Our final thoughts

Our visit to YES

SAT practice

My way to college -Jon

My name is Jonathan and I am currently a junior at University of California, Berkeley majoring in Molecular Cell Biology with an emphasis in Physiology. I graduated from James Logan High School in Union City and was part of the illustrious class of 2007. My high school was a fairly large and diverse high school with a graduating class of almost 800 students.

In high school, I was involved in a host of extracurricular activities. I was a part of the freshman and junior varsity basketball team my first two years of high school. Though we were not necessarily the most dominant team in our league, we had our share of fun nonetheless. We were a close knit group and still to this day, I keep in contact with some of the folks on the team. I also participated in Yearbook and Pre-med Club. Both were venues where I was able to connect with people who shared the same passions I had. Outside of school, starting from freshman year, I volunteered at the Masonic Home where I worked with the nurses at the health clinic. As a clinic volunteer, I was able to work alongside the nurses as they treated the patients. It was definitely an eye opening experience which helped steer me in the direction of the pre-medical field.

At Cal, most of my activities have been goal oriented and tailored to my interest in becoming a physician. I am an organic chemistry tutor at the Student Learning Center on campus. I am also an active committee member in both the Berkeley Scientific Journal, which publishes undergraduate research in science related areas and Berkeley Project, which serves the Berkeley community through volunteer projects. I am involved in basic science research in a molecular cell biology lab on campus investigating the proteins within the stomachs of rabbits. Off campus, I do clinical research at University of California, San Francisco where we study the effects of drug treatment on human patients who have schizophrenia.

In college, one thing that stood out to me was the diversity of the student body. This diversity encompasses not just race or socioeconomic class, but also interests and hobbies. Within my major itself, people are pursuing different occupations even with the same degree. My suggestion to y’all is to find something that you are interested in, whether it is singing to speech and debate—does not matter. High school is definitely a time to explore your interests within school and outside of school and find what you are most intrigued by and commit to it. As I stated prior, I was interested in medicine because of a volunteer opportunity that I did. When it comes time to apply for college, colleges will see that you have invested your time in a particular interest, and be impressed by your enthusiasm for it. It will certainly help distinguish you from the other applicants as well so please, do start early.

My way to college -David (guest post)

Hi everyone! My name is David Chen and I am currently a super-senior student at UC Berkeley. In case you are wondering what a super senior is, it is a phase used to describe students who have stayed at Cal for over four years. It also applies if you stay for over two years if you transferred. The latter one applies to me so hopefully you’ll get a different perspective en route to college. I attended Glen A. Wilson high school. It is a high school in Southern California. Like many other high schools, it had its share of the overachievers, underachievers, and everyone else somewhere in between. As for me, I would probably classify myself as an underachiever. Unlike most people I know who took the typical route to UC Berkeley which usually consisted of tons of AP classes, SAT I, SAT II, and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes, I did just enough to get by. While many of the overachievers and average achievers were slaving away their lives to get into schools like UCLA, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley, etc., I on the other hand took another route.

I took the normal high school classes, but I could care less about my GPA, my SAT scores, extracurricular activities, or college in general. I was somewhat indifferent when I got a C as a class grade. I took the SATs for the hell of it. Instead of joining those typical clubs such as the Key Club or the Leo Club, I ignored all clubs. I did not bother doing any extracurricular activities either. In general, my friends and I generally did enough to get by, went home, and played video games or something like that. It’s not like we never got good grades. We were generally underachievers. In fact, one of my friends, who was in the academic decathlon, ended up getting a D for economics. The funny thing was that he actually won an award in economics during the competition. I got good grades in some of the classes I really enjoyed. I was generally a fan of history, government, and computer oriented classes. When the time came to apply for schools, I didn’t bother apply to any colleges. Well, I lied. I did apply to a community college about 11 miles away called Mt. San Antonio College.

So, I spent the next few years in community college. I would have to say, it is an experience I still cherish today because it had such a tremendous influence in my life. As I took classes to fulfill the general breadth requirement that was part of the transfer requirements to both UCs and CSUs, I would say I underwent self-actualization / self-discovery. First of all, I gained a better understanding of what I truly enjoyed. At Mt. SAC, I generally enjoyed taking Political Science, Psychology, Philosophy, and Literature classes. One thing that drew me to Psychology was its relevance in my life. For once in my life, I understood the possible reasons why I felt how I felt. Each field of study influenced in me one way or another. When I transferred to UC Berkeley, I placed my focus onto Psychology and Political Science.

