Anonymous asked: question... or more like questions: how would you describe the berkeley lifestyle, as in how do you like berkeley's social scenes? was it really tough making friends? obviously we're used to really close-knit community at ND so how is berkeley different to that ..being a 1000x much bigger school? what about the parties, i'm not a huge party-goer myself.so do you think i'd have more trouble meeting people? also what about acedemics-wise? would you say ND was more stressful than berkeley or vice versa? how do you blaance work and free time? lastly what is the room-mate process like? how do you choose one? are there single rooms? how could you get one? sorry for the overload but i was wondering if you could help me out here? Thanks!
okay, i’m gonna try and answer this to the best of my abilities, and if you need any clarification on anything, just ask. in regards to the berkeley lifestyle and social scene, i love it. i was really worried going in cuz i thought it would be a hella fanatic place that’s so out there and whatnot (you know, hence the name Bezerkeley) and i wouldn’t fit in, but most of the people there are just normal, like you and me. honestly, it’s literally just like being at ND, except it’s way bigger and has guys. But the people there are hella nice and embracing and there’s restaurants and movie theaters within walking distance of the dorms, kinda reminiscent of downtown san jose, except bigger. Even just walking through the streets is hella entertaining cuz of all the interesting people around and all the random sights you see. But you just always gotta walk with a buddy, or a group, especially at night. As for social scenes, I haven’t really gone to many parties, but there’s always big bashes going on every week and they seem fun . Campus has events and performances and movie nights occasionally, and the residence halls throw get togethers with food and whatnot. Like I said, there’s a lot of places within walking distance of the dorms and campus, so most of my weekends I go to dinner in one of the restaurants with my floormates, and we go walk around, get yogurt, watch a movie, etc. There’s always gonna be something for you to do.
As for making friends, it’s easier than I thought it would be. If you live in the dorms, your floormates and roommates become automatic buddies and kinda your stable support system throughout the year. In classes you needa work a little harder and be a little bolder to make friends. You needa go and engage people, talk to them and whatnot. Don’t be shy. Just remember that everyone (or most everyone) there is looking to make new friends, so they’ll be more than happy to talk to you if you start a conversation. If you find you have stuff in common, over time you’ll become friends. If you end up not liking them, or them not liking you, whatever, you don’t have to see them again. And since its such a big school, odds are you won’t. It’s not like in high school, where if you and another person don’t like each other, everyone knows about it. It’s different. Everyday is a fresh start in some way if you need it to be. And yeah, campus is 10000000x bigger than ND, but after a while, it feels a whole lot smaller. Not everyone is on campus at the same time, so it’s not like the halls and pavement are so crowded you can barely walk. And even in lecture halls, after a few days, you kinda establish around what area you’re normally gonna sit for the rest of the semester, and end up sitting around the same people and befriending them, and if you don’t get to be their friend at least you start to recognize their faces. So a class of 400 starts to feel like a class of 50 or something. Don’t worry about the size. I was scared too, especially cuz we come from a small school and I’m not normally an outgoing person so i was scared I wouldn’t find my place in such a huge school, but if I was able to get through it, you surely will. Don’t be intimidated by the school or anyone, cuz 99.99% of the people are in the same boat as you. It’s also really advantageous in respects to guys, if you think about it. Like, if you total the number of guys I’ve seen in all my classes, they amount to maybe a couple hundred (that’s implying I haven’t seen every guy in each of my classes), and I haven’t really found a guy that appealed to me yet. But instead of losing hope I just think of the thousands left that I haven’t met yet, and I’m just like, psh, whatever.
As for parties, yeah, like i said before, they have them every week. Thursdays, fridays, and saturdays are the big party days. I don’t go to them either. I went to one during welcome week, found that they weren’t for me, and then just stopped going. I’d say at least try them out, but if you don’t like them, don’t worry about it because that’s not gonna get in the way of you meeting people, and you won’t be missing out on anything. Believe me, I haven’t been going to parties, and I don’t feel one bit like I’m missing out on the college experience. It’s what you make it, and if you don’t want parties to be a part of it, then they shouldn’t have to be. And I don’t think you really make friends at parties. It’s more of you meet people beforehand that you can go party with, but making a lifelong, or even yearlong, friend at a party is highly unlikely, so not going won’t make you friendless. You make your friends in classes, on your floor, and sometimes in the dining halls. Which reminds me: if you see a person sitting alone in the dining halls during the first few weeks (or even later), go sit with them. They’ll appreciate it and you may get a friend out of it. Back to parties. In your group of friends, you’ll have people that you can go party with if you want to, and people that would rather stay behind in the dorms if you don’t feel like going. Not everyone likes to party. Most of my friends would rather go for dinner and a movie or watch sitcoms online during the weekend than go to a party, so I hang with them. You won’t be lonely, don’t worry. You’ll find people willing to do either, so whatever you choose to do, you’ll have friends to do it with.
