Berkeley Class of 2012 Forum

[Rotor]

Thanks NerdProject! That's the passage I was thinking of.

[river85]

This question is so basic that I'm almost embarrassed to ask... But where is Boalt Hall exactly? I'm getting conflicting information - is it at Piedmont and Bancroft, or at Oxford and Center?

[alleycat3]

bancroft and college

[iamlife1001]

Piedmont and Bancroft

[iamlife1001]

bancroft and college

btwn college and piedmont

[river85]

Finally, I can google map how far away I'll be living! Thanks guys, you rock.

[astathop85]

Hey there,

I live in Berkeley now (was an undergrad here) and have a little apartment-hunting tip for those of you looking... Craigslist can be a bit of a chaotic mess, but if you tweak your search by choosing the "East Bay" tab, and "Berkeley" as the neighborhood, then putting "College Ave." in the search bar, you can find some really nice apartments that are just blocks away from the law school. And even if you go a little further from campus down College Ave. (toward Elmwood and Rockridge), the commute to campus is super-easy because you're right on the 51 bus line. I myself just got a cute place on College and Webster... if anyone is interested in that area, the landlady told me last week that she has two more 2br/1ba flats available (let me know if you want her contact info and I'd be happy to send it along.)

Happy hunting, and see you in August!

[dueprocess14]

Hey guys,

Ok, been doing a bit of reconnaissance about Manville:

Pros:
-Don't have to deal with landlord, shitty neighbors, etc.
-Everything is very new and works very well
-Bathroom is very nice
-Next to bus stops for practically every bus line invented. I've checked and you can get to the law school, the Safeway, and the Whole Foods all directly from the bus stop right at Manville.
-The night shuttle drops off right in front of Manville if you don't want to walk home at night.
-Only a $250 deposit, as opposed to first and last months rent like lots of places.
-Very quiet.
-$200 cheaper in June and July. Since I'll be at Berkeley all year, this is great for me.

Cons:
-Shattuck can get sketchy at night; I'm told you wouldn't want to walk around alone after like 10 p.m. or so. Basically, to the east of Shattuck is nice, to the west gets much seedier. That said, the person I spoke to felt very safe during the day and just said you need to be "smart" at night.
-A solid 15-20 min walk from the law school.
-Some of the streets between the law school and Manville are not super well lit.
-A little more expensive than an independent place would run.
-The rooms are fairly small, all things considered.
-Not a full-size refrigerator.


For me, I think this is pretty nice. Coming from abroad, not having to deal with finding a place or having random roommates is a plus. Hopefully since Manville's all law students it's at least mildly social!!

[OperationAwesome]

not a full size fridge? poop!

[madison12991]

not a full size fridge? poop!

Not even close.
No oven, either, just a stovetop.
This was the deal breaker for me. The combination of not being able to afford to eat out often, not having a car for frequent grocery store trips, and not having a real fridge to store food really turned me off from Manville.

[river85]

not a full size fridge? poop!

Not even close.
No oven, either, just a stovetop.
This was the deal breaker for me. The combination of not being able to afford to eat out often, not having a car for frequent grocery store trips, and not having a real fridge to store food really turned me off from Manville.

Is there at least a microwave? Not gonna lie, that's all the "cooking" I ever really do.

[dueprocess14]

not a full size fridge? poop!

Not even close.
No oven, either, just a stovetop.
This was the deal breaker for me. The combination of not being able to afford to eat out often, not having a car for frequent grocery store trips, and not having a real fridge to store food really turned me off from Manville.

Is there at least a microwave? Not gonna lie, that's all the "cooking" I ever really do.

Yeah, there's a microwave. I have similar culinary aspirations... I don't personally think the lack of a full size fridge is a big deal. I'm living in a dorm room with a "dorm fridge" now and I can cook/store pretty much whatever I want.

[TheNerdProject]

not a full size fridge? poop!

Not even close.
No oven, either, just a stovetop.
This was the deal breaker for me. The combination of not being able to afford to eat out often, not having a car for frequent grocery store trips, and not having a real fridge to store food really turned me off from Manville.

No oven would make my life very sad. Guess I won't be living at Manville.

[madison12991]

not a full size fridge? poop!

Not even close.
No oven, either, just a stovetop.
This was the deal breaker for me. The combination of not being able to afford to eat out often, not having a car for frequent grocery store trips, and not having a real fridge to store food really turned me off from Manville.

