented with opposing viewpoints, but I think this is something that is lacking among universities.</p>
<p>@ucastell In my experience (again, EECS) the environment is not cutthroat. At all. It’s a very collaborative, supportive place, and students like to help each other out. CS gets a lot of rumors of competitive/cutthroat, but I think that stems from some classes being curved (your grade depends on other students) and the competitiveness of admissions. But the program itself is not. I’d imagine other departments are similar, where it’s all rumors and everyone in the program has no idea where they come from. But someone more familiar with your department should answer that. :P</p>
<p>Campus in the middle of the day is just… I dunno, it’s school. Pretty quiet most places, people wandering about and minding their own business. Sproul is always full of people and activity. If you want events to go to I’m sure you can find something. Off campus… well, Berkeley’s got a pretty large homeless population, but most won’t bother you. There’s also the occasional crazy religious ranter, but I think they’re used to being ignored? Otherwise, it’s a college town, with tons of people and shops and food and stuff.</p>
<p>@credulitykills 61ABC and 70 tend to be really good at expanding to let students in, so you can probably get those. Upper divs… well, those are trickier. CS188 is incredibly streamlined/auto-graded and they can easily handle 350+ students. 170 is required for… uh, something, so that one tends to have a lot of seats as well. Pick empty/unpopular sections if you get a choice on telebears. 160 tends to be hard to get into, but at least Hartmann likes diversity and I think he tends to put a non-major in each group (in the past they’ve also made sure to mix juniors/seniors, have at least one girl per group, etc). I’m not sure how the other two you listed do with enrollment. But CS is a tough major and even the minor is a ton of work, so with the time crunch from transferring it might be better to focus on your actual major instead. :P</p>
<p>@failure622 Thanks for the info! True. I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. I have my tentative schedule planned out for my major, only about 2 technical classes a semester. I do have to take two upper div CS courses, one has to be 188 so that’s good to hear. </p>
<p>@failure622, thank you! 
So do you think you made the right decision by choosing Berkeley over other schools? </p>
<p>@ucastell I never really doubted it, honestly. Berkeley was my top choice going in, its CS program is AMAZING, and the biggest factor for me was academics. Being close to home and a pretty nice campus were just bonuses. So yeah, no regrets from me. Obviously there are some who don’t like it, but you won’t know til you try.</p>
<p>@ucastell I never really doubted it, honestly. Berkeley was my top choice going in, its CS program is AMAZING, and the biggest factor for me was academics. Being close to home and a pretty nice campus were just bonuses. So yeah, no regrets from me. Obviously there are some who don’t like it, but you won’t know til you try.</p>