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Interesting you mention Berkeley. I was visiting my sister there just this last weekend and have since considered applying. It seemed like a great place with lo

Interesting you mention Berkeley. I was visiting my sister there just this last weekend and have since considered applying. It seemed like a great place with lots of happy young people!

CalChris 9y ago
I do not think you can apply now as a freshman. That day came and went 3+ years ago. Your route would be through junior college. It's a fine route. Dunno where you live but go to JC. Consider moving to where there's a good JC. Kill it. Start slow, take a couple of classes and slaughter them. You need a minimum number of credits to transfer and there's a maximum as well. Berkeley has one application per year, in the Fall. So if you start in January, you could almost be transfer read by application time. You really have to learn about requirements and articulation agreements and deadlines. Transferring into Berkeley. You apply to the UC, 4 campuses. You apply to a school (Engineering or L+S or ...) and a major. You need to be a competitive applicant in that major. In EECS you need to kill it. Not impossible, not easy. All of the UCs are awesome. Berkeley is incredibly tough, Marine Corps tough. Not a happy place at all, but worth it. The workload in EECS is harder than the Valley.
- cohenaa 9y ago
  This is absolutely wrong, you can definitely apply to any college you want at any age you want, I went to an Ivy League school and had classmates that were in their mid 20s/30s. I agree that going to college is absolutely the right advice -- but since you already have technical skills, I would study something other than CS, depending on your interests. You have the skills, and the breadth of a more diverse education will make you a more well-rounded human being than more CS.
  - throthro 9y ago
    Programming skills is not the same as CS degree
    - funfunfunction 9y ago
      A CS degree is not real software engineering experience (;
      - CalChris 9y ago
        And real software engineering experience isn't a Berkeley degree. There are many reasons to do this. Your career is only one of them. You could take Trevor Murphy for Classics 10B, Intro to Roman Civ. You could learn to sail or windsurf down at Cal Sailing. BTW, applying to Berkeley from out of state is more dicey. And expensive (Tuition and Fees: $13,509 (in-state); $40,191 (out-of-state)). Again, moving here and going to a CA JC will dramatically improve your chances. Big point: you really need to learn a LOT about the application process and requirements. Not a little, a shit ton. This is not for the faint of heart. It isn't an easy path. You have to take it very seriously. You're probably two years away.
relyio 9y ago
Are you talking about UCB? Nearly all my friends doing EECS or the likes are depressed, swamped with work and borderline suicidal. It has taken such proportions that it has become a meme on the facebook meme page UCBMFET. From what they have told me, their administration has no interest in student satisfaction or mental health. The gruesome workload and collective depression is perhaps only topped by Waterloo. Yeah, you get a top notch engineering education. But, I'd wager the trauma isn't worth it when you realize the workforce standards are well below what's requires of you in the "dojo". Stanford kids seem much happier.
- skylark 9y ago
  I went to Cal and saw many of my friends go through the same thing. EECS is one of the most impacted majors, so the weeder introductory classes are brutal by design. For those who made it into the major, it didn't seem nearly as bad.

Interesting you mention Berkeley. I was visiting my sister there just this last weekend and have since considered applying. It seemed like a great place with lots of happy young people!

CalChris 9y ago

I do not think you can apply now as a freshman. That day came and went 3+ years ago. Your route would be through junior college. It's a fine route. Dunno where you live but go to JC. Consider moving to where there's a good JC. Kill it. Start slow, take a couple of classes and slaughter them. You need a minimum number of credits to transfer and there's a maximum as well. Berkeley has one application per year, in the Fall. So if you start in January, you could almost be transfer read by application time. You really have to learn about requirements and articulation agreements and deadlines. Transferring into Berkeley. You apply to the UC, 4 campuses. You apply to a school (Engineering or L+S or ...) and a major. You need to be a competitive applicant in that major. In EECS you need to kill it. Not impossible, not easy. All of the UCs are awesome. Berkeley is incredibly tough, Marine Corps tough. Not a happy place at all, but worth it. The workload in EECS is harder than the Valley.

cohenaa 9y ago
This is absolutely wrong, you can definitely apply to any college you want at any age you want, I went to an Ivy League school and had classmates that were in their mid 20s/30s. I agree that going to college is absolutely the right advice -- but since you already have technical skills, I would study something other than CS, depending on your interests. You have the skills, and the breadth of a more diverse education will make you a more well-rounded human being than more CS.
- throthro 9y ago
  Programming skills is not the same as CS degree
  - funfunfunction 9y ago
    A CS degree is not real software engineering experience (;
    - CalChris 9y ago
      And real software engineering experience isn't a Berkeley degree. There are many reasons to do this. Your career is only one of them. You could take Trevor Murphy for Classics 10B, Intro to Roman Civ. You could learn to sail or windsurf down at Cal Sailing. BTW, applying to Berkeley from out of state is more dicey. And expensive (Tuition and Fees: $13,509 (in-state); $40,191 (out-of-state)). Again, moving here and going to a CA JC will dramatically improve your chances. Big point: you really need to learn a LOT about the application process and requirements. Not a little, a shit ton. This is not for the faint of heart. It isn't an easy path. You have to take it very seriously. You're probably two years away.

relyio 9y ago

Are you talking about UCB? Nearly all my friends doing EECS or the likes are depressed, swamped with work and borderline suicidal. It has taken such proportions that it has become a meme on the facebook meme page UCBMFET. From what they have told me, their administration has no interest in student satisfaction or mental health. The gruesome workload and collective depression is perhaps only topped by Waterloo. Yeah, you get a top notch engineering education. But, I'd wager the trauma isn't worth it when you realize the workforce standards are well below what's requires of you in the "dojo". Stanford kids seem much happier.

skylark 9y ago
I went to Cal and saw many of my friends go through the same thing. EECS is one of the most impacted majors, so the weeder introductory classes are brutal by design. For those who made it into the major, it didn't seem nearly as bad.