Greetings internet world!

This is my first post... and quite appropritately so since I've only recently become a Molecular Toxicology major. So about that... it's a long story. I started at Cal in 2006 as a Chemical Engineering major. After about a year in that major, I decided it wasn't a good fit (I couldn't pass Math 1B even after a few tries) and I really wasn't happy. I searched for another major that would improve my mood and settled on Molecular Toxicology. It took both my sophomore and junior years (summer school included) to work towards meeting the minimum requirements to be eligible for filing a petition to change major. Those two years of college were nuts! At one point I was taking a full course load at Cal, working part time and taking a 5 unit class at night at Laney City College in Oakland!

All the hard work was worth it... after 2 years of working to meet the requirements I finally received notification of my acceptance into the College of Natural Resources as a Molecular Toxicology major! YAY!!! I have a major!!! I can graduate next spring!!! HOORAY!!

What? Graduate in spring 2010? You've only been there 4 years... and you changed your major your senior year?? These are questions probably running through your mind about now... Thanks to the guidance from advisors in both College of Natural Resources and College of Chemistry, and due to endless hours of planning my schedule... and due to my advisors' support, I enrolled in classes for Molecular Toxicology while I was still a Chemical Engineering major on paper. It sounds like a great plan initially and it looks like it's going to work out just fine for me... but it could all horribly backfire. Here's how: by taking classes for molecular toxicology for two years but not actually having that major, if my petition to change major wasn't accepted I would have effectively had lots of course credit that wasn't applicable for any degree and my time at Cal would not have resulted in earning a Bachelor's degree. No pressure, right?

So now enough about that... and a little bit about who I am. I'm a first generation college student raised in a small town in the high desert of Southern California. My mother and I were born in the same hospital, and we both graduated from the same middle school AND the same high school (we even had some of the same teachers). I love the Bay Area, and hopefully will never leave. I'm a campus ambassador for the university which means that I give campus tours out of the Public Affairs office. I have been an active member of UC Rally Committee since my freshman year. That's about me in a nutshell.

On Friday I'm participating in a Strawberry Creek clean up project to help remove invasive species. I'm really looking forward to splashing around in the creek for a few hours.

My class schedule this semester is as follows: PH 162 (Public Health Microbiology), PH 162L (the microbiology lab), MCB 104 (Genetics), IB 117 (Medical Ethnobotany), and two PE classes, Introductory Taekwondo and low intermediate swimming.

There will be additional, fancier blog entries to follow. :)

Posted by Leighna Baxter at 12:30 PM | Permalink

So after finals I did what almost every Cal student does and left for home. So during my first month of summer I worked part time as a cashier to make some money and pretty much became lazy while at home. However, around mid-June I came back to Berkeley because not only was I bored from home, but I had signed up for summer classes and had chosen to take Math 16A and IB 141 (Human Genetics). Yah I know the two classes are really different.

Continue reading "Class Review!" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 1:26 AM | Permalink

So as I have previously stated I am now declared Molecular Environmental Biology, but I have always thought about getting a minor. After taking NST 11 (Intro to Toxicology) and finding it really interesting, in general, I am thinking of minoring in Motox. The minor requires the following classes.
- NST 110
- NST C112
- NST C114
- NST 120
- NST 121

Continue reading "Class frustrations with minors!" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 10:34 PM | Permalink

So I just checked bearfacts and I am now officially declared MEB yaya!!! It feels so nice having something to strive for instead of being confused all the time of what I want to take in terms of classes. So excited =)

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 10:03 PM | Permalink

Environmental Economics and Policy
Political Science

When I applied for EEP, I was looking more towards the policy part than economics. I enjoyed U.S. history in high school because this country is a whole new place to me and I want to understand its government. I just want to learn about different governments, how it functions and affects a society. There are so many questions and twists that make Political Science interesting. Sometimes I wonder, “What is my primary major?” Am I taking Poli Sci so I would understand politics better and thus create policies that would go through our complex system? Or am I taking EEP to learn about environmental issues and use it as support for political theories? Either ways, I think both majors go hand in hand.

