Bear Naked Ladies said:

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Cal Strong! said:

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MoragaBear said:

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Would love to know the last time you got to go enjoy the greenery of People’s Park! https://t.co/uSaQOtQDV7

— Jackson Sirmon (@jackson_sirmon) January 5, 2024

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This a good one by Jackson Sirmon.

Cal Strong very happy for the Park to be transformed into housing (or basically anything other than what it is). But like with most transformations, the old will be missed even if the new is 1000x better.

Cal Strong is a bit concerned about the corporatization of Telegraph and the perceived lack of grit of the latest generation of Cal students. Maybe this is all in Cal Strong's head. But part of the toughness of being a Cal alum is that you survived not only a brutal sink or swim academic culture but a thousand other challenges besides -- from the homelessness and danger at People's Park to the chaos of getting to class through a thousand groups handing you flyers on Sproul Plaza. It was part of the culture that (while dangerous, disgusting and annoying) certainly contributed to making us all tougher.

That being said, Cal Strong is a very strong 6'2 male. If he were a 5'2 skinny female, he might feel very different.

(BTW - 6'2 the strongest height to be. Other heights strong too. But 6'2 the strongest)

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BNL miss the old Intermezzo. BNL happy when they finally bring Mezzo back after fire, but went there once with Mrs. BNL and food not as good as we remember from college days. Seems to have good reviews on Yelp, so maybe BNL and missus give it second chance.

BNL wake up this morning craving Berkeley food and half considering over hour drive for better lunch options than generic crap near BNL home. Even greasy bad for you I.B. Hoagie sound great compared to same boring options BNL used to in Suburbia.

BNL not miss People's Park and wish it bulldozed long ago when BNL was student.

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BNL would do very poorly in boring food city Cal Strong currently inhabits. It like the old (1970s-80s) stereotype of English food . . . but worse.

Cal Strong miss Intermezzo, Cheeseboard, Top Dog, Black Sheep, Smart Alec's, Triple Rock, a $2.50 slice/soda combo at Blondies, Berkeley Thai House, La Note, and Great Wall.

He even miss Montecristo, Northside La Burrita, and Sauls . . . none of which were particularly good, but all of which are much better than what Cal Strong has access to right now.

Cal Strong also wish PP was bulldozed long ago. But when it is (finally!) gone he will be nostalgic for the grit it (and many other Berkeley headaches) instilled in Cal Students.

Cal Strong and similar sentimentals above... Lust for the deeply gritty Berkeley days all you want, but it doesn't help us in recruiting the best athletes or students to the campus.

My son is a Cal zealot since the age of 1. it's practically a joke among his schoolmates and teachers (including two Cal professors that advise his school). His daily wardrobe is something from Cal or Beastmode.

On a swing through UCLA / Westwood over Xmas to finally pay homage to his Mom's alma mater, he decided he now wants to go to southern branch because it's so much cleaner. I sadly just ordered a Bruins hoodie for him.

(this assumes he gets a UC lottery ticket and can get into either school).

I hated PP when I was there and played Intramural volleyball there a lot. Am delighted it's going away. And while I don't want south side to turn into a suburban outlet mall, I would like it to be clean-ish.

95bears said:

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Cal Strong and similar sentimentals above... Lust for the deeply gritty Berkeley days all you want, but it doesn't help us in recruiting the best athletes or students to the campus.

My son is a Cal zealot since the age of 1. it's practically a joke among his schoolmates and teachers (including two Cal professors that advise his school). His daily wardrobe is something from Cal or Beastmode.

On a swing through UCLA / Westwood over Xmas to finally pay homage to his Mom's alma mater, he decided he now wants to go to southern branch because it's so much cleaner. I sadly just ordered a Bruins hoodie for him.

(this assumes he gets a UC lottery ticket and can get into either school).

I hated PP when I was there and played Intramural volleyball there a lot. Am delighted it's going away. And while I don't want south side to turn into a suburban outlet mall, I would like it to be clean-ish.

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Cal Strong not sure how this is different from what Cal Strong has said.

Cal Strong seems to recall that Marshawn was cool with gritty Berkeley. Some HS kids are tough, strong, smart and like a challenge. Others go to UCLA.

