What should I do if I am desperately unhappy at UC Berkeley?
Transfer, if you think you would be happier somewhere else.
Looking at your previous, longer post, you have a problem with unsupportive parents which isn’t necessarily going to change if you transfer. (Will they even let you transfer?) You have also had a tough transition, and transferring will result in having to readjust again.
Have you looked into counseling or support groups at all?
I am so tired of working nonstop or otherwise falling behind, the fact that I stressed over 2 midterms for 3 weeks notwithstanding, usually falling short of my goals, and always feeling like I have to compete against an equally or more motivated, proactive and competitive student body, like I’m a small fish struggling to keep my head above the water, drowning to death in a sea of helplessness, hopelessness and incompetence. Berkeley is so soul-crushing and I am currently fighting back tears as I’m reading about alkenes.
They probs won’t let me transfer and I should probably look into that soon
Please, seek help. The Tang Center has very qualified therapists and counselors. I believe on of your friends posted your comment onto Reddit, and my answer there remains true. Being in college means that students need to learn how to help themselves. Whether it being changing study habits, finding support groups, taking better notes, taking time to destress, we all face the same struggles as you do. It may seem that other students are excelling with ease, but 90% of the time, we’re not. We also put in countless hours and effort, study our brains out, and fight for every point we can get. 90% of the people excelling aren’t doing so because they’re naturally more talented or intelligent, it’s because they’re realized how to help themselves handle the rigors of difficult situations.
I am so sorry! I get the soul crushing/non-stop work thing. One of my kids experienced something similar at a different school. Likened the workload to a firehose gushing all the stuff he is supposed to learn and the frustration that only some of it will actually be absorbed. You aren’t alone and you need to reach out for help today. https://uhs.berkeley.edu/health-topics/mental-health
You do have options, perhaps selecting a different major or transferring, but please stop expecting perfection from yourself. I read some of your other posts and see that you family is pressuring you to get perfect grades because you are premed. They are worried because a bio degree by itself isn’t that marketable, but it is clearly causing you anxiety. Have you seen an advisor about transferring into pharmacy or another major?
Step 1: communicate a bit less with your parents for the next few weeks, or until the semester is over. It seemed from your previous post that even though you did quite competently on your schoolwork in your first semester, it was heartbreaking to see your parents showed disappointment rather than encouragement.
Step 2: whether you want to transfer or not, the first thing is to finish the semester. It will be less than a month that another semester is over, so keep it cool, and survive. Any other distractions like peers seem to be doing better or parents making whatever statements aren’t as important as you finishing the semester strong.
Step 3 (optional): it was my way of studying, but i learned the best from past exams and solutions. if i had trouble understanding basic concept, then I take further step back and browse through plenty of websites that explained better and provided excellent examples. This whole process made me wonder what was the point of paying for tuition, but the point is even though I feel panicky in the beginning, I felt much more educated and confident afterwards and I can finally take a crack at the past exams. Because your classes are still ‘fundamental’, understanding all the past exam questions will give you fairly excellent chance to ace the class.
The key is not flipping out just because you are severely behind in the class, but learn one concept, one problem at a time, and feel a great sense of satisfaction as you accomplish something. I also preferred working at a computer lab - not too intense like a library, but still have some people in the room to keep myself reasonably focused. And of course, later have someone to talk to since all Berkeley students are mildly depressed in some way at some point.
It looks like the OP’s parents have even higher standards for college grades than medical schools do (based on other posts, OP is a pre-med and earned a 3.77 GPA in the first semester).
This does not look like an issue that transferring to another school would solve, unless the other school has significantly higher grade inflation.