On to academics. Yeah, college is stressful, but that’s kinda expected. It’s stressful in a different way, though, and kinda throws you a curveball. In ND, you have seven classes and homework for all the classes and whatnot. In college, you’ll have 4 or 5, and you’ll have them every other day (like, 3 classes on one day, 2 on another). And the homework load they give you is not that big at all. Like, for me, chem only gave us one online homework to complete A WEEK and then whatever stuff we had to do for lab and whatnot, which was also once a week. The rest of the stuff they gave was optional work. Math as well, one problem set due a week, and whatever quizzes they gave. My physiology class gave no homework. They just recommended readings and then you had to study for quizzes (if you wanted to). English probably assigned the most homework, but aside for the essays, i never did any of the readings, or rarely did. So, if I wanted to, I could finish my homework in less than 4 hours each day. But that’s where the curveball comes in. All that stuff they label as “optional” or “recommended” is actually code for “you can do this if you want, but if you don’t, you’ll be screwed for your midterms and quizzes.” I learned that the hard way. So in regards to assigned homework load, I’d say ND assigned more work that was to be collected. But in college, the main stress comes from you having to do extra work on your own if you wanna do well. They legitimately leave it up to you. You could just do the stuff they assign, but if you truly wanna do well (aka get a passing grade) you have to go above and beyond, otherwise it’s gonna bite you in the butt come midterms. If you don’t get a lecture, go back and review it. If they recommend a reading, do it, and take notes. Most of the hours of studying you do a day is overtime you put in, and the hardest thing about it is motivating yourself to do something you don’t have to do, but know you should do if you wanna do well. The best way to deal with that is to not look at the stuff as optional, but as mandatory and as a legit part of your homework load. The college stress level really is all up to you and how much work you’re willing to put in.
Or course, there are ways to put in a whole hell of a lot of work and still have time to do stuff. Time management is key. What I find really helpful is doing a homework when its assigned. Like I said, you’re gonna have most of your classes every other day, so you’ll be tempted to put off the homework you have for the next day cuz it’s not due, like block days at ND. Don’t. It really helps to get the work done on the day you have the class, or at least get most of it done. When you see your classes and their relative intensities, you’ll be able to figure out how to work it out. But if you get out of a lecture one day and find you didn’t understand it, review the lecture that same day instead of saying “oh, i’ll just do it tomorrow.” It helps, and it really frees up your weekends as well. Also, you needa prioritize your classes. What is important to get done as soon as possible and what isn’t? If its 12 am and you still have a chem lecture to review and a math problem set to do, and both classes are the next day, you needa figure out which is most important to you and which you’re most okay giving up. If it’s late and you needa study for two quizzes tomorrow, put more time in studying for the one in the class you have a poorer grade in. Keep an agenda, start a to do list for your homework every night and allocate how much time it should take for each subject. All those little things help and you’ll find that you have more time on your hands than you thought you would. Also, one crucial bit of advice I learned from AP psych: delay gratification. If you wanna watch the latest episode of your favorite TV series, do it after you get your stuff done. It’s less depressing being up at 12:30 to watch a TV show than it is to be up at 12:30 doing homework cuz you wasted time watching your show beforehand. Also, doing that before you start homework just snowballs into a huge blob of distraction (if that makes sense). Work first, then play. I know I may be making college sound hella hard and stressful, but it’s not, especially if you can manage yourself. Just stay on top of your shit, and you’ll be more relaxed than you thought you’d be. There’s enough time in a day for you to spend doing whatever you want. You just needa be effective so you can maximize it. Important thing is not to overwork yourself. If you needa sleep, sleep. If you needa eat, eat. If you need fresh air, get it. Wanna work out, do it. Screw your homework schedule, your health is the most important thing, and you can’t get anywhere if it fails. There’s always time to put yourself first, so do it.
Lastly, the roommate process. When filling an application for dorms, there’s a survey where you fill out how clean you are, whether you’re a partier or not, whether you like to go to bed/wake up early or late, etc. Then, based on your answers, they try and put you with a roommate or roommates that is/are like you. After a few weeks, you get an email saying “this is your roommate, and this is their contact info.” If you wanna request someone, like manali and I did, each student has an ID number. You type in your friend’s ID number in the space they give you if you wanna request, and when you submit the application, your friend will automatically get a message saying “so and so has requested you. Do you accept?” and then they needa accept it. As to whether or not there are single rooms, i’m not sure. I haven’t seen them, but I’d be surprised if there weren’t any. To get one, all you have to do is ask for one on your dorm application. They give you 5 spaces or so, and you rank your room choices from 1-5, specifying which buliding you’d like to be in and whether or not you want a single, double, triple, etc. I’ve heard that it’s best to put “give me anything” as your fifth choice. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll get your number one choice, or for that matter any of them (our first room assignment wasn’t even one of our choices. Then we sent a request for a room change and got a random one that was, but it wasn’t our first choice. You needa have an excuse for wanting to transfer though).
Okay, I really hope I answered all your questions well enough. I really tried the best I could, but again, if there’s anything you’re not sure about, just ask. Sorry that this is really long. I hope I didn’t lose you towards the middle. I was trying to be thorough, but hopefully I got everything you needed in. Anyways, good luck with the college process and I hope you get into the school of your dreams!!
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