No oven would make my life very sad. Guess I won't be living at Manville.

Yeah, someone on this board might know or you might want to check with someone from housing to make sure they're all like that, but I know that the room I toured in Manville didn't have an oven. After I realized I didn't see an oven, I asked the tenant because I thought maybe it was just hidden or something No luck, though, so I knew it was private housing for me.

[Go_Cardinals]

Why not Ida? They have ovens and it's still with law students

[river85]

Why not Ida? They have ovens and it's still with law students

I've heard it's right by the frats so it gets obnoxiously noisy.

[TopCat]

rant of the day: the finaid office is completely and ridiculously unhelpful when it comes to private loans and intl students.

(OK, you guys can get back to your housing conversation now)

[trojans09]

The Frats at Berk are really not that loud and super regulated. Ida Jackson's location is awesome and the price is very good given how close you are. If I did not have friends to share an apartment with there's no doubt I would have chosen Ida Jackson for housing.

[bilbobaggins]

Shattuck is not dangerous after dark and neither is Berkeley in general. Where do these comments come from?

[truevines]

Did any one get email/mail from the admission office to confirm your intent to enroll this fall?

I told them I would definite go to Berkeley on April 15. They're supposed to ask me again by June 1, according to the general information for new admits in the package I received.

I haven't heard anything so far.

Maybe I should email them myself?

Any thought?

[Rotor]

Did any one get email/mail from the admission office to confirm your intent to enroll this fall?

I told them I would definite go to Berkeley on April 15. They're supposed to ask me again by June 1, according to the general information for new admits in the package I received.

I haven't heard anything so far.

Maybe I should email them myself?

Any thought?

Soon after sending in my intent to enroll, I got an email from Dean Tom that said something to the effect of "because you are definitely enrolling, I won't ask that you confirm again in June."

That said, if you didn't get that email, you ought to call just to make sure they got your form.

[Rotor]

Anybody know anything about the Temescal area? Specifically around the Children's Hospital. We didn't really look in N Oakland while we were out there (beyond Rockridge) but since it looks like the place in NBerk we were hoping to rent may be falling through, we found a nicer/bigger house for less $$. Seems too good to be true.

Random other question for 2L/3Ls: I just found out that a friend will be getting married in Nov and I wanted to see if I'd get lucky enough to have Fall break over Veterans Day (not so lucky as it turns out). However, while I was looking at the AcCalendar, there were entries for Pope Gregory Make-Up Days. What the heck is that? I'm guessing it's a reference Gregorian Calendar, but I can't figure out how that figures in. Any one know?

[truevines]

Soon after sending in my intent to enroll, I got an email from Dean Tom that said something to the effect of "because you are definitely enrolling, I won't ask that you confirm again in June."

That said, if you didn't get that email, you ought to call just to make sure they got your form.

My bad. I must have been blind.

Thanks for the info.

[TopCat]

Random other question for 2L/3Ls: I just found out that a friend will be getting married in Nov and I wanted to see if I'd get lucky enough to have Fall break over Veterans Day (not so lucky as it turns out). However, while I was looking at the AcCalendar, there were entries for Pope Gregory Make-Up Days. What the heck is that? I'm guessing it's a reference Gregorian Calendar, but I can't figure out how that figures in. Any one know?

Wondering about the same thing here. The Spring semester calendar also has Pope Gregory Make-Up days. Why Pope Gregory?

The link to the calendar:
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/2544.htm

[oh, and I was looking at the calendar to see if I can squeeze a trip back home during the winter break ]

[Formerbruin]

Random other question for 2L/3Ls: I just found out that a friend will be getting married in Nov and I wanted to see if I'd get lucky enough to have Fall break over Veterans Day (not so lucky as it turns out). However, while I was looking at the AcCalendar, there were entries for Pope Gregory Make-Up Days. What the heck is that? I'm guessing it's a reference Gregorian Calendar, but I can't figure out how that figures in. Any one know?

Pope Gregory days are make-up days for classes missed due to holidays. Any classes missed due to Labor Day or Thanksgiving (or MLK Day and Presidents' Day during the spring) will be made up those days (or as scheduled by the professor during the semester) so that you have the proper ratio of class hours to class units.

It does refer to the Gregorian Calendar but I'm not sure why.