General Overview of College

My real name is Joyce Cheuk, and I'm currently a Sophmore at UC Berkeley, majoring in Political Science, or maybe something else, depending on how things work out. I'm one of the lucky few returning students still living at the school resident halls. They seem to like kicking students out once they've spent a year in the dorms to make room for the new freshmen.

You'd think they'd make enough room for students to at least stay two years before any of them have to go out and look for our own housing. I suppose my first gripe about college is that the housing is so scarce. This is not the fact in many other universities who give undergraduate students four year guarenteed housing. As if the school housing situation wasn't bad enough, trying to find a decent place to live in the city is even worse. It seems that everyone I've talk to think the rent here is through the roof. The average studio apartment here is about $800, and that's if you're _lucky_ like a... well, someone really lucky.

Housing problem aside, there are many good things about college! You get to meet a lot of people, for instance. My freshman year room mate was an out of state student majoring in MCB. It's nice to finally meet a new group of people, especially since you've been going to school with the same old friends/accquaintences for the last four years (or more) of your life. It might not seem like much, but being surrounded by different people changes you in more ways than you can think.

The class format is also a bonus. You know how when you're in high school you have to do a lot of "busy work?" Well, busy yourself with that no more! There isn't any of that in college! Personally, I like the fact that everything you do for class counts for a big chunk of grade instead of miniscule single points. On the other hand, there is also no way to pad your grade in class. What you get on tests, you get for the class. It's a simple, yet brutal, grading system.

Here in Berkeley, a vast, crowded public college, it's hard to get the kind of attention that you sometimes need. That's anohter problem with public schools: the staff to studnet ratio is just too big. Sometimes, the adjustment is too hard to make. For me, that means getting really frustrated when waiting in line to check my financial aid status, or lining up to see the professor for help. This is the part where I, again, become jealous at private colleges with their lavish individual attention, full stock of resources, and lots of money (the ulitmate resource) to spend on students.

Still, us public college students try our best. Even without the best of everything, college life seems to work out either way. Maybe it's something they put in the food that makes me think that we are doing alright. ::::checks food::::: or maybe my brain has been fried from doing too much math problems.

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