Dear Berkeley Freshman,

Hi, I’m Varun. I studied EECS at Berkeley, graduated in May of 2013, and now live and work in San Francisco. Chances are we’ll never meet, but if we did I’d want to be friends. I’m writing this note because I’m really excited for you. It’s week 1 of college, and you’ve embarked on a journey I ended not too long ago.

Welcome to Berkeley — you’ve truly made an excellent life decision to be here. In addition to a world class education, get pumped for:

• The stunning campus you now get to walk around every day. There’s no shortage of fresh oxygen to be had.
• D1 sports. Did you know you get free football tickets?
• All the events you now have access to, including concerts at the Greek, the Fox Theater, and Zellerbach Hall.
• #SF
• The vibrance and color of the city you now live in. Street markets, kite festivals, and people of all kinds.
• The potato puffs at Gregoire. ‘Nuff said.

Ok, back to you. I want to offer you a few pieces of advice that I wish someone had told me when I was in your shoes, from an older brother point of view. I’m sure you’ll study hard and do well and so on, so I don’t want to focus on that. I also don’t want to talk about what clubs/greek life to join or avoid, that’s different for everyone (except for a cappella, which I will throw in a shout out for ☺). What I want to share are some things you can do that can enrich your Berkeley experience independent of background, major, or grades. They include personal regrets as well as activities I did and found valuable during my time as an undergraduate. So without further ado, let’s begin.

1. Read the Daily Cal

The Daily Cal is the school newspaper. Read it! It will help you be an informed student, one who know what’s happening. This didn’t really strike me as important when I was in college. I was somewhat apathetic, and as a result often lived in a me-centric world.

Some dudes reading the school newspaper. This could be you. Don’t be me. Read the Daily Cal as frequently as possible, even just the front page, to get an idea of what’s happening in the community you’re now a part of. It’s free and available on every other corner of campus, so you have no excuse. Read it between classes. Read it before going to bed, read it in the bathroom in Dwinelle, I don’t care. Just read it and recycle it after you’re done. It’s also available online.

2. Date often

The definition of here date is loose. I guess what I mean is try and develop your dating skills by going on lots of dates. I dated one person for a pretty short span of time in college. I now realize that college was one of the few times in my life that I’ll ever be surrounded by such a high density of similar minded, intelligent, and attractive women.

Guys, practice talking to girls. I still suck at it, that’s why I’m single. You can do better than me. Find a seat next to someone cute in class this week and start up a conversation.

3. Take a P.E class every semester

I know you promised yourself you’d never take P.E again after high school, but I highly recommend it for two reasons:

• It’ll force you to incorporate physical activity in your life. Which trust me, you’ll want to do after eating all those chicken rice bowls from Ramonas (which in case you don’t notice soon, are just heaps of steamed rice topped with frozen vegetables and a ladle full of Kikkoman teriyaki sauce, i.e death).
• You’ll get to take advantages of the facilities. I took swimming one semester in the Hearst pool, and it was amazing. It’s one of the most beautiful pools I’ve ever seen. Don’t make silly excuses like “but I’ll have to change my clothes and shower in the middle of the day”.

More generally, take care of yourself, because nobody else will. P.E is an easy first step in that direction, and there’s some really cool classes to take.

4. Become a tour guide

This is an opportunity that I definitely regret. I always used to walk around campus and see groups of tour guides showing people around on sunny days. Becoming a tour guide will get you comfortable speaking in front of groups of people, get you out and about, teach you about the history of the campus, and I hear you get a really cool t-shirt that only tour guides get (which by itself is worth it). Here’s the application: http://visitors.berkeley.edu/tourguide.shtml

Maybe you’ll even get to tour some VIPs around?

5. Spend time outside

Take time to enjoy the nature that Berkeley has to offer whenever you can. Visit Indian Rock, get lost in the fire trails, run down to the Marina and back, or picnic with your floormates at Lake Anza. I waited till my senior to start regularly napping or tossing around a football on the Glade. MISTAKE.

Try not to become lazy about walking more than 15 minutes to get somewhere. After you graduate, you’ll probably have to travel much longer distances, whether it’s a commute to work or just the time it takes to hang out with friends. Berkeley is a small place, get used to walking.

6. Take the Teach in Prison DeCal , Wealth and Poverty, and UGBA196 before you graduate

The Teach in Prison DeCal (DeCal = a student run class) is extremely eye opening, don’t miss it. You’ll have a chance to tutor inmates at San Quentin State prison and think critically about the incarceration and prison-industrial complex in the US today. The only caveat is that you have to be 21, so you’ll probably have to wait a couple years.

Robert Reich’s Wealth and Poverty is another class a class that offers up a ton of perspective, I took it my senior year. It’s especially relevant now as inequality in the US continues to widen. He also offers a lot of insight and interesting opinions via his Facebook Page.

UGBA196 is all about personal finance, and I wish it was a required class. Among other things, you’ll learn about credit, budgeting, how to save, mortgages, IRAs, and other things that you’ll wish you learned about on graduation day. All packed into 2 manageable units.

7. Create a 4 year outline

There are a couple reasons why it’s good to have (at least at a high level) your semesters planned out:

• If you want to double major or add a minor, it’s easier to plan out classes early instead of realizing it’s too late or extremely inconvenient to do so later in college.
• You can move things around to study abroad. If you know you want to study abroad, say first semester senior year, then you can adjust your semesters around to make that happen.

Please take a semester to study abroad. Do everything you can to make it happen regardless of your major. I didn’t and it’s a big regret.

8. Find a mentor

Finding a mentor is a great idea at any stage in life, but I think especially so in college. Ideally this is a junior or senior whom you respect and has the time to offer advice when you need it. It can also be a professor who you really connect with. If it’s a professor it might be a good idea to formalize the relationship (i.e ask them after knowing them for a while, “would you be willing to be my mentor?”).

A student mentor definitely doesn’t have to be in your major, but if he/she is, then they’ve been in your shoes, and has experience and a level of empathy that a counselor just doesn’t have. Some student organizations, such as AIChe, make finding a mentor easy.

9. Find a community

Test out student groups in your first and second years, then pick a few activities and commit to them when you’re a junior. Finding a group of people who share a interest is an easy way to make friends and will make Cal feel more like a home away from home.

10. Learn to cook

I know you don’t have a kitchen yet, this is more for your later years. Don’t be one of those people who eats out all the time, it’s a waste of money and you’ll poison your body. Instead, find time to cook a few times a week.

Check out Berkeley Bowl (one of my favorite places on the planet) and the Berkeley Student Food Collective for great produce. When you go to Berkeley Bowl, stop by the Thai Temple after for some grub.

So, new friend, take this advice, and like all advice take it with a grain of salt. College is such a freaking exciting time, and Berkeley is one of a kind. Use your bus pass, get enough sleep, and enjoy the ride.

Go Bears (from a bedroom in San Francisco),
Varun

Originally posted on Medium.