Of course, the more common article college students read is the top 10 reasons someone should attend Berkeley, not drop out. However, there are so many reasons why you haven’t dropped out of Berkeley yet. A change is as good as a rest (so goes a proverb that I’ve used in my essays many times) and knowing some information about why someone has managed to stay at Berkeley is a cool thing to know. UC Berkeley is well known for its rigorous academics (freshmen undergo four stages of “A plus grade denial”), powerful politics (read: liberal student protests) and for its ever-decreasing admission rates (17 % when I was admitted). But these are not the only reasons I haven’t dropped out of Berkeley yet. Read on for 10 reasons I haven’t dropped out of Berkeley – ranked in order of personal importance, of course, from most to least important!
Sacrificing four years of tough, painstaking endeavors to maintain my 4.0 GPA, leadership positions, and consistent club participation – all while relocating to over four high schools in two countries – is much more difficult in practice than it sounds. The nights I spent refining my personal statements, and double-checking my Social Security Number and college major meant that getting accepted to UC Berkeley was a large chunk of time spent well on its own – time I would never want to go to waste by dropping out. And time never comes back. Never.
Besides the $100 check I deposited in submitting my Statement of Intent to Register (SIR), thereby officially accepting my admission into UC Berkeley, I made a formal commitment mentally – in my heart, mind, and soul (as cheesy as it sounds) – to stay in Berkeley no matter what happens. I gave my full effort in getting in, and hope to fulfill my promise by continuing to attend there. I’ve never backed out of a commitment once I’ve made it, and I’ve suffered the consequences for sticking with such decisions; staying in Berkeley is one of those decisions. Berkeley is mostly a residential campus, and ever since I’ve been commuting for over two hours to and fro three days a week to campus, I know that dropping out will make all the effort (and doe) I’ve spent in commuting a complete, hard-to-swallow waste – of time, money, and hard work.
Out of some 79,000 applicants, I was one of the 13,300 or so admits who gained admission: Being one of those lucky “17 %” admitted students at a prestigious university, regardless of how much one cares about the brand name, culture, academics or even school mascot of a college, is incredibly hard to deny. The way peoples’ mouths pop up whenever I mention the name of my school – in different ways each time, depending on the person – is another thing I don’t want to lose by dropping out of Berkeley. I find it hard to say that I don’t like the attention and fame I’ve gotten ever since school started. I’ve gotten used to it. It is a privilege and an honor in itself to get admitted, but a whole other privilege entirely to mention to someone that I got in, but didn’t decide to attend such a jaw-dropping school.
Berkeley has so many professors where the majority of the time students only call their teachers by “Dr.”. The number of professors with Ph.D degrees and other types of doctoral degrees – some with M.Ds and J.D. degrees – is spectacular. Getting to meet, talk, and even sit in the same lecture halls as those intellectual individuals is truly difficult to give up for anyone who has gotten the chance to experience it. Yes, it’s intimidating, but it also means I’m part of the lot. Even the administration of the school – no matter how bureaucratic or DMV-like it may be – reflects the value that UC Berkeley has possessed for hundreds of years. The Airbears and Airbears2 wifi networks both suck, but their C.S. program doesn’t. It’s a paradox, but this doesn’t even come close to what the professors at Cal have to teach.
College is, after all, first and foremost an academic institution: meaning that I go there to spend my mother’s hard-earned $40,000 of personal funds in order to get a degree, and a job – in order to learn. More often than not, I spend more of my school time not actually on the courses I am taking, but on DECIDING what courses I will take next semester, or what to change if I don’t like a current course (s) I’m taking during the current semester. One of the best courses available at Berkeley are deCal courses, classes run by students that are typically one to two units long. There’s a Critical Studies of Pornography deCal, a fencing deCal, a “History of Middle Earth and Knitting 101” deCal, and even a Botanical Gardens deCal where all you do is tour the Berkeley Botanical Gardens!