Besides personal interest, I also realized that doing a single major would not be enough to meet the 120-unit requirement to graduate. I put myself in a very good position by already deciding to double major after my freshman year. I was able to minimize the amount of classes I need to take and even have a semester to study abroad. Starting next semester I also only need to take 13 units until I graduate (thanks to summer classes, my classes are more spread out through my 4 years). Here’s the breakdown of my classes and units. I’ve taken a few 1 or 2 unit fun classes that I didn't list down.

Continue reading "Why I'm double majoring" »

Posted by John Cortez at 10:11 PM | Permalink

So way back in November of 2007…WOW that seems like such a long time ago O.O! Well anyways that was when I was applying for colleges and at that point my focus was more on essays and SAT as I knew pretty much that I was only going to apply to UC schools. Well when the day came when I actually had to submit my application I was confronted with the idea of what was I to major in college. For me I knew from the get go that I wanted to study biology so on all the UCs that I applied to I marked “biology”….well until I got to Berkeley. After looking at all the majors I was shocked that there was no generic and straightforward “biology” and there was no way I was going to do MCB because honestly cells bore me. I was pretty distraught but decided to apply under CNR as undeclared because I was not sure what I wanted to major in but there seemed to be plenty of science majors. Now that I think about I guess it was a good thing that I wasn’t thorough in my search because If I did carefully search I might have applied as an IB major in L&S which would not be good.

Continue reading "Don’t get it twisted…Its MEB not MCB!!!" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 2:57 AM | Permalink

Almost two years has passed since my decision to go to UC Berkeley. Some of us right now may be choosing between campuses, distance from family, majors, university prestige, or cost of attendance. It was not an easy choice for me and I am sure some of you are also struggling to choose where to spend your college life. But whatever comes across you, do not let anything stop you from going to college.

Here are two of my previous blogs about my decision and the factors involved
http://nature.berkeley.edu/blogs/freshfaces/2008/03/introduction.php#more
http://nature.berkeley.edu/blogs/freshfaces/2008/04/johns_guide_to.php#more

This year's Cal Day is on Saturday April 18, 2009
http://calday.berkeley.edu/

Posted by John Cortez at 1:11 PM | Permalink

So everyone here at Cal is pretty much submerged in piles of study materials for the second round of midterms. While we're stressing about exams and papers, high school seniors are probably stressing about which college to go to. Here are some things to take into consideration:

1. Remember that it is your choice
Wherever you choose to go, you're basically going to be there for 4 years. You're going to be away from your family, most of your friends, and the comforts of home. That said, choose somewhere you want to go. While your parents may have your best interests in mind, you don't want to be totally unhappy attending a college that you were forced to go to.

2. Check out the programs
I'm pretty sure most high school seniors have already checked out the programs each college has to offer. If you want to be a science major, attend to a college that has a strong science department, not one that's known for law.

Continue reading "The Decision" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 10:19 PM | Permalink

It wasn't too hard for me to pick a major. I have a very strong passion for the environment so the ES major seemed perfect for me. On top of that, I didn't know what I wanted to go into more specifically (i.e. water, health, forestry, etc.) and a degree in ES gave me the flexibility to go into whichever I decided later on. All in all, ES was perfect and I was quite content with it going in.

A couple months after the application deadline, I discovered the CRS major which highly appealed to me simply because it focused on an aspect that I felt I was devoting more of my efforts towards, at the time anyway...

Continue reading "ES vs. CRS" »

Posted by Maria at 8:56 PM | Permalink

So most college admission decisions are out already! Having problems deciding where to go for the next 4 years of your college life? or 5... or 6... but let's not hope for that :) . If you want to learn more of how I dealt with this same problem, the first part my story is found on my first blog "Introduction". Now I am going through some things you may want to consider before deciding for a school.

Continue reading "John's Guide to Choosing a College!" »

Posted by John Cortez at 12:06 AM | Permalink

HI EVERYONE!

So this is my first blog and before I can start providing advices I will introduce myself first. My name is John Cortez and I'm a freshie studying Environmental Economics and Policy (geez such a long name). I am also planning to double major in Political Science because I am mainly interested in policy making and solving public issues. Actually, I thought I was going to become an engineer, but...

