Engineering News, September 12, 2005

September 12, 2005 Vol. 77, no. 3F

GUIDES TO THE ENGINEERING GALAXY: E98 instructors share insights with freshmen. From left: NE/Math senior Paul Monasterio, ME senior Jonathan Tay, BioE senior Karen Yang, CEE senior Heena Patel, IEOR junior Tony Xu, BioE senior Angela Wu, EECS/Business senior James Li, and BioE junior Mike Chen. (Photo Credit: Tau Beta Pi)

Upperclassmen share resources, advice with freshmen in new class offered by TBP

That first semester of freshman year can be the most confusing, lonely, and difficult one at Berkeley. “I’m from Canada and I didn’t know a single soul when I began as a freshman,” says Heena Patel, now a CEE senior. “A family friend picked me up from the airport and dropped me off on Move-in Day. That was it.” After three years of trial and error, Patel has successfully navigated academic and social challenges and now calls Berkeley home. But, oh, life would have been so much easier, she says, if she’d had one definitive place to go for advice, resources, and friendship those first 15 weeks.

From that personal experience, Patel helped launch E98, “Berkeley Engineering: The Survival Guide.” Offered by Tau Beta Pi (TBP), Cal’s chapter of the national engineering honor society, within the DeCal program, the new one-unit pass/no-pass course is taught by Patel and seven other engineering upperclassmen. “We cover topics like getting the best deals on textbooks, effective study habits, academic resources, good eats in Berkeley, where to find housing, and getting that first internship,” says Tony Xu, an IEOR junior.

“The first day of class we told students that if they have to choose between a heavy load and a lighter load, take the lighter load because your freshman year you should seize the opportunity to try something new and do something you’ve always wanted to do,” says Angela Wu, a BioE senior. “Not only can you make new friends this way. You can rediscover yourself.”

Patel says she got inspiration for the course last spring after learning of a similar course at the University of Illinois. Other TBP members supported the idea, and the group ran it by their advisor, receiving clearance. Then they pulled together a syllabus, complete with textbook, which is actually a written survival booklet created by TBP and EE honor society Eta Kappa Nu. (Check it out at http://tbp.berkeley.edu/~guide.)

The class also receives homework assignments. In one, students might have to go research a student club they’re interested in or review a new restaurant they tried. Or, they might be asked to go meet a professor or graduate student instructor and spend 20 minutes talking with them.

James Li, an EECS/Business senior, says he’s already busted some Berkeley Engineering myths. “No, it’s not so competitive that people tear pages out of one another’s textbooks so they can’t study. That doesn’t happen,” he emphasizes.

“Our whole goal with this class is to make Berkeley comfortable, make it home for people,” Patel concludes. “No question is a dumb one. We’re here to be a support network.”

The more the merrier! It’s not too late to enroll. E98 sections are Mondays, 4-5:30, 5:30-7 in 247 Cory Hall, and Thursdays 5-6:30 in 3106 Etcheverry. Sign up through Telebears or show up. For more information, email hpatel@berkeley.edu.

College of Engineering Home Page