There are just SO MANY to choose from, not to mention the research time that goes in to looking up the professor’s rating on RateMyProfessor.com, their grading schemes, the best discussion section to choose, etc. Honestly, I believe that there should be a separate built-in mandatory course called “Course Decisions” for all students (excluding graduating seniors), so that they can all take their own sweet time to dedicate themselves to course research. Choosing which course to take in such a short period of time of four years – or more – is a tough homework assignment in itself.
Not only are you surrounded by thousands of valedictorians who have either had a straight-A record in high school (with a transcript blanketed with honors and IB/AP courses), a bajillion credits from community college, or some other academic/non-academic feat that makes you cry alone in your bedroom/dorm room out of sheer inferiority, but you are also surrounded by a fantastic environment of students who are intelligent, helpful, caring, and truly inspiring.
The people you meet at Cal are part of the learning that happens at such a large and top public university as UC Berkeley. Plus, the diversity of the students at Berkeley ranges from local, Berkelians to international, inter-racial students who have traveled from the opposite side of the globe to study there. They make you think in ways you’ve never thought of before; the light bulb just clicks sometimes because of them. This network of accomplished and supportive students means that dropping out is a big no-no; I just can’t leave my Golden Bears away!
Okay, so the vibe may get intimidating at times, but the glass is half full too: the history attached to Cal, the architecture of the buildings, many of which date back to as old as 1886, and some of which have only been recently renovated, and the ‘feel’ of living in Downtown Berkeley, with hundreds of cafes, coffee shops, and other attractions at your disposal, all translate into a neon sign in my head that reads “DO NOT DROP OUT OF BERKELEY”.
Walking around the Botanical Gardens, contemplating the future pains and joys of the Cal semester system (month-long winter breaks and new courses every semester!), and swiping my debit card repeatedly at Starbucks and 7-Eleven (no wonder I never open my online account statements), all remind me that choosing Berkeley was the right fit for me. The diverse vibe and the view from the top of Sather Tower, or the Campanile, are pretty cool – and hard to run away from – too. Dropping out and missing out on experiencing these wonderful opportunities is an option I just can’t take.
Why these in particular? Being the undecided, confused person that I am, these are all majors that I have looked into and considered. The Berkeley Haas School of Business is home to one of the best undergraduate business programs in the nation, second only to U.Penn’s program, and tied with MIT. Apple and Facebook practically recruit Berkeley’s CS graduates overnight, just waiting for their senior year grades to come out (signing the employment contract way before then, though), while the Public Health majors at Cal enjoy the closeness to Silicon Valley, the medical school partnership with USF, and the unique resources that the distinguished Public Health faculty has to offer. UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health is also the only top ten school of public health not housed on a medical campus. Breath-taking.
UberEats and Postmates are great for food, but Kiwi and Hooked are also some apps that have exclusive deals for UC Berkeley students. They always provide me with easy deals that save me a few bucks on Chipotle as well as a ton of other cafes and restaurants within walking distance of campus.
Also, I almost always make sure to grab the few six-pack of ice Popsicles that get handed out on Fridays near campus (I have no idea why they hand them out) in addition to attending as many student seminars and symposiums on campus that give me not only free lunch/dinner/snacks, but also new information and friends to meet with! If I drop out, I won’t receive all this free food, which means that I’ll have to spend my own money, which means that my wallet will get lighter, which means that I will be unhappy. It’s a vicious cycle – of unhappiness.
This may not be the least important reason at all, but it’s something I haven’t used just yet. This independent supermarket – with the other branch being a little too far from campus – is like Trader Joe’s on steroids; there’s great produce and organic products, except that the variety is unimaginable, compared to Trader Joe’s. I’ve heard that people drive from all over California to this place just because of the diverse variety of fruits and products available here, and because of the reasonable prices they are available at. There are species of produce here that many have never seen or heard of before, all at student-friendly prices. Yelp’s reviews of this place are a great leisure read when it comes to this tenth reason. These markets are healthy, though a little far, but they certainly form one reason I definitely won’t drop out of Berkeley.
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