"You should try and spend as much time as you can with your friends or family because you really don't know what you appreciate in life until it's gone." Sounds like you going to an adventure to kill some evil monsters and you're not sure if you could make it back.
My daughter just finished her freshman year at Cal and I would say this kid makes great points. All true from what Ive witnessed as a parent. Cal has definitely been challenging, stressful and has stretched her beyond what she thought she was capable of. She is home now for a few weeks trying to come out of zombie mode from studying for finals. Good video.
You're very insightful! I'm going to Cal in the fall for engineering too and I'm super nervous but excited! I was wondering if you knew anything about the summer bridge program? Thanks for the video!
551223 My most difficult classes were Chem 1A and Math 53 (Calc 3). My first semester I choose to take Chem 1A instead of AP out of it, which was a big mistake. The professor who teaches it in the fall is known to be difficult, and I had no need to take it anyway. Math 53 was hard because my TA was not useful at all and I found that the lectures were nearly unintelligible (both because of the material and my professor's accent lol) My easiest class was definitely English R1A and ASAMST 132AC. High school and prepared me for the former, and the latter was just paying attention in class. Finally, my most enjoyable class was Chem 3A. Definitely a difficult class, but also very enjoyable and with a passionate professor (Vollhardt).
Zachary Scheftel you're going for engineering correct? From what I heard, the difficult courses are the calcs, physics and Chen but not the actual engineering courses. Have your taken any yet? If so, how were they
I can definitely confirm that Calc, Physics, and Chem are very difficult courses in general (they are usually considered "weeder" courses to make people reconsider their capabilities). However, "actual" engineering courses is kinda hard to define, so I will suggest you check out berkeleytime.com, which is a site where you can look at the grade distributions of classes at Berkeley. For example, the class BioE 100 is an "actual" engineering class, but has a great grade distribution, while CS 170 is also an "actual" engineering course and has a much lower one. However, in general it is true that upper division courses are usually more focused and specialized, meaning that only people that have interest in the subject or have talent in it will take the course. This can create a higher grade distribution overall. Overall though, the important thing about upper division classes is not the grade you receive, but what you learn! One other point, a course's difficulty is probably 50% based on which professor and which TA you get. Make sure to check our ratemyprofessor to see if you have a notoriously hard or easy professor before enrolling!
Thank you so much for sharing! I'm so glad I stumbled upon this video; you seem so down to Earth. I'm heading to Cal next year and am super excited but also nervous. I was wondering if you had any advice on dorm selection and how to balance being a freshman and having fun without failing every course! Also, did you find it hard to understand content and get on a personal level with professors because of the large class sizes?
In terms of term, I would rank them Unit 1 > Unit 2 > Clark Kerr > Unit 3 > Foothill. Unit 1 and Unit 2 are close to the dining hall Crossroads, but Unit 1 is closer to campus (slightly). Clark Kerr has nice dorms and a nice dining hall, but is super far away from campus. Unit 3 is really close to campus, a dining hall, but not nice dorms. Foothill is super far away from the action on Southside and quite a hike, though it does have nice dorms and a dining hall. To balance, I would suggest that you take a lighter course load your first semester so you can acclimate to college life, and then start taking more units your second semester. I only took 13 units my first semester, and it helped ease me into the college lifestyle! Also, they said that "you are the sum of the 5 people you hang out with the most," meaning that you are heavily influenced by the people you surround yourself with. If you are doing badly in school, stop hanging out with stoners and day drinkers and find some study buddies in your classes. Class sizes are mostly huge as a freshman, and I would not bother trying to get to know your professors at this point. Standing out among 1000 people is nearly impossible, it would benefit you more to make friends with your TA's. And yes, I do think that the mentality in class is "keep up or die." Your professor will not be holding your hand, and neither will your TA; it is entirely up to YOU to manage your homework, studying, etc. So my advice is: keep up or die!
The video was really helpful man, thank you so much for taking the time to make this. I'm currently deciding whether or not to go to Cal (accepted from waitlist) and the thing thats keeping me away the most is the competitiveness and like lack of collaboration and goodwill towards each other at the school. My dream school was stanford (is that taboo :P) because they had an optimistic view and the students seem to see education as a means to contribute to the world instead of getting yourself ahead. Youre in engineering, do you have any thoughts on this side of Berkeley's culture?
