I hope everyone's having a great summer! I really wish I hadn't forgotten my camera battery recharger at Berkeley (I'm in SoCal right now). Anyways, my sister's already packing up stuff in preparation for the move to college. For incoming freshmen, or anyone interested, here are some things that I think you guys might find helpful to do:

1. get a credit card
I know a lot of us out there have credit cards that our parents gave us, but it's really important to have your own credit card issued from your own bank account in order to build credit. I remember trying to apply for a credit card after my senior year of high school, but I kept getting rejected because I had no credit. I finally had to walk into the bank, sit down, and talk to someone to set up a student checking account. This is much easier than trying to do it online or anything, because chances are, you won't be able to.

2. Visit the Tang Center
The Tang Center is the university's health services building. It's located on Bancroft, about 2 blocks down from Telegraph. I'm not sure if it's on the checklist of things you guys have to do, but it's really important to give them a copy of your health and immunization record. You'll also be issued a "gold card" if you paid for SHIP. I'm not sure if you get one if you're not on SHIP. I know SHIP costs a lot, but my mom's logic is that if anything happens to me in Berkeley, it's much more convenient and accessible to depend on the Tang Center and pay the SHIP fees, instead of dealing with a whole mess of equivalent insurance later on. I would also recommend getting a meningitis shot.

Continue reading "Prep for Cal!" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 4:22 PM | Permalink

I don't wanna take two classes of Taekwondo-I don't wanna! Unfortunantely, I have no choice. In order to meet the minimum amount of classes to be full-time, I have to be enrolled in 13 units. So far includes PMB 135/135L, PMB 150/150L & IB 117/117L, if you guys are keeping track-that's 12 units. I can't take another science class, I just can't! I need to take brain-dead-dummy-sleep-getting-a-passing-grade-class-so-I-don't-die-of-science class.

So I'm trying to find something to fill in that last unit-but thanks to my Telebears Phase II just starting today-all the good classes were full!! So I'm left with two martial arts classes back to back. Hey, it was this or jazz dance. I can't rely right now on DeCal courses because it's too competitive.

I'm seeing there is a Directed Group Study for one unit, but how does that work? Is it just for freshman and sophmores, do I have to be enrolled in a certain class?

Why must I waste my time and effort on filler classes!??!

Posted by Josephine Wong at 10:04 PM | Permalink

Our tuition is going to increase as you all know, by 9% this fall. Furthermore, if there are no more grants next fall, loans will be taken out which means more money that students need to owe and try to pay off. This brings extra stress on top of trying to pay for rent, groceries, and bills. Furthermore, I heard from a friend that funds for research will decrease and thus, less research opportunities will be provided, and the chance to work with great professors will be diminished. I know in my sister's high school, new teachers were getting "pink slips," which means they are being laid off by seniority-...... "last in first out." I went to go and visit in the spring and some students remarked that the new teachers shouldn't be the one being laid off as they are the most enthusiastic, making learning more interesting. As of now, this is what we have to deal with and cope with. Pessimism is not the right way to see the situations at hand. I always like to look at the positives. There may be many obstacles and hardships along the way, but we just have to do the best we can to cope and find solutions to whatever blocks we meet

Posted by Casey Wang at 11:32 AM | Permalink

I never imagined that my summer could be an endless series of tests in the classrooms on top of challenges in the laboratory. When I signed up for Medical Ethnobotany (ME) lecture and lab, I ignorantly thought that my love for plants and dedication to science would easily allow me to ace the two classes on top of carrying out six research lab projects in the greenhouse and Koshland. Boy was I mistaken! By the last week of session A and beginning of session C, I struggled to survive as MCB 102 Biochemistry (biochem) readings drowned me with the unwelcomed pressure. For the last 1.5 weeks of June, my life literally revolved about ME lab final, biochem quiz, ME lecture final, biochem midterm, research lab meetings, tissue culturing, germination projects in the greenhouse, on top of a 40 page literature review for Professor Terry.

Total FML status.

Although I ended up acing my two session A classes, life would still not calm down. By living on 3-4 hours of sleep each night for a month, my immune system was apparently compromised when I caught a cold from my roommate. A visit to the urgent care unit at the Tang informed me that I developed pneumonia. Who is lame enough to get pneumonia in the middle of summer?! I guess, I am. The fevers were bearable, but the coughing up blood part was gross.

Thank goodness June is over. I just finished my second biochem midterm... Life is finally bearable again.

