berkeley
today, my brother, two cousins, and i visited berkeley [yesterday we and my other cousins visited stanford; see previous entry for details]. my cousin allen, from sacramento, is my age, so we're pretty much in the same boat right now. more about him later. anyway, berkeley is across the bay from san francisco, nestled in its own little town.
seeing berkeley renewed my faith in the uc system. of course ucla is undoubtedly gorgeous, but because i don't really like la, it's either san diego or berkeley. anyway, after having been disappointed by the san diego campus, i was afraid that berkeley, too, would prove to be the same. good thing i was wrong. berkeley's campus is beautiful. its buildings are in the classical style, built in white marble with columns and such. many other old, classic styles of architecture are sprinkled throughout the campus. but the predominant theme [surprise, surprise] is nature. trees and creeks wind through the campus, offsetting the historic buildings.
oh, don't forget the asians. everywhere i saw people, i saw many asians. which was kind of weird, since in rowlett, texas, seeing an asian is sort of a rarity. even seeing one at school, you know, they kind of stick out. i don't know how i'd like that. not that i don't love asians [i'm asian, i have asian friends] but other asians i meet who aren't my friends tend to fit too snugly into stereotypes that aren't very compatible with my personality.
anyway, everything was closed, so i didn't bring anything back [have to order it online... ugh] i almost decided to refrain from applying to berkeley, but after seeing their campus, especially the library and biology buildings [how exciting!!], we're back in action.
oh, yeah, so i bombed my sat ii math ic, and i deserve to die. then i come find out that my cousin dung [with whom i'm staying in la] made a 770 on iic, and allen also made a 770 iic and 780 sat i. WHAT. i struggled for a 710 sat i and i can't break 700 on sat ii ic. :( guess it was pointless to look at stanford and berkeley!
so that was all that school searching i'm doing in california, and i found it very helpful. hopefully i'll edit these entries later with uploaded pictures. next stop, east coast--hopefully by end of summer or during the year. be home next sunday!
seeing berkeley renewed my faith in the uc system. of course ucla is undoubtedly gorgeous, but because i don't really like la, it's either san diego or berkeley. anyway, after having been disappointed by the san diego campus, i was afraid that berkeley, too, would prove to be the same. good thing i was wrong. berkeley's campus is beautiful. its buildings are in the classical style, built in white marble with columns and such. many other old, classic styles of architecture are sprinkled throughout the campus. but the predominant theme [surprise, surprise] is nature. trees and creeks wind through the campus, offsetting the historic buildings.
oh, don't forget the asians. everywhere i saw people, i saw many asians. which was kind of weird, since in rowlett, texas, seeing an asian is sort of a rarity. even seeing one at school, you know, they kind of stick out. i don't know how i'd like that. not that i don't love asians [i'm asian, i have asian friends] but other asians i meet who aren't my friends tend to fit too snugly into stereotypes that aren't very compatible with my personality.
anyway, everything was closed, so i didn't bring anything back [have to order it online... ugh] i almost decided to refrain from applying to berkeley, but after seeing their campus, especially the library and biology buildings [how exciting!!], we're back in action.
oh, yeah, so i bombed my sat ii math ic, and i deserve to die. then i come find out that my cousin dung [with whom i'm staying in la] made a 770 on iic, and allen also made a 770 iic and 780 sat i. WHAT. i struggled for a 710 sat i and i can't break 700 on sat ii ic. :( guess it was pointless to look at stanford and berkeley!
so that was all that school searching i'm doing in california, and i found it very helpful. hopefully i'll edit these entries later with uploaded pictures. next stop, east coast--hopefully by end of summer or during the year. be home next sunday!