r/berkeley

My son got an offer in Unit 2 double and he had applied with his friend as a roommate. However when we go to the Housing Portal to accept the offer, we don’t see anywhere to accept. Does the team lead (his friend) only get the contract for both?

We plan to contact Berkeley housing but any advice will be appreciated.

If I only have As on my transcript, without any A+ in upper-level courses, will that be a significant disadvantage when I apply to grad school?

To get an A+ in the core grad course in the branch I want to apply to, I strategically skipped almost every lecture of the other courses I was taking, and only used the minimum amount of time that could ensure I got an A in those courses. I know the professor who teaches that course usually gives one A+ per semester, so I made sure my design hit the record for that course — only because grad students have more important things to do, though — but I still only got an A. (In retrospect, maybe it’s not about giving the best design, but about the scores in every lab?)

Anyway, I’m also very worried about the possible recommendation letter thing. Should I ask for a recommendation letter from a professor who:

1. I didn’t have any research cooperation with? I only had some general chats about research during office hours, and they said they didn’t have any available undergrad RA positions.
2. Doesn’t even think I’m in the top 5% (the A+ proportion in the past few years) of the students who took that course?

I’m also worried about a broader issue: if I had to focus heavily on one course just to try to get an A+, maybe that itself suggests I’m not as strong as other applicants. Perhaps truly strong candidates can aim for A+ grades in all their courses at once, so even when some courses don’t go perfectly, they still end up with several A+ grades each semester?

Now the semester is over and grades are jover, I think I can post about this new class. I really think it sucks when a new class comes up and everyone wanders on reddit. So you are welcome i guess? Obviously this is a biased statement, but you know, what can you do about it : D

What is this class?

It is a introduction on various statistical method (vague lmao), developed originally from a 2-unit connector course taught by the one and only Prof. Ani Adhikari, as well as Prof. Will Fithian (who teaches Stat 210A, the intro phd stat class)

Topic wise, it is most similar in coverage to Stat 135: Concepts in statistics, a core requirement for the statistics major. It seems like 145 is more a bit of a superset in comparison, just like how Data140 is mostly a superset to Stat 134 (afterall, both data classes were designed by Prof. Adhikari in significant proportion); notably, Data 145 had Data 140 as a prerequisite, so it assumes regression proof knowledge, MCMC stuff, and covers bayesian approaches and stuff like model misspecifications more extensively. Stat 135, on the other hand, gave a more coordinated treatment of various two sample tests, from my impression of that class.

Perhaps it is better to use the exact wordings from Prof. Adhikari herself:

>As Jingyuan has said, 145 has more prereqs than 135: Data 140 or EECS 126, Data 100, and multivariable calculus or a course that makes significant use of it. My experience teaching both classes is that 145 is pitched at a higher level of abstraction than 135, and its topics are somewhat more focused on current applications.
When I teach it next year, I will probably cull a bit more of the classical stuff and replace it with more content suited for ML/AI, though you should keep in mind that the current semester's CS 189 has spent quite some time on classical theoretical stat including likelihood ratios.
Note: "current semester" refers to SP26 Listgarten iteration of CS189, which will not be reflective of later semester's content due to CS new policy.

Also,

>I've taught Stat 135 multiple times, and the Data 188 inference seminar twice. My sense is that most students would not find Stat 135 to be harder than 145. As I've said in one of the other related threads, students should think of the level of 145 as somewhere between Stat 135 and Stat 210A.

As far as overlaps with other classes goes, here's another account from Prof. Adhikari:

>This is quite different from my opinion. We have made a careful analysis of content and have no reason to reproduce an existing course. There are about 8 lectures' worth of material in common with Stat 135, and about 3 in common with Data 102, and even those will have differences in approach.

Who am I?

Obviously I'm not gonna say who am I on reddit, but to give you a bit of background, I did not do remarkably well in 140; however, I did study it more carefully afterwards, filled all other prereqs, and did 102 beforehand. People who know me probably know who I am, though 💀

Difficulty?

This is one of the more intellectually challenging course I have taken in so far Berkeley. I would consider that this course probably took more time in the beginning of the semester for me to digest than CS189; moving toward the mid/end of the semester I feel like I spent more time on 189 than 145 due to the higher abstraction of concept, as well as a lot, lot more math.