Le Tuan Le Tuan I’m glad you liked the video and thanks for commenting! There are three main fields that I see unhealthy competition, and in order from most to least intense they are pre-Haas (business), pre-med, and computer science. Pre-Haas is so competitive because you are pitted against fellow students for a very select few spots in Haas after your 2nd year at Cal. In addition, the business fraternities all keep tabs on each other, for example my housemate has memorized the GPA’s, internships, and extracurriculars of a ton of her peers just be overhearing all the gossip that goes on. Pre-med and CS are competitive because of GPA requirements; for pre-med, most students aim to have above a 3.7 (really hard to do at Berkeley!) it get into med school, and most aim to have a 3.9+. For CS, if you’re not declared then you need to have a 3.3 (or 3.5? I can’t remember) average in your undergraduate CS curriculum to declare the major. Because all CS courses are graded on a curve, there is fierce competition to be part of the subsection of students that beat the GPA cutoff. Despite what I said above, toxic competitiveness is the exception to the rule rather than the rule itself. The vast majority of people at Cal are just like you and me and don’t envy other people’s successes; if you meet competitive and toxic people, just don’t hang out with them. I always try to hang out with people who inspire me to be better and try harder, but you have to be careful that they’re doing this in a constructive way and not fostering a culture of toxicity and imposter syndrome. Good luck, and if you decide to come maybe I’ll see you around!
Def one of the best cal videos I've seen, thank you so much!, I'm hoping to take chem 1a & calc my first semester at cal .. do you think it would be beneficial for me to self study and learn the subject on my own over the summer to lessen the stress during the semester? Or does it not matter and will be really hard classes no matter what?
Sameera Khan sorry for the late response! The classes will be difficult no matter what I’m sorry to say, but studying over the summer can’t do anything but help. But honestly, I would suggest doing fun stuff during this summer; it’s your last free summer (or maybe your adult life). Go have fun! You will be studying more than enough this fall. Good luck!
Hey! I'm an incoming freshman, and I stumbled upon your video while searching for Cal advice (class enrollment is tomorrow yikes). Just wanted to pop in and say that your video was insightful, and you seem really genuine! Any tips on extracurriculars? Like is there hierarchy/elitism there too, or is it hard to join them?
There are a ton of extracurriculars here at Cal, and they range from open admission to rushing and pledging processes. Some of the organizations will be extremely demanding to get into (like Greek Life or consulting groups) while some are just fun things to do in your free time (like AFX or volunteering). There is a lot of competition for the former, the most extreme example is probably the ASUC (Berkeley’s own student government) which has weeks long campaigning to get votes.
joycelyn yip Sure! The classes in high demand, such as Chem1A, CS61AB, Math1AB, etc., will be very large, hundreds to thousands of students. However, classes that are more specialized, like R1AB, foreign language, etc., can be as small as 15 students. Class sizes start very large freshman year when no one is absolutely sure what they want to specialize in, but gradually become smaller as one becomes an upperclassman. Hope that helps!
Hi I’m planning on transferring to Cal this fall! In the process of still deciding, I was wondering how did you deal with stress? And does the cut throat competition arise in every class?
Personally, like to deal with stress by heading over to the gym (AKA the RSF) and working out until I feel a little calmer. I actually do NOT feel overworked or stressed the vast majority of the time; I complete my homework and essays far before their due dates and begin studying for midterms a week in advance. That is just me; I know many people who leave things until the very last second and feel the crunch. In my opinion, stress is not hard to manage at Cal if you are RESPONSIBLE. Emphasis on responsible. If you are on top of your shit, and know how much time it takes you to complete assignments/study for exams, you can fit in everything along with relaxation time too. Just learn to manage time well! I think that the cutthroat reputation of the students at Berkeley is highly exaggerated. The only people I can recall ever doing "snakey" things to other people are pre-Haas majors (they are all fighting for a very limited pool of spots) and pre-meds, but even pre-meds are not that competitive against one another. The classes are so difficult that everyone is too busy struggling to keep up to bother trying to sabotage other people anyway! Hope that helps!
Currently I am a Bioengineering & intended EECS double major (I am declaring the double this summer). I could have used my AP Calc BC credits to get out of Math 1B and my AP Chem credits to get out of Chem 1A, but I didn’t and I regret it! Use your APs!
Thank you for this video!! It was really insightful / interesting.
"You should try and spend as much time as you can with your friends or family because you really don't know what you appreciate in life until it's gone." Sounds like you going to an adventure to kill some evil monsters and you're not sure if you could make it back.
very nice video and pretty self reflective :) I know your feelings although I'm currently at another university..
My daughter just finished her freshman year at Cal and I would say this kid makes great points. All true from what Ive witnessed as a parent. Cal has definitely been challenging, stressful and has stretched her beyond what she thought she was capable of. She is home now for a few weeks trying to come out of zombie mode from studying for finals. Good video.
dude you should start singing. I can tell you have some good low notes not a lot of people have
He could be a actor or a model.