My daughter got accepted in 2012 to Cal but when she was advised she could not declare as a Business Major until junior year and that there was no guaranty she would be accepted into the program in any event, she got cold feet and punted on Cal.

Can't they rectify that situation?

bearister said:

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My daughter got accepted in 2012 to Cal but when she was advised she could not declare as a Business Major until junior year and that there was no guaranty she would be accepted into the program in any event, she got cold feet and punted on Cal.

Can't they rectify that situation?

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Huh?

It was the same back in 1980 when I got into Haas Undergrad after being undeclared and taking all of the pre-requisites. Not only was there no guarantee in getting in and extremely competitive, but we were on the quarter system and they would only admit 85 people a quarter and they had just closed the Spring Quarter down for admits.

That having been said, you can transfer from a JC like DVC and apply into Haas Undergrad.
A friend of mine's son actually got into Haas this year doing so.
It's difficult, but possible.

Stumbled across this and felt it adequately captures the sentiments of the people trying to get this built.

She went elsewhere, got merit scholly money, got in the Business School day one and they went on a Spring trip to China.

bearister said:

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My daughter got accepted in 2012 to Cal but when she was advised she could not declare as a Business Major until junior year and that there was no guaranty she would be accepted into the program in any event, she got cold feet and punted on Cal.

Can't they rectify that situation?

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https://haas.berkeley.edu/undergrad/admissions/application-process/high-school-students/#spieker

bearister said:

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My daughter got accepted in 2012 to Cal but when she was advised she could not declare as a Business Major until junior year and that there was no guaranty she would be accepted into the program in any event, she got cold feet and punted on Cal.

Can't they rectify that situation?

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Plenty of Cal students who don't get into Haas declare biz econ or econ majors and have no problem becoming the next generation of corporate pirates, shady financiers, and workforce downsizers. Getting into Berkeley, doing well there and showing you handle some quant does most of the heavy lifting for those careers anyway.

FWIW, the Haas Undergrad School wasn't even that good back in the day when I attended at Barrow's Hall.
It was consistently ranked in the Top 3, but I seriously question those rankings.

We literally had just a handful of courses and that was it.
One cost-accounting class, one micro-economics class (all quant), one finance class, one class on investments (all theory), one class on real estate, one class on organizational behavior, one marking class.That was it.

Haas and it's curriculum today (thankfully) is far superior to those days back in the early 80's.
The course catalog is IMMENSE now.

concernedparent said:

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bearister said:

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My daughter got accepted in 2012 to Cal but when she was advised she could not declare as a Business Major until junior year and that there was no guaranty she would be accepted into the program in any event, she got cold feet and punted on Cal.

Can't they rectify that situation?

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Plenty of Cal students who don't get into Haas declare biz econ or econ majors and have no problem becoming the next generation of corporate pirates, shady financiers, and workforce downsizers. Getting into Berkeley, doing well there and showing you handle some quant does most of the heavy lifting for those careers anyway.

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It's not ideal though, the Econ major has a large component of macro and social science classes that aren't nearly as practical and more relevant for people seeking a career as economists or consultants in development agencies.

IIRC, those that didn't get into the Econ major went into PEIS, which sounds even less practical than Econ.

DiabloWags said:

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FWIW, the Haas Undergrad School wasn't even that good back in the day when I attended at Barrow's Hall.
It was consistently ranked in the Top 3, but I seriously question those rankings.

We literally had just a handful of courses and that was it.
One cost-accounting class, one micro-economics class (all quant), one finance class, one class on investments (all theory), one class on real estate, one class on organizational behavior, one marking class.That was it.

Haas and it's curriculum today (thankfully) is far superior to those days back in the early 80's.
The course catalog is IMMENSE now.

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There are three additional undergrad BusAd tracks nowadays at Haas in addition to the main track, a tech/engineernig track, a biotech track and an international business program.

https://haas.berkeley.edu/undergrad/

golden sloth said:

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Stumbled across this and felt it adequately captures the sentiments of the people trying to get this built.