For future references, it is likely that the newer iterations of CS189 (as per the announcement from EECS101) would be easier and less mathy than this; the specific SP26 Listgarten iteration was on par/more difficult in terms of difficulty of the statistical and math material, with the main overlaps being MLE proofs, bayesian stuff, KL divergence (though obviously 189 covered it to a lesser extent and focused on its application in cross-entropy/loss).

The cohort was very self selecting at the beginning of the semester already (it required an application for background vetting). By the time it reached lecture 6-7 (OoOOOoO), about 1/3 of class dropped (from approx 80 to 50 ish).

Practice packets were quite challenging, and quite difficult to traverse through without help. Help was, however, very much available, as discussions were directly exercising on the practice packets. GSIs this rotation both took Stat 210A and they are quite goated.

The probabilistic and mathematical material prerequisites are very much required and assumed. You will struggle if you didn't have a good grasp of Data140/EECS126 materials in their entirety. I heard that stat134 didn't count as sufficient background, though on that I am not so sure. I feel like you can do it without the extra 6-7 chapters covered by 140.

Exam was, however, not very difficult, and the grade bins were very much generous (thank you prof omg i thought i was gonna die after that final cuz i didnt study that much as i folded mentally by the time of my fourth final).

I really did enjoy the class, though my workload this semester (whoops, this + 2 CS classes, my bad chat) and honestly, my procrastinative self (whoops) have prevented me from studying well for the latter 1/3 of the course. I would stil recommend the class.

Lecture Style

Prof. Adhikari is one of the best lecturers on campus and probably has a cult following now. On top of clear explanation of materials with excellent lecturing practices, she was able to talk to you about fun stories in statistics.

>It was noted in one instance that David Blackwell (known for promoting Bayesian statistics and probably, Rao-Blackwell theorem) prosed a question beginning with, "Suppose a putty (pin) has a two-third probability of landing on the flat side" before he was disrupted by an young Adhikari, who then was studying under a frequentist advisor in Berkeley, questioning what "supposed" mean. After failing to move forward the class due to her persistent question on the word of choice, Blackwell allegedly shouted to Adhikari something along the line of "Your advisor and their (frequentist) idea will be trashed out from the field of statistics." The lecture resumed afterwards.
Note: Frequentist ideas were not trashed out and still remains largely mainstream today, though now Bayesian approaches/de-facto Bayesian toolings is becoming more available with more accessibility to computing power, libraries such as PyMC, and data streams that is best represented by a prior-likelihood representation

There are much more secret connections to big names that you have probably heard that would activate a neuron of a statistic student (Blackwell? Rao? Neyman?). The discovery of new tales is lefted as an exercise for the reader.

Prof. Fithian is clearly smart; however (you can probably tell im gonna say), his lecture style is bit less clear compared to Prof. Adhikari due to the sometimes more 'methodical' wordings. He is not as bad as some CS/Stat/Econ department lecturers that you probably have experienced, though. In fact, I think he is quite above average; but the 9am climb to physics building clearly didn't help positively. I prob will die if i take 210A tho.

My biggest grip about Prof. Adhikari is her insistency on not having recordings available. I understands that she wanted to promote attendence and I, too, understand that it is simply different to listen to lectures in person than speed 2x online; however, that leaves no option for people who got sick (remember this spring flu/covid season? that was absolutely insane).

Overall

Bottom line is, you should probably treat this as a 'relatively heavy' tech. Something between stat 135 and 210a. Something that is relatively mathy and covers a lot of concepts quickly. Something that you will need to go to lectures for. I recommend this class who has filled all prerequisites for the class.

For further info:

https://edstem.org/us/courses/22867/discussion/7188336

https://data145.org/

https://preview.redd.it/nfa9b9tz6g2h1.png?width=507&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c11b8bbea5ddd78e110c6d59c52493c8fa94001

Hey everyone, I'm hoping to get some help because I'm confused???

I'm an admitted transfer student, and suddenly today my financial aid package was revised to suddenly have this fiat lux scholarship???

Isn't this the prestigious scholarship for incoming first years from local high schools??? Did Berkeley missclick? Not only am I a transfer student, I didn't even go to a high school in California so idk why they gave me this

Should I email the financial aid office or call them and ask? Any advice? Anyone who's experienced similar?