You're very insightful! I'm going to Cal in the fall for engineering too and I'm super nervous but excited! I was wondering if you knew anything about the summer bridge program? Thanks for the video!
Leslie Martinez I’m sorry, I don’t know much about it. Good luck this fall!
Can you discuss your classes? Like what classes were difficult for you
551223 My most difficult classes were Chem 1A and Math 53 (Calc 3).
My first semester I choose to take Chem 1A instead of AP out of it, which was a big mistake. The professor who teaches it in the fall is known to be difficult, and I had no need to take it anyway.
Math 53 was hard because my TA was not useful at all and I found that the lectures were nearly unintelligible (both because of the material and my professor's accent lol)
My easiest class was definitely English R1A and ASAMST 132AC. High school and prepared me for the former, and the latter was just paying attention in class.
Finally, my most enjoyable class was Chem 3A. Definitely a difficult class, but also very enjoyable and with a passionate professor (Vollhardt).
Zachary Scheftel you're going for engineering correct? From what I heard, the difficult courses are the calcs, physics and Chen but not the actual engineering courses. Have your taken any yet? If so, how were they
I can definitely confirm that Calc, Physics, and Chem are very difficult courses in general (they are usually considered "weeder" courses to make people reconsider their capabilities). However, "actual" engineering courses is kinda hard to define, so I will suggest you check out berkeleytime.com, which is a site where you can look at the grade distributions of classes at Berkeley. For example, the class BioE 100 is an "actual" engineering class, but has a great grade distribution, while CS 170 is also an "actual" engineering course and has a much lower one.
However, in general it is true that upper division courses are usually more focused and specialized, meaning that only people that have interest in the subject or have talent in it will take the course. This can create a higher grade distribution overall. Overall though, the important thing about upper division classes is not the grade you receive, but what you learn!
One other point, a course's difficulty is probably 50% based on which professor and which TA you get. Make sure to check our ratemyprofessor to see if you have a notoriously hard or easy professor before enrolling!
Thank you so much for sharing! I'm so glad I stumbled upon this video; you seem so down to Earth. I'm heading to Cal next year and am super excited but also nervous. I was wondering if you had any advice on dorm selection and how to balance being a freshman and having fun without failing every course! Also, did you find it hard to understand content and get on a personal level with professors because of the large class sizes?
In terms of term, I would rank them Unit 1 > Unit 2 > Clark Kerr > Unit 3 > Foothill. Unit 1 and Unit 2 are close to the dining hall Crossroads, but Unit 1 is closer to campus (slightly). Clark Kerr has nice dorms and a nice dining hall, but is super far away from campus. Unit 3 is really close to campus, a dining hall, but not nice dorms. Foothill is super far away from the action on Southside and quite a hike, though it does have nice dorms and a dining hall.
To balance, I would suggest that you take a lighter course load your first semester so you can acclimate to college life, and then start taking more units your second semester. I only took 13 units my first semester, and it helped ease me into the college lifestyle! Also, they said that "you are the sum of the 5 people you hang out with the most," meaning that you are heavily influenced by the people you surround yourself with. If you are doing badly in school, stop hanging out with stoners and day drinkers and find some study buddies in your classes.
Class sizes are mostly huge as a freshman, and I would not bother trying to get to know your professors at this point. Standing out among 1000 people is nearly impossible, it would benefit you more to make friends with your TA's.
And yes, I do think that the mentality in class is "keep up or die." Your professor will not be holding your hand, and neither will your TA; it is entirely up to YOU to manage your homework, studying, etc. So my advice is: keep up or die!
This is cool! Very informative. Where's your next video?
Randy Magallon thank you! I wanted to make a video about my second year but I wasn’t sure if anyone would care, so I’m still thinking about it.
Can't wait for your next video. Curious what are some interesting moments during your sophomore year.
The video was really helpful man, thank you so much for taking the time to make this. I'm currently deciding whether or not to go to Cal (accepted from waitlist) and the thing thats keeping me away the most is the competitiveness and like lack of collaboration and goodwill towards each other at the school. My dream school was stanford (is that taboo :P) because they had an optimistic view and the students seem to see education as a means to contribute to the world instead of getting yourself ahead. Youre in engineering, do you have any thoughts on this side of Berkeley's culture?
Le Tuan Le Tuan I’m glad you liked the video and thanks for commenting!
There are three main fields that I see unhealthy competition, and in order from most to least intense they are pre-Haas (business), pre-med, and computer science.
