ESS 505: First-year experience: Frosh

Laura Vogt:
Hi, my name is Laura Vogt, and I’m the associate director for marketing and communications in the college of engineering, and your host for the (Not so) Secret Guide to being a Berkeley Engineer. Today, we have three guests who started at Berkeley Engineering as freshmen. Please join me in welcoming our rising juniors, Aylin Figueroa Uribe, and Jasmine Bae, and rising senior Bryan Wong. I taped them at different times, but I’ve combined their interviews into one podcast, and I’ve asked each of our guests to introduce themselves and tell us why they became a Berkeley Engineer. Aylin you’re up first.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
Hi everyone, as it’s been stated before my name is Aylin Figueroa Uribe. I am a third year majoring in civil engineering. I am from Southern California, but specifically Cathedral City. Things I’ve been passionate about are playing soccer, staying active, I love being outdoors, and just spending time with both my family and friends. So now going on to why I chose to become a Berkeley Engineer. To be honest as a high school senior, I wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted to go.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
At some point I wanted to be a dentist. It ended up happening that I applied as a biology major to some schools and other dentistry, and then in some in engineering. I got accepted into most schools, so I really had to make a decision since everything was just so different. I began thinking of things I enjoy to do, and I realized that I was more of a hands-on person, and like to see things as it was built up, like following the progress. I ended up choosing engineering because I knew this career would be something I would enjoy since it had all the small things I liked. Math was my favorite subject, and it was hands-on as I said. I chose Berkeley because the opportunities that would come with it, such as getting the high level of knowledge due to the rigorous of the school, then building connections with the admirer people, the opportunities that come from simply being a Berkeley Engineer.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
Everyone knows that Berkeley is rigorous and engineering is definitely not easy. Stating the words Berkeley Engineer holds a lot of power because it means that someone had to be determined, focused, responsible, and hard working at north to get that in life or get that title in general. Having all of these thoughts when deciding which major and school to accept really is what guided me in the direction of Berkeley. Berkeley to me was just the well-rounded option, so that’s really why I took it, and am now a Berkeley engineer.

Bryan Wong:
There are three main reasons why I chose Berkeley Engineering. First, bioengineering just sounds really cool. When I was choosing the list of majors to apply, I was browsing the department website and I saw the applications and all the things you could potentially do with the major, and especially in the bay area. I’m coming from the central valley, so it was really an open world of possibilities for me.

Bryan Wong:
With that in mind, I really wanted to pursue music and art. My high school was very focused on music, and you had to play an instrument to get in. The reason why I switched to a more stem area was because in high school my family started to just have this trend of health issues. I figured why not go into a major that lets me learn more about biology and contribute to helping others, and potentially my family. And lastly, Berkeley itself was a long shot for me. I really wanted to stay local and be within the area, but because of this moonshot idea, this hail Mary, I wasn’t sure what to do. I just put down by engineering first to see what would happen. It’s been an honor and a privilege to just explore and experience Berkeley Engineering.

Jasmine Bae:
Yeah, of course. A quick background about myself, I’m currently going to be a rising junior studying both ease of business. As far as I can remember, I’ve always been drawn by science, technology, design, and building things overall. Over the years, especially in my last half of high school, I found myself drawn to learn development with emerging devices, such as mixed reality. At the same time, I wanted to extend myself beyond just development,, to learn in a more interdisciplinary manner with a really diverse group of individuals, with a really diverse set of passions. I really felt that Berkeley engineering was the best environment for that, and I’m really proud to be part of this community.

Laura Vogt:
So let’s start off with a question about course selection and scheduling. Our students are going through that right now with Golden Bear Advising, and it’s a really different experience than what most students had in high school. What did you find the most useful resource when planning your first semester?

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
When planning my first semester schedule, I kind of looked back at which classes I had taken in high school, especially if I had taken any AP classes, IB classes, where units credits were transferred. The thing that sucks is that with AP and IB tests, you aren’t aware of your scores right away. You’re still kind of like, okay, did I pass, did I get those credits? Or should I just kind of plan safely and enroll in these classes that I could have potentially already passed? That was the case for me being an IB student and taking some AP classes. I still felt that I had an idea of which exams I did well on and which I didn’t. I knew that for my English requirements at least, I wasn’t going to fulfill them and English is required for most majors.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
So that kind of guided me in some direction. I looked at the different maths that are required to take, and the highest math that I took in high school was basically the lowest math offered at Berkeley. I had experience, I had taken that class before, but my knowledge wasn’t fully there yet, and I wouldn’t fall behind if I were to take that lower class at Berkeley. Connecting things like what you’ve done in high school, and then looking at the more general and basic classes that you should be taking your first year, connecting what you think you should be taking, what kind of seems interesting. It was going to be my first semester. I didn’t know it was going to be the first semester that the students are choosing their classes for, so you aren’t sure how many classes should I be taking, how hard are the class is going to be, how different is it going to be from high school?