No matter how difficult life appeared to be, I kept telling myself that, "when life gets tough, suck it up and deal with it." Please don't quote me on this. I think I stole it from someone or some site on the Internet.

Posted by Amelia Nguyen at 5:57 PM | Permalink

I just remembered that there was a cool Discovery Channel show on two and a half hours ago. This is one of the times I wish I had TiVo, instead we have TFC, The Filipino Channel. Their erratically scheduled programming includes such wonderful hits such as Wowowee where the male host sings the same song...everyday and further demeans the women (dancers, contestants, cohosts, etc) to:

a) crazy
b) hot pieces of asses (one time they had a beauty pageant, and every question in their Q&A section was about boyfriends)
c) glorified mike holders and question askers

Continue reading "It's Sunday, I'm Bored" »

Posted by Josephine Wong at 10:31 PM | Permalink

So, as Cal So is continuing, summer classes are starting another session, and starting another semester means one step closer to graduation, many must wonder, with the economy this bad, going to grad school or not is a hard choice. For me, I had thought I wanted to go into pharmacy grad school, but I still wasn't sure whether it was right for me. I also wanted to make sure I had back-up plans, and sitting here, I had zero. Panicked, i decided to go to the career center, callisto. Now, for all those wondering, no, the career center is not familiar with course schedules- for instance, I freshman was wondering what courses/major would help her "get into med school." Career counselors are there to help with career goals, interests, med/vet/law/pharm/grad school informations. Course information - specific questions, should be tailored to advisors in your college.

I went onto the career website, and signed up for a 45 minute appointment. there are two options- a 15 mini appointment( usually for resume help/interview mock help), or 45 minute one,which is helpful if you wanted to discuss options of career paths/interests. It's one on one, very personal, very helpful and they are full of resources. I mean,walking into the center, there were binders full of information about international careers, nonprofit careers, grad school careers, internships, fellowships, information.

So, the career counselor advised me to take the skills survey questionarre- this requires a password so you have to sign up with a career counselor first- and at first impression, I assumed it'd be those broad questions that would list a bunch of occupations that fit

Continue reading "career center visit" »

Posted by Casey Wang at 6:27 PM | Permalink

I am home right now, after session A of summer sessions have ended. I'm taking three classes during session C though, and I've been even busier than spring semester. But I'm done with Anthro 1. By the way, Anthro 1 (biological anthropology) was a really great class, like the other two anthro classes I've taken thus far at Berkeley (3AC and R5B). I recommend every one of them, and I find all the GSI's and professors in that department to be outstanding. They are all more responsible, knowledgeable, and interested in their subject than I would ever have imagined.

Now to my main subject for today, which is BART. I find BART an excellent mode of transportation for those living around the Bay Area and even for those who don't. The downtown Berkeley station is right next to campus (especially close to CNR headquarters), and the trains come so often that I never need to check any schedule. However, it is times like today that made me want to say that whereas BART can be a convenient way to get around, it may not be the most dependable way.class.

Continue reading "Life and BART Adventures" »

Posted by Jade Liu at 12:26 AM | Permalink

HEADS UP! Deadline to waive SHIP is July 15!

What's SHIP? Student Health Insurance Plan
http://www.uhs.berkeley.edu/students/insurance/waiver/welcome.shtml

Every student is required to have comprehensive medical, counseling, dental, and vision coverage. Each semester, UCB will automatically apply SHIP to your account unless you submit a waiver located at the link below. The waiver is your proof that you have outside insurance equivalent to the university's. Unless you submit this waiver by July 15, you will be charged $698 for the Fall semester!

Waiver requires CalNet Login:
https://auth.berkeley.edu/cas/login?service=https://www.uhs.berkeley.edu/waivers/waiverform.asp

I didn't understand this my first semester and was charged for SHIP. I was able to get refunded by submitting the form after the due date but I was still charged $50. So in an effort to save you the $50-$698, WAIVE SHIP, provided you have equivalent insurance.

Posted by Maria at 9:43 PM | Permalink

With the ever competitive job market, having an edge is essential. A programmer with creative design experience, a physicist with political science aspirations, a polyglot with a teaching degree-having a little something extra, it certainly can't hurt.

Planning out my college courses for my brief two year stint here, I realize I've got a bit of extra space. I could:

Continue reading "Broadening Horizons" »

Posted by Josephine Wong at 11:42 PM | Permalink