Update: Turns out I DID get the fiat lux scholarship. For future transfers, there is a portion of the fiat lux scholarship that will be given to transfers, and you get the same benefits! Go Bears!!

Should I accept the C in CS70 or ask to get a D? need a 3.3 in CS61A,B, and 70 to declare.

If I get a C, I need an A in BOTH 61A and B. Not even an A- or I’m under the GPA requirement. I can take 70 in the summer so wha should I do?

Also, for gpa purposes should I ask for a D in Data 100? grade came out to a C and I have an 0.9 GPA so anything to boost it will help at this point

Heading back to campus for the first time in 4-5 years while on vacation. What newer places near campus really typify what the city/campus is like now?

I got a 95.5 in ugba 135 and got an A- in the class... was this a mistake or did I actually get curved down

Is it possible to make friends on your floor i heard its less social but i’m a very outgoing person

Community college transfer here and was originally planning to go to Davis for environmental policy and planning but was accepted into Berkeley’s CNR rausser college for environmental economics and policy and I really enjoy both of the schools. Some people say Davis is boring but I didn’t really mind and it has a better reputation for agriculture and environmental but eep seems very broad and could lead to more opportunities. Does anyone have any personal or career experience i was planning to go in working with government but wouldn’t mind consulting or any other interesting jobs?

Hi,

I am a freshman and I plan to take 4 classes in the fall. What is the best way to strategize this take 2 in wailist and 2 assured one or is there a strategy that will help me get all the classes I need

Planning on

Cs 61 a/ data 88 c
Data 8
Math 55 or 54 depending on what is not waitlists
Reading and writing or breadth course since I am waiting to see if I can hit a 5 in Ap lit which takes away the reading and writing course

Any suggestions or help

Thanks

hey, guys!
I can't afford anchor house lmao, and would really REALLY love a pvt. room if possible. do u have any advice for places I shud check out?? leaning toward off-campus, e.g. ACE, Valiant, Identity (maybe? didnt hear good things tho)
rent budget: $ 1200/month
since im an econ major, my classes wud be both in Northside + Soutside.

any thoughts appreciated!!

I was assigned a unit 3 triple.

Could anyone tell me about it?

I heard it was probably one of the worst dorms which kind of sucks to hear. Should I try to appeal? Id ideally want units 1 or 2

Im having such a hard time deciding where to go.

should i pick UCLA for linguistics & psychology or CAL for psychology?

for context i was admitted for my second choice major at ucla. But once im at a university, I would hope to be on a pre-health track for PA school.

What would u guys pick 😔

Attending Berkeley and housing got as above. Was wondering on everyone’s thoughts on it, especially since I’ve heard suites can be less social and such.

Thanks for the help!

So you might remember me from here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/berkeley/comments/1qzyep9/i_dont_know_what_to_do_anymore/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

tldr for that: dead roommate, dead grandpa, dropped all classes. freaking out.

Well to update on that, someone from this reddit thread reached out to me and recommended I talk to a caseworker. After setting lots of things up for withdrawal, I decided against it after getting back into my classes with the help of my caseworker.

I stayed in therapy for about 3 months and I had a psychiatrist as well for 3 months. I also spoke with CAPS.

Coming out of the semester, I have ended with straight A's in every class, including Math 104 which was pretty hard. I won multiple hackathons. I successfully got into an REU. I worked a job 14 hours a week, and worked on research for 10ish hours a week.

I really hated Berkeley after transferring here but I've started to deeply love the kind of person it has shaped me into and the resilience it's instilled into me.

Thank you guys so much for the support, I think the response I got to my original post was what really made me keep going even at my lowest.

And above all,
GO BEARS!!

same as above

Admitted transfer for Poli Sci trying to decide on Berkeley. Current/recent transfers: how was your experience academically + socially, and would you choose Berkeley again?

For context, I also got into UCSB, UCSD, and USC with good scholarships, and got waitlisted at UCLA.

Hi!

I’m an incoming freshman and was assigned and accepted a stern single for this upcoming year. I would prefer a single at Blackwell, Clark Kerr, or Unit 1.

If you happen to prefer an all girls dorm and are interested in a room swap dm me!