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
Everyone has that mentality, I had that mentality, because in reality, you don’t know what to expect. It’s not like you’re prepared or you just know what it’s going to be like in Berkeley. I talked to other students. Normally you take three to four classes, your first semester. I ended up taking only three. Well, it’s not even that it’s only. I ended up taking three because I wanted to learn a bit more about myself, how I studied, how I could focus the best, and then learn more about the Berkeley experience, how these Berkeley classes were, what was I going to be able to manage three, four. The first semester was more like, let’s experience things and test things out, and then after first semester happens, depending on how it goes, if I think I can do better or take more classes next semester, then I’ll start making changes the following semester.

Laura Vogt:
It sounds like you really trusted yourself to know what you know, and you didn’t question that to start with.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
I would question some things because like I said, math is my favorite subject and it’s my favorite subject because it’s always been the easier subject for me. In high school I took an AP calculus and I understood the class in high school, I got an A, but even though math was my best subject because I understood it the best there was still some doubts. I wasn’t sure if my first semester I should take that lower math class at Berkeley, or if I should advance to the next one, because I already had a good understanding. There was times where I had doubts. Should I like stay back and relearn what was taught in high school, or should I move forward because I have a good understanding.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
It was things small things like math especially where I wasn’t sure what I should do. I knew that I had an idea. I knew that in high school I did learn the material, but not to the best of my ability because of various reasons. After going through that first semester in that maths class I would have been okay if I would have just skipped it and gone right to the next one. I’m kind of glad I didn’t do that because I got more knowledge from me. I understood things a lot more. It was easier for me to adapt because I had an idea of what was going on in the class and that helped me out. I wasn’t completely lost. At the end of the day it comes down to what do you think would be best for you? There really isn’t a wrong answer. If you choose to skip that class if you can, or retake the class, it’s never going to be a negative thing because at the end of the day, you’re still learning and you’re moving on, and you’re getting your requirements done. So

Bryan Wong:
Yeah. It’s totally valid to have this response. When you start planning for college, it’s really different and there’s a lot more leeway when you choose your classes for your first semester. I really have to think back to four years ago, but what I remember doing was browsing my departmental websites page for the curriculum. They just recommended a lot of the main classes that you have to take. It’s actually pretty universal for a lot of people in the stem area. For anyone listening, keep in mind, Berkeley Engineers have a roadmap of prerequisite classes before they can get to the upper division courses. My high school didn’t offer AP sciences or IB classes. I started with the general physics, general chemistry kind of classes. The website was able to show you pretty much all your options for the first year, and they’re not something you need to fall to a T, but it’s pretty much a cookie cutter spot for your first year at Berkeley.

Laura Vogt:
How did each of you go about creating study groups or creating a network of support with your peers?

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
At first, when I [inaudible 00:11:06] Berkeley, it’s like I don’t know anyone, I’m in a class of like 200, 500 students. How am I going to make friends? It comes to that point where you don’t know anyone you’re sitting down, and there’s people sitting right next to you maybe, or around you. You can ask them at any point, “hey did you understand what the professor just said?” or if you have a clarification, other students may do the same to you. You shouldn’t feel shy because at the end of the day, you’re probably at Berkeley feeling alone and you’re not the only one. A lot of people are going through that.

Bryan Wong:
I really made sure to put myself out there, especially in the larger introductory courses to say hi to my neighbor every lecture, and see if they worked down to meet later for a study group, get their snap, or their Instagram handle. At the same time, it was pretty hard. I’m sure it’s going to be very different when some of these lectures are online only. I would recommend definitely hitting up others and seeing if you can find them on discord, make a study group that way. What was really essential for me, and what I would recommend for everyone listening, is to find who’s taking these classes in your dorm so that when it comes to crunch time, you can call them, text them, say hey want to meet up.