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Before Cal Strong moved to NZ, he was stuck in limbo in Aussie for nearly 2 years. During this time, he fell in love with three shows:

1. Rake
2. Bluey
3. Utopia

Utopia STRONG!

Slow Horses (TV Series 2022 ) - IMDb


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5875444/

Payback (TV Series 2023) - IMDb


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21955290/

Jack Irish (TV Series 20162021) - IMDb*

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4905554/

*I call it Rockford Files, Aussie style. The show was so beloved in Australia that they also made 3 feature length movies.

More Aussie:

Mr Inbetween (TV Series 20182021) - IMDb


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7472896/

Cal88 said:

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concernedparent said:

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bearister said:

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My daughter got accepted in 2012 to Cal but when she was advised she could not declare as a Business Major until junior year and that there was no guaranty she would be accepted into the program in any event, she got cold feet and punted on Cal.

Can't they rectify that situation?

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Plenty of Cal students who don't get into Haas declare biz econ or econ majors and have no problem becoming the next generation of corporate pirates, shady financiers, and workforce downsizers. Getting into Berkeley, doing well there and showing you handle some quant does most of the heavy lifting for those careers anyway.

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It's not ideal though, the Econ major has a large component of macro and social science classes that aren't nearly as practical and more relevant for people seeking a career as economists or consultants in development agencies.

IIRC, those that didn't get into the Econ major went into PEIS, which sounds even less practical than Econ.

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It's not ideal but first, few jobs utilize much of anything you learn in school, even in professional programs. I don't think there's a class at Haas on copy/pasting **** into excel or fiddling with the logo on a pitch deck like a 1st or 2nd year IB analyst would be doing.

Second, most lucrative, high-paying entry level business jobs are not looking for hard skills or knowledge, but a baseline level of competency (aka are you sharp enough to catch on when we train you), interest and drive (aka will you work your ass off). The type of ambitious students gunning for Haas usually want to work on Wall Street (or west coast financial equivalent), in VC shops in Silicon Valley, at big 3 management consulting firms, etc. These places are crawling with new grads of schools who don't have undergrad business schools (most of the ivies, Stanford, "targets" etc.).

Not saying the current system isn't stupid, but rather that it's rarely the lack of the undergrad business school degree that limits a career.

concernedparent said:

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Cal88 said:

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concernedparent said:

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bearister said:

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My daughter got accepted in 2012 to Cal but when she was advised she could not declare as a Business Major until junior year and that there was no guaranty she would be accepted into the program in any event, she got cold feet and punted on Cal.

Can't they rectify that situation?

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Plenty of Cal students who don't get into Haas declare biz econ or econ majors and have no problem becoming the next generation of corporate pirates, shady financiers, and workforce downsizers. Getting into Berkeley, doing well there and showing you handle some quant does most of the heavy lifting for those careers anyway.

---

It's not ideal though, the Econ major has a large component of macro and social science classes that aren't nearly as practical and more relevant for people seeking a career as economists or consultants in development agencies.

IIRC, those that didn't get into the Econ major went into PEIS, which sounds even less practical than Econ.

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It's not ideal but first, few jobs utilize much of anything you learn in school, even in professional programs. I don't think there's a class at Haas on copy/pasting **** into excel or fiddling with the logo on a pitch deck like a 1st or 2nd year IB analyst would be doing.

Second, most lucrative, high-paying entry level business jobs are not looking for hard skills or knowledge, but a baseline level of competency (aka are you sharp enough to catch on when we train you), interest and drive (aka will you work your ass off). The type of ambitious students gunning for Haas usually want to work on Wall Street (or west coast financial equivalent), in VC shops in Silicon Valley, at big 3 management consulting firms, etc. These places are crawling with new grads of schools who don't have undergrad business schools (most of the ivies, Stanford, "targets" etc.).

Not saying the current system isn't stupid, but rather that it's rarely the lack of the undergrad business school degree that limits a career.

