academics

How I Stay Organized at Berkeley as a STEM Student

October 28, 2024
Mallory S.
How I Stay Organized at Berkeley as a STEM Student

Before I came to university, I always considered myself a fairly organized person. In high school, that meant having a different binder for each class and a to-do list in the notes app on my phone. But flash-forward to my first time reading a course syllabus at Berkeley, and I realized that I needed to change my approach.

Firstly, I think it’s incredibly important to put all of your classes into a calendar. Most students use Google Calendar for this. In university, unlike in high school, your...

Rocks! Rocks! Rocks! (or, How I Discovered the Best Department on Campus)

September 16, 2024
Mallory S.
Rocks! Rocks! Rocks! (or, How I Discovered the Best Department on Campus)

When I was a little kid, I loved dinosaurs.

When I got to be a little bit older, I started a rock collection.

When I was in high school, I would say that my dream job was to go on expeditions to Antarctica to drill ice cores.

I’d dreamed my whole life of becoming a geoscientist, but I hadn’t had much exposure to the earth sciences during my education, so I didn’t really know that a career in them was possible.

All I...

Memories and Their Ability to Sweeten Things: My Newfound Love for Evans Hall

September 9, 2024
Jasmin H.
Memories and Their Ability to Sweeten Things: My Newfound Love for Evans Hall

Evans hall used to be the building that would cover the sunset view from my dorm. The building where my math discussions would take place at 9am. The building that dulled in comparison to the physics building. That said, Evans hall has a special place in my heart.

I often think about how places or things can have greater emotional capital depending on the person who is experiencing them. Similar to how the smell of a certain food or thing can unleash feelings of safety and...

A Letter Before The Start Of My Senior Year

August 28, 2024
Madison K.

The day that this blog is being published, August 28, 2024, is the first day of my senior year at UC Berkeley. Also known as the last first day of school I’ll probably ever have. It’s definitely bittersweet. After Berkeley and obtaining my Bachelor’s, I don’t have any plans on returning to school, at least not for the foreseeable future.

I’m not against pursuing a masters or higher education. I’ve actually thought about it for a few years, more so now that my time as an undergraduate is coming to a close, but I just didn’t find myself committed enough to pull the...

The Best Class I Took Was A Class I Hated

August 23, 2024
Kail M.
The Best Class I Took Was A Class I Hated

The most impactful class I’ve ever took at Berkeley was a class I hated. This class changed my life. Let me explain.

If you’re a Berkeley student in the College of Letters and Science (or 70% of all Berkeley undergrads), you’ll be taking one class for each of our seven “breadth requirements” to graduate. A breadth requirement is Berkeley’s version of general education. Berkeley students are exposed to seven different fields of study from doing our “breadth requirements”, ranging from international studies, physical...

Focus and Managing Stress During Finals and Midterms at UC Berkeley

August 19, 2024
Anna R.
Focus and Managing Stress During Finals and Midterms at UC Berkeley

Summer sessions at UC Berkeley can be intense. This past summer, I found myself buried under a pile of midterms and finals, all hitting at once. It was overwhelming, to say the least. With everything happening at lightning speed, I barely had time to catch my breath, let alone keep up with the endless stream of assignments, exams, and projects. As the dust settled and the fall semester started to peek around the corner, I figured it was the perfect time to step back, reflect on what I’d just been through, and come up...

My Biology Story

August 5, 2024
Jordan S.
My Biology Story

My biology story starts all the way back in freshman year of high school. As I was preparing to register for classes for my first year of high school, it was announced that my school would be removing Honors Biology and would only be offering AP Biology as an advanced option. My mom had me sign up for AP Biology and I was quite worried about it. I heard the class was extremely hard and the idea of taking a scientific AP class as a freshman was unsettling to me, yet I signed up for it anyways. Moving forward, the class was difficult but manageable until...

So you want to be an Education major?

July 11, 2022
Ethan Collier

Guess what? Did you know that UC Berkeley’s School of Education will be unveiling a new undergraduate major in Education? That’s right! Starting in Fall 2023, students will be able to declare Education as a major! This is a huge milestone for students who are interested in all things related to public education. Let me give you a quick low-down on the history of being an “Education student” at Cal!

Beginnings: School of Education, Education Minor, and CalTeach

Studying Education at Berkeley begins with our undergraduate Minor in Education....

How to Stay Focused During Quarantine

February 28, 2021
Vincent Ooi

Taking classes during quarantine is already hard enough…you also want me to stay focused?! This request is absurd for some folks. Today, I’ll show you a few ways in which you can not only stay concentrated in your work or studies for long periods of time, but you can also voluntarily shift your focus at anytime you want.If you want to see how, then read further! I will show you the steps in which you can do this as simple as possible.

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Being Undecided: How I Found My Major

March 6, 2021
Juliana Roper

“What are you studying” is a familiar tune to all those entering college. While this question does not exceed words, it carries a weight with it. Upon entering Cal, I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to study.

I want to preface this by saying in high school I didn’t envision life beyond it. Come college application season, I thought that college was just a glorified version of high school, I mean, what the heck was a major anyways? At the time, I loved that school gave us a taste in every subject, so imagine the shock I received when I was told I could only pick one to two...