Continue reading "Introduction" »

Posted by John Cortez at 6:46 PM | Permalink

I decided that since I know exactly what I want to do, might as well declare early. In addition, rumor has it that if you declare your major you can have some sort of priority during tele-bears and get other perks over undeclared students. The process would have been a lot easier except I had to declare a simultaneous degree in Microbial Biology in CNR and Arabic in L&S. First I met with my CNR advisor and filled a form with my complete plan for the rest of my semesters at Berkeley. After my advisor signed off on my paper and double checked my schedule I made an appointment with my L&S Arabic advisor so she can sign off on my separate packet that had my plan for the rest of my years at Berkeley. Both advisors had to sign BOTH packets from BOTH colleges. I then made copies of both packets and turned in the CNR packet at Mulford and the L&S packet at Campbell. A week later I got my final approval from CNR and then two weeks later I got my full approval from L&S and now I am officially a declared Microbial Biology and Arabic Major at Berkeley...something feels really satisfying about that.

Posted by Rola Abduljabar Rabah at 8:44 PM | Permalink

If you're in GPB or MB, you're going to meet the awesome Undergraduate Advisors Trey and Dana. If you haven't spent time with them yet, you will be required to meet them soon. Be sure to ask them all the questions you have about course requirements - they can tell you all about creative ways to meet your elective requirements, or let you know that you don't really need that insane MCB class you were planning on taking.

Now, something to know - they're new! And dangit - they know their stuff. But occasionally some paperwork gets lost in transitions like this, so don't be shocked if you need to remind them you've completed a requirement.

For any of you transfer students out there - you're going to want to make super good friends with Trey and Dana. That's because they approve all of your course substitutions. If you've attended another four-year school like me, it can get pretty tricky. Like most upper-division transfer students, I took almost all of my lower-division requirements at another school. That means that Trey and Dana have to work some magic to make each one of those count toward graduation. It can be tricky at times, but worth it to not re-take courses.

Posted by Christina at 11:57 AM | Permalink

Miami University of Ohio is a small school with a well-established Botany department. I am considering them for my graduate studies. Their graduate Botany department offers a small student - to- faculty ratio, ample funding, and graduate course offerings to drool over.

While I was meeting with faculty, Tom spent his afternoon touring campus and taking photos. A few highlights.

The Botany & Zoology Building

Posted by Christina at 9:14 AM | Permalink

Today I visited with a large portion of the Botany faculty at Miami University of Ohio. This is one of the schools to which I have applied for graduate school. You can visit their Botany website here: http://www.cas.muohio.edu/botany/

Tom toured the little town and took photos while I met with faculty.

My schedule for today:
8:45am - Hotel pick-up by Dr. Prem Kumar (Post-doc in Dr. Kiss' lab)
9:00am - Dr. Linda E. Watson (Botany department chair)
9:30am - Dr. John Kiss (NASA-funded space Botany)
10:30am - Dr. R. James Hickey (fern systematist)
11:00am - Dr. Mike Vincent (herbarium curator)
11:30am - Dr. Quinn Li (genetics)
noon - Lunch with Prem Kumar (Post-doc for Dr. Kiss' lab) and Neela Kumar (PhD student Dr. Kiss' lab, vegetarian)
1:30pm - Dr. Richard Edelmann (electron and light microscopy specialist)
2:00pm - Dr. Nik Money - (Mycologist)
2:30pm - Dr. Beth Schussler (Biological sciences education researcher)
3:00pm - Dr. David Gorchov (Ecology)
3:30-5:15pm - Meet with Tom and discuss day.
5:30pm - Driving tour of campus with Dr. Kiss (Tom, too)
6:00pm - Dinner with Dr. Kiss (Tom, too)

The weather was cold, but not at all unbearable. Dreary in the morning, clear blue skies in the afternoon. People asked me often my impression of the weather. It was pretty. I liked watching the little flurries of snow caught up by the breeze.

Impressions of the program:
Well-established Botany program. Knowledgeable staff. Focus on teaching. Kind people.
Dr. Kiss is my favorite faculty member. His research is fascinating. The folks in his lab are kind and fun.

Drawbacks of the program:
May not be easy to petition into PhD program. Many encourage you to complete your master's, then move on to PhD.
Described by one graduate student as having "low expectations" (challenged by other students I met, who found it quite difficult to juggle teaching, their own coursework, and research)

Pluses:
Excellent funding
Diverse coursework offerings
Gentle people
Fun, fairly isolated college town, but driving distance from Cincinnati and Dayton.

I like it.

Posted by Christina at 5:46 PM | Permalink