Bryan Wong:
They’ll have their own group of friends and study buddies too. Everyone gets together has a study party, and it’s usually very helpful. You learn a lot from others, and it’s really a great tool to have when you can find out who you know, and whose close by. I also want to say, once you meet up with people, try to have shared notes because sometimes they’ll catch things that you might not, and it really helps when you come back and review what they, what insights they have versus what insights you have.

Jasmine Bae:
Yeah. So I was super lucky that my GBO group and also the people that lived on my floor in my dorm were really close with me, and we were all in pretty similar classes and majors. A lot of them were engineers actually, so we would study together for any major requirements that matched. For other classes that I didn’t really know that many people, I would say create study groups is usually in your discussions. You can try to be friendly with people or talk to them, and from there you can make those connections and maybe make some new friends.

Laura Vogt:
How did you find yourself getting over any kind of shyness that you might’ve had trying to talk to new people?

Jasmine Bae:
Yeah, I would definitely say that my first semester I was like super shy about it, but I know that sometimes it’s really worthwhile to just say hi, how are you doing? Be friendly to people overall. You don’t even have to like make a conversation. You can it, for example, like it’s not remote, you’re sitting down. You’re like, oh, Hey, can I take the seat next to you? Like just some simple starters like that, which are pretty normal, kind of help ease you into the experience of like talking to new people.

Laura Vogt:
When you go into one of these classes and feeling that you were too shy or anything along those lines, how did you talk yourself into putting yourself out there?

Bryan Wong:
I have to think about that. I really felt like it was a clean slate to move out from my hometown. I felt like I could be more open and just talking to strangers because what’s what’s the worst that can happen, they know your name. So I felt like it was okay to tell myself if I was holding myself back to just go say hi and ask them, Hey, what’s your social media. I want to study, I don’t want to fail. Another thing was that, and this may be a broad generalization, but I’m sure everyone at UC Berkeley wants to succeed. Everyone here, especially in the first semester, sort of feels like a fish out of water. I’m sure there aren’t any negative parts of just trying to get to know others and seeing what can happen from it.

Laura Vogt:
What other ways did you grow your network and make new friends?

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
One really great way I think is good to make new friends is extracurriculars in general. That could be clubs, organizations, Greek organizations, et cetera, like all these kinds of things, especially I found affinity or hobby or major affiliated groups, pretty great to make friends cause you should usually those are less academic focused and more just like personal growth focus slash networking focus. In addition, like meeting friends of friends are also some ways you can grow your network. I also took an ACT class and I got to network with a lot of really amazing people from like all different majors, all different years. Taking some other classes that might have more interpersonal components to it can also help with that.

Laura Vogt:
What did you find the hardest aspect of transitioning from high school?

Bryan Wong:
For me it was the scale of campus. My high school was real interesting where we had about 100 students per graduating class. So going to the number one public university where there’s really every person and everyone you can imagine here. You can really either stand out or become one in a million, like a drop in the ocean. It was really eye-opening to me to be able to have this freedom, to choose who I hang out with or when I hang out with them, who I want to express myself as and what I want to do, because everyone I have met here has been able to show such amazing uniqueness, and individuality, and express themselves. The biggest thing that let me enjoy college was having this opportunity to grow into my own person.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
One thing that was really drastic for me, and this is more of a personal thing, but it’s knowing that I can learn whatever I wanted to and choose whatever I wanted to take. However I wanted to do it, whenever I wanted to, as long as I’m graduating on time and I’m able to do some self care, and doing whatever else I need to do. For me high school was very like one way in general. You had some specialization depending on how much college preparation you want, or if you want to go for more of an art route, or a law route, or stem route. In college, like at Cal, you’re really able to explore as much as you want and tailor your experience the way you want. You just have to go look around and ask to find that.

Laura Vogt:
If you could go back and do one thing differently your first semester, what would that be?