Second, I gained a better understanding of who I am as a person. I would have to say I underwent somewhat depressive and philosophical phases, sometimes a little more extreme than normal. Some of the questions I constantly asked myself included who I truly was and whether there was a purpose in life. Long story short, through tons on introspection, I’ve gain answers. Though some of the answers are not entirely satisfactory, even today, I gained a much better understanding of myself. Let’s just say that everyone has to discover these things for themselves. Third, I would say I gained a much better understanding of other people and friends. Don’t even get me started on all the time and effort I wasted on so called “friends”. I developed an understanding of what I truly appreciated in other people and what they truly appreciated about me. Finally, I’ve also learned to be self-disciplined. No longer were teachers forcing you to do assignments, read textbooks, etc. You have to be motivated and disciplined. The ball was on my court. I had to discipline and motivate myself to study for subjects I both liked and disliked. If you preserver, you have a great chance at transferring to a great college.

In general, my experience in community instilled far more changes than I can describe in this simple blog entry. But I found it a useful path to take especially if you are at a crossroad of life and you do not know where to go. I sure did not. You might gain a better understanding of what you truly enjoy, etc. You might not. I can give no guarantees, but it is an alternative path that you can take if you do not feel like spending the next few years in high school stressing about grades, competition, SATs, etc. There is no shame in taking this route. I know friends who transferred to other schools like UCLA, UCI, and numerous others. I transferred to Berkeley. In general, do stress out too much about high school. Above all, ENJOY LIFE because we were not placed on this world for the sole purpose of earning money and ensuring the survival of our genetic makeup (at least according to me). And till this day, I have still ignored all clubs because of my convictions though I have engaged in some extracurricular activities purely because I enjoy it.

My way to college -Jane

Hi there! I'm Jane Lee, one of your HELLA mentors (we're all third years in college). I'm from the capital of California--Sacramento--and I attended Rio Americano High School, which is named after... well, American River. I am double majoring in Psychology and Sociology and minoring in Education. Never heard of these subjects? Worried about what you're going to major in? Don't worry--you will get to explore many different subjects and disciplines in college (a fun fact: you can even major in Forestry at Berkeley!).

I did a little bit of track and band in high school, but I was more involved with activities outside school. I've played piano since I was five years old, and by the time I was in college, I entered various competitions and had recitals. I was also a counselor at California Crisis Youth Line, helping those who were going through difficult times at school. I was a pretty enthusiastic nerd, so I took many college-level math courses like Calculus III and Differential Equations at community colleges (while I was in high school). Right now, in college, I am the philanthropy chair for my prelaw group, overseeing different volunteer projects, and I also sometimes shoot photographs for our school yearbook.

My general advice to y'all high school students: even if you think you're old, you're not. You're young and there are so many different opportunities out there just waiting for you. Get involved with your community, go to art museums, grab interesting books at bookstores, study photography, join club sports, and spend quality times with your family. In other words, don't sit in front of your TV; be active and do something. You will find your days happier and more fulfilling, and by trying out different activities, you will eventually find your talents. Colleges want to see your genuine passion for learning and your individuality, so use your time constructively and find what you are meant to study and be :)

My way to college - Rebecca

Hi! I'm Rebecca Chambers, a current third-year student at UC Berkeley. I graduated in 2007 from El Diamante High School in Visalia, CA. It was a new public school of approximately 2000 students. Because it was new, my school didn't offer a wide variety of classes, clubs, or sports teams, so everything had to be started by students. In high school, I loved English and History/Social Sciences (AP Government and AP US History were my all-time favorites!), which probably explains why I'm a History major here at Berkeley. While in high school, I was pretty much a band geek (played clarinet in marching band), participated in mock trial, and wrote for my high school's newspaper. Now in college, I'm involved in a Christian fellowship and like to volunteer with different activities at the YWCA when I have time.

Overall, I LOVE college...high school, not so much. I had a math teacher who required all of his students to sign out to use the bathroom on a computer, which would turn to a screen with the student's name and a timer, so the whole class could monitor how long students were gone. And I hated homeroom, which was half an hour everyday of listening to announcements and being forced to make trips to the career center or library. However, although high school was full of seemingly meaningless rules and regulations, I realize now that my involvement in high school - clubs, academics, social life - actually helped get me to UC Berkeley. Even those boring trips to the career center helped to keep me on track to fill out college applications when I was finally a senior.

And a word of advice: High school goes quickly, so make the most of it! Have fun, enjoy your friends and even your classes, and find out what you're interested in. College is just around the corner, waiting for you...so start preparing now!