The University of California - Berkeley

Date: Nov 23 2009
Major: Linguistics (This Major's Salary over time)
You have to be very aware that Berkeley is a BIG university. Some people are shocked to find out that someone doesn't come over to personally guide you through your undergrad degree. There are plenty of resources for students at Cal, but you have to be proactive and find out what services are out there. Usually they are pretty accessible via the website.

The administration overall is pretty impersonal. Imagine calling your bank's customer service line, sometimes you'll get lucky and get great service and sometimes not. Like any bureaucracy, you have to be on top of things in order to get stuff done. Again, I repeat the university is very big so you have to imagine that to run it, they cannot take the time to call you individually to remind you of deadlines and due dates. Although, they do send email alerts, though.

Classes at Cal can be very packed and tough to get into. It is true that you will often end up on a waiting list. I have to add that this depends very much on your major. I was an undeclared Psych major my first two years and I experienced waiting lists and packed lecture rooms with over 700 students I decided to declare Linguistics instead and I couldn't have been happier. The Linguisic department is a hidden campus gem. It is small. How small? So small that when you declare the major the Major Advisor takes a picture of you to go on the wall along with your fellow undergrads. Classes were easy to get into and the largest lectures contained no more than 60 students. Professors get to know you by name (really) and they often extend invitations to undergrads to attend conferences and symposia usually reserved for only for researchers in other depertments. I graduated in May of 2009 along with 40 other undergrads. FORTY. All this to say that your experience at a big university will vary depending on your major. If you are trying to declare an impacted major (like Computer Science, Chemistry, Molecular and Cell Bio, etc) then be prepared to brave the crowds. If you go for a small department like Linguistics, you'll get the best of both worlds. You'll get an amazing education at one of the foremost universities in the country and you'll also get the small college feel belonging to a tightly knit student body and of knowing your professors and them knowing you as well.