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
If I could go back to change something my first semester it would be to network more. I felt alone. Sometimes imposter syndrome would kick in where you didn’t think you belonged because you saw these other students raising their hand in class and asking these like higher level questions when I could barely understand what the professor was saying sometimes. I think that would scare me at times because I would think why am I here? It seems like most of these students are already ahead of me. I don’t want to ask the questions because my question is so on the basic side compared to them wanting to know more, like wanting the professor to even go further in depth, kind of getting to a point where it’s even unrelated for a class.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
I think if I could go back, I would probably not compare myself automatically. I think most students do this where they compare themselves, when they hear another student ask a question, or if you hear another student say, oh yeah, I got almost a hundred percent on my midterm or final when you could have got like a 70, 60, which is totally fine because there’re some classes where literally the average for exams can be like a 50%. It’s not like you’re doing anything wrong it’s just the fact that everyone has had different backgrounds. If I would have asked those questions when I had them, I maybe could have caught on to the material earlier and understood what was happening instead of kind of waiting before a midterm to cram that week before and make sure I understood everything instead of just putting a whole bunch of stress on myself.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
Honestly, there’s a lot of professors and GSI that have office hours and no one attends. That actually happened my first year, and I’m not sure if it’s because a lot of students understood the material or people were shy, but every week I was at my GSI office hours and I was the only one because in reality, I was getting the help I needed. Just not comparing yourself and not being afraid to ask those questions because we’re all here. We’re all continuing our education because we want to, at this point it’s our choice because education is not free. We’re doing this because we want to, we’re paying for our education, the professors are really there for us. Don’t be scared to ask questions. Don’t automatically assume that you don’t belong because in reality, we all have such different backgrounds.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
You don’t know what others have learned, what they’ve been through. Everyone has something unique to bring to the table.

Jasmine Bae:
I kind of been reiterating a lot to go talk to professors, go out there, and that’s because I personally feel like I should have done that more my freshman year, because I was also definitely that shy person that was like, oh my gosh, this is 40,000 people on campus, and so many faculty, how am I supposed to go talk to these people and amazing faculty members and staff members. I would recommend don’t be me, don’t do that, and definitely really go out there, socialize more, talk more to professors, or even your GSI as in UGSI is really great. Especially if you’re going to be in person to just get to know more people since remote kind of stagnated that experience. In addition, I would definitely say exploring a lot of the little niche, parts of campus. We have so many different libraries just kind of explore and see, maybe you’re interested in studying somewhere new one day, rather than just in your dorm room, or wherever else you are.

Bryan Wong:
I wouldn’t take 20 units. That’s going to be my advice for anyone listening who’s a incoming student. Don’t try to limit yourself. It’s really different, the class structure and the curriculum amounts versus what you can do in high school. You’re also going to be managing your time in terms of when you can socialize off campus, when you can eat, and where you can walk around and explore. For me, taking 20 units was pretty difficult in terms of having that free time to really hang out with others. I really do regret not having more of that social life at the same time I want to explore campus. The only time I really got to do that was in between classes and I had a little cute tripod that was attached to the back of my phone.

Bryan Wong:
So I could take sort of scenic photos of little locations that I found. At the same time, it probably wasn’t the best choice to pack your schedule. You have so much time and you’ll get a lot of time before fulfilling your major requirements that you don’t need to worry. Whatever you think, you are ahead, you are a Berkeley Engineer, and you are getting there. You’re a Berkeley engineer and you’re here at Cal make the most of that in all the aspects you can.

Laura Vogt:
Have. You ever had a moment where you got a bad grade on a test or research product, didn’t go the way that you wanted it to. And you had to find that moment of resilience.

Jasmine Bae:
So first of all, I try to focus on getting myself not to stress that much about something that went wrong, because first of all, you should know that there’s always 10 times to improve and it’s not the end of the world. It’s just one quiz or one midterm or whatever. I remember when I had a similar experience my freshman year, the first thing I did was, especially now that we’re allowed to, kind of go out more safely. I kind of went to one of the more like rooftop areas of campus or the terrace cafe area. And I just kind of myself breathe outdoors, get myself to calm down and realize, I’m here, everyone’s here. We are all having this experience together. And then once you’re done with, getting yourself with self care, then focus on, okay, so what can I do to be better?

Jasmine Bae:
Or how can I improve you? Don’t don’t give up on just because one midterm goes wrong or when one thing goes sour. There are tons of resources on campus whether it be tutoring groups through like ESS or your class might have some, or even some private tutors or going to office hours and talking to a UGSI or a GSI and say, oh, I took this class. Maybe you took this class. How do you feel when something goes wrong or even your professor, if you feel comfortable with that, there are tons of people that are looking out for you and trying to help you again. You just really have to go out and just ask it. Don’t be afraid to say I need help in this. That’s that’s never something you should be ashamed of.

