Yesterday I made a visit to Berkeley, CA to see the University of California, Berkeley. Makes sense. I continue to go back and forth on whether I want to go directly to graduate school right after college or whether I should take some time off (that's a nice long discussion in itself) but I figure as long as I am traveling around the country I might as well visit some schools. At this point, I would say that Berkeley would be my top choice - it's an incredibly good school for computer science, its got amazing graduate programs in a ton of other areas (i.e. lots of smart non-computer nerds to hang out with), its less expensive than some private schools, and its in a great part of the country.
However, my visit to Berkeley was discouraging. First of all, I learned that last year they had 3100 applicants for graduate studies in computer science. They only have roughy 100 slots. Ouch. I had no idea it was that competitive. I really admire people who see difficult situations in their future and just take them on - I hear something like the above fact and I get sick to my stomach. I doubt I would get in, and even if I did, I would have to do such amazing work to keep up with my peers. It's so incredibly intimidating to me.
Also, the computer science representative at Berkekley was not as helpful as possible. Let's start at the beginning. A few days before I visited, I sent an email to the graduate admissions people in the department of computer science letting them know I was coming and requesting to meet someone at their convenience to talk about the graduate program and generally show me around. They replied and said I didn't need an appointment, that I could come in pretty much any time during the day and they would be able to help me out. This sounded great. However, when I showed up at the office I was directed to, the exchange went something like the following:
[I ring bell]
Man: Can I help you?
Me: Uh, yes. I was told to come here so I could talk to someone about the graduate program in computer science. To sort of find out about the program, facilities, etc.
Man: Oh, I can help you.
Me: Oh, that's great. Thanks.
Man: Go ahead and sit down. . . . . so, what do you want to know?
Me: Um. . . [pause] well I guess I don't have a list of specific questions. I was just wondering kind of . . . well I guess what the facilities are like. . . what kind of research is going on. . . .
[ Now I need to interrupt my story to explain the expression on this guy's face. There are basically two kinds of looks people can give you when you are answering a question. One is the "knowing nod", the kind of look that lets you know that they are listening, and even that you can shut up because they understand what you are getting at. The other is that pained look that tells you that they have no idea what the hell you are saying - they kind of squint their eyes and pull their head back and generally have a sour look on their face as if they are trying to pass some rather sizeable pointy object through their lower digestive tract. This guy's face was frozen in the second position, which made me feel a need to keep babbling, desperately blurting out topics, hoping and praying he would stop looking at me that way and understand what I was trying to say. I never had any luck.]
Man: Well what kind of computer science are you intersted in?
Me: Well, I'm not exactly sure. . . .I'm kind of interested in networking and security, I guess. And just generally programming stuff.
Man: Well, we have over 90 faculty, and they all do their own research. So I'm sure you could find a place to fit in.
Me: Well is their any topic of research that's especially active here?
Man: Well, like I said, they all kind of do their own thing. And I mean, it's all on the web. I mean really, sitting at any computer in the world, you would find more out about us by looking at our website than you would by actually coming here.
Me: Uh, I see.
[Much more painful discussion and awkward silences ensue. Eventually he suggests that I just walk around the computer science building, which I end up doing.]
Now I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. I was figuring they would have something like they do for prospective undergrads, where they try to sell you on the university by telling you all about it - when it was founded, why its so great, recent notable events and awards, etc, etc, etc. But oh no. Getting this guy to tell me about compsci at Berkeley was like pushing a car. With square wheels.
In happier news, Lewis and Josh took me around San Francisco today. It was lots of fun. We went to a Sony center where we could play Sony playstation for free, which was amazing. I had a lot of ten year olds watching me play and giving lots of unsolicited advice on what I was doing wrong, which was cool. I got to play the new Matrix game, and a snowboarding game and see a whole bunch of other ones.
I like how people in San Francisco park their cars. They don't find a need to commit to either the street or the sidewalk, they do a little of both. So you see a lot of cars with their left side in the street, and their right side up on the sidwalk, so the whole car is sort of tipped, and the car is taking up the vast majority of the sidewalk. I don't know how this got started, but I think its great - it's like their is some rule that says that as long as you have at least one tire in the street, you can park however the hell you want to, and people just ran with it.
Lewis and Josh also took me to just about every cool place for a view in San Francisco. We went up streets that were as steep as rollercoasters and then had awesome views of the city. We went to an old naval base that looked back at the city. We saw Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge from afar. We even went driving up in the rich neighborhoods in the hills and saw amazing houses with amazing views. We even saw some house with a Rolls Royce parked out front. When I get a couple million bucks, I have some good ideas about how to spend it.
Lewis sold his laptop to a guy over the internet, and today we had to drop it off. This guy did not put a high priority on social graces. He kept us at his apartment for like 1.5 hours, and he kept asking Lewis computer questions in rapid-fire mode, often not waiting for a complete answer to his previous quesion, and very often asking the same question multiple times over the course of our stay. He also at one point walked into the room while changing his pants, at which point the following was overheard:
Guy's wife: "He's not very modest."
Guy: "What?"
Guy's wife: "Well, you're walking in here in your underwear."
Guy: "What? Oh. Well, these guys have been in a locker room. I mean, if they haven't seen some other guys' dicks by now, there is something wrong with them."
The transaction was nothing short of completely professional.
Well, it looks like we aren't going to see Castro street at night after all. We were planning on going, but we all came back and fell asleep and didn't have the energy to drive back to San Francisco again. Oh well - it would have been quite an experience to see the proverbial burning sun of the gay solar system here, but we did see it during the day - and as Lewis said, it'll be something we'll check out when I come back sometime. Now that's something to look forward to.
Posted by Ben at June 15, 2003 12:49 AM