Pre-Haas is so competitive because you are pitted against fellow students for a very select few spots in Haas after your 2nd year at Cal. In addition, the business fraternities all keep tabs on each other, for example my housemate has memorized the GPA’s, internships, and extracurriculars of a ton of her peers just be overhearing all the gossip that goes on.
Pre-med and CS are competitive because of GPA requirements; for pre-med, most students aim to have above a 3.7 (really hard to do at Berkeley!) it get into med school, and most aim to have a 3.9+. For CS, if you’re not declared then you need to have a 3.3 (or 3.5? I can’t remember) average in your undergraduate CS curriculum to declare the major. Because all CS courses are graded on a curve, there is fierce competition to be part of the subsection of students that beat the GPA cutoff.
Despite what I said above, toxic competitiveness is the exception to the rule rather than the rule itself. The vast majority of people at Cal are just like you and me and don’t envy other people’s successes; if you meet competitive and toxic people, just don’t hang out with them. I always try to hang out with people who inspire me to be better and try harder, but you have to be careful that they’re doing this in a constructive way and not fostering a culture of toxicity and imposter syndrome.
Good luck, and if you decide to come maybe I’ll see you around!
Def one of the best cal videos I've seen, thank you so much!, I'm hoping to take chem 1a & calc my first semester at cal .. do you think it would be beneficial for me to self study and learn the subject on my own over the summer to lessen the stress during the semester? Or does it not matter and will be really hard classes no matter what?
Sameera Khan sorry for the late response! The classes will be difficult no matter what I’m sorry to say, but studying over the summer can’t do anything but help. But honestly, I would suggest doing fun stuff during this summer; it’s your last free summer (or maybe your adult life). Go have fun! You will be studying more than enough this fall. Good luck!
You are very wise at such a young age
Hey! I'm an incoming freshman, and I stumbled upon your video while searching for Cal advice (class enrollment is tomorrow yikes). Just wanted to pop in and say that your video was insightful, and you seem really genuine! Any tips on extracurriculars? Like is there hierarchy/elitism there too, or is it hard to join them?
There are a ton of extracurriculars here at Cal, and they range from open admission to rushing and pledging processes.
Some of the organizations will be extremely demanding to get into (like Greek Life or consulting groups) while some are just fun things to do in your free time (like AFX or volunteering).
There is a lot of competition for the former, the most extreme example is probably the ASUC (Berkeley’s own student government) which has weeks long campaigning to get votes.
Hey can you talk about your class size? Are all freshman classes like 1000 people?
joycelyn yip Sure! The classes in high demand, such as Chem1A, CS61AB, Math1AB, etc., will be very large, hundreds to thousands of students. However, classes that are more specialized, like R1AB, foreign language, etc., can be as small as 15 students. Class sizes start very large freshman year when no one is absolutely sure what they want to specialize in, but gradually become smaller as one becomes an upperclassman. Hope that helps!
Hi I’m planning on transferring to Cal this fall! In the process of still deciding, I was wondering how did you deal with stress? And does the cut throat competition arise in every class?
Personally, like to deal with stress by heading over to the gym (AKA the RSF) and working out until I feel a little calmer. I actually do NOT feel overworked or stressed the vast majority of the time; I complete my homework and essays far before their due dates and begin studying for midterms a week in advance. That is just me; I know many people who leave things until the very last second and feel the crunch.
In my opinion, stress is not hard to manage at Cal if you are RESPONSIBLE. Emphasis on responsible. If you are on top of your shit, and know how much time it takes you to complete assignments/study for exams, you can fit in everything along with relaxation time too. Just learn to manage time well!
I think that the cutthroat reputation of the students at Berkeley is highly exaggerated. The only people I can recall ever doing "snakey" things to other people are pre-Haas majors (they are all fighting for a very limited pool of spots) and pre-meds, but even pre-meds are not that competitive against one another. The classes are so difficult that everyone is too busy struggling to keep up to bother trying to sabotage other people anyway!
Hope that helps!
Thank you for this!!
Zachary Scheftel ，
Olivia On how was your experience transferring into Berkeley? I'm a transfer student who just got accepted. Also, how hard was finding housing?
Do you have social media? Also, this video was super insightful!
Thank you! I have facebook and Instagram but I'm overall not very active on either, my instagram is zack.scheftel.
what is your major?
and can you get deeper into your point about classes that you could have used your ap credits to skip?
Currently I am a Bioengineering & intended EECS double major (I am declaring the double this summer).
I could have used my AP Calc BC credits to get out of Math 1B and my AP Chem credits to get out of Chem 1A, but I didn’t and I regret it! Use your APs!