Bryan Wong:
Definitely. I had to retake physics 70 that’s the electricity and magnetism and thermodynamics class. I think the thing was COVID hit. And it was a stressful time where I had to drive back and get all my furniture and see what I could do with my limited amount of stuff at home. I ended up having to take it again over the summer. That was a big hit on my ego on, what I felt like in terms of where I stood as an engineer. I was into my engineering honor society, all that. So the main thing, that main thing that happened was past the existential crisis. I remembered that when I wanted to enroll in UC Berkeley, a lot of the stuff was not expected. You can’t prepare for any of these things to happen when fire season hits, when remote learning starts, when a global pandemic starts. While we’re at the end, hopefully we’re nearing the end of a global pandemic.

Bryan Wong:
We also don’t know what’s going to happen next. What I can say is between all of these events in all of our lives, UC Berkeley was able to provide me a lot of learning opportunities, experiences, and applications of my learning in ways that I’d never get otherwise. Something really impactful was when I realized if my high school self saw what I was able to accomplish in a year, what everyone else can accomplish in a year apart, my high school self would be so proud of where I am now.

Laura Vogt:
What’s your favorite memory so far?

Jasmine Bae:
Yeah, my definite my favorite memory has to definitely be like right before the pandemic, like kind of began in my second semester of freshman year before we realized what anything was going on with the world, because it was like right when the first set of mid term started to come across. A lot of us were stressing out about midterms. As mentioned before, my floor was very close. We all got together to study and there was like seven or eight of us packed in one small dorm room, which is totally not what you should do right now and it hadn’t been happening in the past two years, but it wasn’t what was interesting.

Jasmine Bae:
It was not even for the same classes. We were just all like, I guess Berkeley has like a very work focused culture. Like we all start working individually, but at the same time where we’re socializing, we’re helping each other out. If somehow we knew some of the problems or issues that someone was poppy having, and we’re kind of being there for each other. And I guess since it was one of my last memories before the pandemic started in us going all remote, it really made it stick out.

Bryan Wong:
I think one of the most memorable moments was when I was an orientation leader and an, if anyone here is listening to this and knows the story, I promised the incoming student, I was going to go to the Berkeley Marina for golden hour to take beautiful golden, their sunset pics. And one thing led to another and it turned out that my group went on three different buses to the Marina. I had to call and manage over three groups of buses that came to the Marina at different times.

Bryan Wong:
Once the last bus came, the first group was like, it was too cold, were leaving. While we try to take pictures and the sun was already down, suddenly one more student I was managing called me and said, Hey, I’m biking over.” We waited for him to come. Once he came, we took our final pictures, but then we were stranded because the buses stopped arriving. At the end of the day. We got everyone home safely by calling a bunch of Uber’s and I reimbursed everyone. It was a wild time, but I love telling the story because I don’t think anyone else would ever have this experience in their first week at Cal.

Laura Vogt:
Is there anything else that you want to add or reiterate that we didn’t touch on yet?

Jasmine Bae:
Yeah, I would say just again, really go out there. Even if you’re virtual, try to connect with people, it could be your professors, it could be other student, it’s really cool if you can do that. In addition, try out any new courses or claws or decals, anything that’s like just outside of your plan of study that maybe you’ve never thought about taking a class in our learning. Cause there’s pretty much anything you can imagine. We’ll probably be there at Berkeley. So I think if you can do that, all you have to do is just go out and find it.

Bryan Wong:
We’re watching lectures at our two times speed has been my favorite skill to come out of remote learning, catching me on campus, eating lunch at the camp camper nearly. I love sitting there and watching the golden gate bridge. It’s a beautiful view and I’m always happy to talk to others. Talk to me about jazz. I used to play in jazz band. Another life.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
We’re all here because we were meant to be here. If we were accepted there’s potential in us to of make it the full way and it can get hard. I can’t say it’s going to be easy all the time because at least for me it hasn’t been. There’s been a lot of times where things have gotten really harsh, but you always push through. There’s always resources. You’re never alone.

Jasmine Bae:
Well, thank you so much. Aylin, Brian and Jasmine for joining us today.

Aylin Figueroa Uribe:
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you really for having me.

Bryan Wong:
Thank you for having me again.

Jasmine Bae:
Thank you so much for, for having me

Laura Vogt:
And thank you everyone for tuning in and listening to the (Not so) Secret Guide to being a Berkeley Engineer. We’re actually going to have Aylin, Jasmine and Brian back in a couple of weeks to give us registration tips, and we’ll be back next week with a new podcast.