Not after having to pay over $6k a year for a meal plan. In fact just told S24 that he is getting cut off from credit cards when school starts so no more burgers, burritos, boba drinks or I’m selling his car to pay the bills.
6 Likes
EECS is a super flexible major. Did your S look at the curriculum? There are some core courses (generally considered to be very good ones) but after that it is mostly electives. Students can specialize it in any direction they like – that is the wonderful thing about it.
yes, i agree. for example, pursuing computer science is not an excuse to not learn basic physics. after all, UCs are not trade schools. actually even EECS is light on foundational material. they don’t even require basic quantum mechanics and special relativity ( presumably covered in 7C), which i think all engineers should learn.
1 Like
I will absolutely agree that it would be great for students, parents, AND community members if Cal provided an adequate amount of student housing so that the off campus rental market didn’t have to be so nuts. (this is a problem at most UC campuses though.)
2 Likes
It is. But it is significantly worse at Berkeley than at the majority of other UCs.
Really? I have been told that Santa Cruz is even worse but I only have first hand experience with Cal, so it’s hard for me to compare.
1 Like
So my Bear went and visited her friends recently at UCLA who live in dorms. She was kind of dreading it before going because she said she was worried that the dining hall food was going to make her jealous…LOL. The food at the dining halls at UCLA was superior to UCB in every single way she said, variety, quality, taste, etc. However, she said that Westwood was very worn down now and that options there were nowhere even remotely close to what Berkeley has to offer. She also said that UCLA students spend so much more money then UCB students because they have to UBER everywhere and it adds up fast and the food off campus seemed to cost more then food off campus in Berkeley, or at least where she was going to. Let’s not forget Erewhon market is the buzz now for UCLA students where you get a $19 smoothie!
Currently my Bear lives off of her Grubhub dollars to make up for the less then desirable UCB dining food. This will be one aspect of not living on campus next year she is absolutely looking forward to.
5 Likes
I have a friend who is also high stats and was waitlisted at UCLA. It is just so tough to accept. Good luck to your daughter for the remaining schools.
Perhaps learning doesn’t have to wait until start of college. High stats is meaningless in the context of UC admissions, there are literally thousands of students with perfect GPAs who get turned down every year.
2 Likes
I always laugh at people saying someone should choose UCLA because their dorm food is better. Have these people gone to westwood? Do they not realize there are literally 100s of ethnic restaurants within blocks of the Cal campus? There are plenty of reasons why UCLA might make better sense than Cal for a particular student but saying they will turn down Cal just because of the food is a bit much. I didn’t realize Cal dining is serving sour grapes on their menu.
8 Likes
Cal students whine about the lack of housing, and then turn around and oppose actual housing construction on UC owned land. Where do they expect Cal to build housing?
10 Likes
Yes, we’ve been to a few. Not super impressed.
Edit: If he gets the chance to decide between the two, since he is the one eating and studying, he gets to choose. There are worse decisions he can make in life.
2 Likes
The dining hall food does need alot of improvement at UCB. However, just in even the last 2 years, the improvement to the dining plans with Grubhub has been life changing. I cannot tell you how many older students tell my Bear how lucky they are to have Grubhub. It didn’t even exist 2 years ago, only flex dollars, which only worked for on campus. Literally you can use the Grubhub for ALOT of places off campus.
It does surprise me how Berkeley is a food mecca and yet the school does have less then desirable dining hall food.
vegetarian food in restaurants near UCB campus is terrible. perhaps long-term negative health consequences for some. food is good in other places that are not super close to campus.
i don’t think most students like their dorm food, at any uc or any other university. i know i hated mine.
1 Like
Agreed. S22 made the same comment. He said having access to Grubhub would have been a gamechanger for him since the student is not limited to the dorm food. He is now in a frat with high quality food and has chosen to mostly cook meals for himself.
1 Like
there are literally thousands of students with perfect GPAs who get turned down every year.
That is true, but perhaps their stats weren’t high enough? If your kid had taken only 10 APs, then there’s another kid with 12 APs who gets in instead. My kid has 4.0/4.36/4.64 GPA and only 6 year-long AP courses (and 2 honors). He got waitlisted at UCD and UCI and declined at UCLA, UCSD and UCSB. The competition is intense.
academic strength - a large number of challenging AP courses and great scores etc. is just one factor in the UC admission. i am not sure if it is even the most important factor. in the absence of any standardized tests (such as SAT/ACT), i think subjective factors are playing a lot bigger role. i don’t support this, but i think this is true.
1 Like
I think the essays are a huge part. Writing is very demanding and can give a lot of insights into a student that is just not possible from stats.
does anybody know the time decisions will come out?
History says 330p-4p tomorrow (pacific time)