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This is the right view. Haas is a "top" school because the kids there are competitive. Really no more than that. The professors of undergraduate business school classes are not downloading their brains into these you kids. They are trying to help them think and being cut-throat is the way to do that. Competition between their classmates, backstabbing on projects, etc - that is all they are trying to get them to understand. And of course the incidental introduction to money men who can help them do some start-up stuff and get them funded. Or else get a job at Bain or Goldman. At the end of the day, most of the people who come out of these programs are ready to go out and make a bundle. Having it be a junior year major means that it is even more competitive than at other places, and so all of those kids who you have seen in the lower division weeder courses have fallen away by the time you get there. With only certain A students at Cal now (it is even more deliciously exciting to win the entrance and kill your own when you are in.

Getting through is like winning the NCG. You have a golden ticket. If you are not willing to go through that, fine. But Goldman barely looks at UCLA kids.

Volunteer Alum Ambassador on graveyard shift atop containers.

95bears said:

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Cal Strong and similar sentimentals above... Lust for the deeply gritty Berkeley days all you want, but it doesn't help us in recruiting the best athletes or students to the campus.

My son is a Cal zealot since the age of 1. it's practically a joke among his schoolmates and teachers (including two Cal professors that advise his school). His daily wardrobe is something from Cal or Beastmode.

On a swing through UCLA / Westwood over Xmas to finally pay homage to his Mom's alma mater, he decided he now wants to go to southern branch because it's so much cleaner. I sadly just ordered a Bruins hoodie for him.

(this assumes he gets a UC lottery ticket and can get into either school).

I hated PP when I was there and played Intramural volleyball there a lot. Am delighted it's going away. And while I don't want south side to turn into a suburban outlet mall, I would like it to be clean-ish.

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I played pick up football there when I was in school (1980-1ish) a few times. I don't recall it being anything more than a scruffy park, but not like it has been in the last few years. I'm glad to see it put to a good purpose, and, honestly, if Telegraph and south side in general got cleaned up a bit, I would be happy. And I'm sure, it wouldn't hurt recruiting.

A bit of a change in subject, I can tell you, as a neighbor, that the UW version of Telegraph, University Ave, is not much different.

wifeisafurd said:

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bearister said:

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My daughter got accepted in 2012 to Cal but when she was advised she could not declare as a Business Major until junior year and that there was no guaranty she would be accepted into the program in any event, she got cold feet and punted on Cal.

Can't they rectify that situation?

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That happens a lot. Know several Cal alums whose kids were accepted to Cal, and chose to go where they could be business majors. This situation has existed for many decades, and internal faculty politics will not allow expanding Haas undergrad to meet student demand because to do so would mean of transfer of funding away from other academic departments. Sometimes Cal can be its own worse enemy.

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Real talk, every person I know who has done Haas is a legit badass by 30, whether a senior manager or director, managing partner, co-founder/COO, etc., plus probably has an MBA from an elite program as well (Haas/Penn/Furd/whatever), Haas is not going to change undergrad admissions because the success of the Haas network is tremendous so why bother entertaining the idea.

Except they have started direct admission now, per the link that socaliganbear shared. You can thank the Spiekers.

Correct, you can now apply into Haas as a High School applicant.

socaliganbear said:

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Correct, you can now apply into Haas as a High School applicant.

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That's what I thought. Was talking with a co-worker recently and she mentioned her daughter....a freshman at Cal....is at Haas. So....yea....things a changin' at the Haas Undergraduate program.

You mean the Spieker Undergraduate Program.

What is the status on the People's Park case that is being handled by the California Supreme Court? A quick google search indicated that some arguments were to be heard on April 3, but not sure if anything further has happened.

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2024/04/03/uc-berkeley-peoples-park-oral-arguments-california-supreme-court

Sounds like they might be switching tactics.

With the law passed by the state reducing scrutiny for building student housing, is there any way to remove (or relocate away from the new dorms) the homeless center from the people's park plan? There are state and city entities to deal with homelessness, but that is certainly not something a university should be tasked with much less required to do.

ColoradoBear said:

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With the law passed by the state reducing scrutiny for building student housing, is there any way to remove (or relocate away from the new dorms) the homeless center from the people's park plan? There are state and city entities to deal with homelessness, but that is certainly not something a university should be tasked with much less required to do.

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I don't see any way around it. The plan to build a homeless center next to a dormitory was created to appease the nutjobs but the nutjobs, apparently, weren't appeased.