What a Semester at Berkeley Actually Gave Me

Before Applying 🎯

Before applying for the exchange, I scrolled through endless "is it worth it?" posts on Xiaohongshu. The reason that finally convinced me was simple: without data, all anxiety is just noise. Sitting in my dorm in Shenzhen, imagining California from social media in the middle of the night, watching life on the other shore through others' vlogs — and actually flying across the Pacific to live there for a semester — are two completely different samples.

So I decided to add the missing treatment group to my experiment. 🚀

Own Your Desires, Declare Them to the World 📢

The first thing Berkeley taught me: don't be afraid to show your desires. If you never send a signal, no one will know you actually want an internship, a research position, or a recommendation letter. Wanting to take a PhD-level course not normally open to undergrads — I emailed the professor to prove my qualifications. Wanting to sit in on a small seminar and participate fully — I showed my enthusiasm. Wanting to do research — I asked to join the group. You are no less qualified than anyone else; all you need is the courage to ask when the moment comes. Remember: if you ask, the probability of success is 50%; if you don't ask, it's 0%. 💡

Some professors may decline exchange students because they're only at Berkeley for one semester — too short for deep research. What we can do is show genuine interest without being purely utilitarian, aiming to exchange ideas with the group (ideally, email professors before going, join remote work early, and continue your research once you arrive). Professors may let you sit in on group meetings based on your interest and strengths, and you might walk away with a recommendation letter. 📝

Don't Limit Your Steps. Don't Tell Yourself "I Can't" ✈️

From the Jiaozhou Bay of Qingdao to the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao, then flying across the ocean to the Bay Area of California and setting foot on unfamiliar land — the child who relied on everyone else naturally became independent. With no one to fall back on, most things sorted themselves out. English was more comprehensible than expected; forming sentences didn't need to be perfect; when my SIM card was lost in the mail, I managed a 30-minute phone call anyway; when I couldn't find a classroom or course group, kind classmates always pointed the way; when lights broke or Wi-Fi died, I became my own handyman; someone who never cooked in China learned to make three meals a day. You'll find that jet lag isn't that hard to beat — your courage shows up before your tears. 🌊

When Time Zones Cut Off Your Comfort Zone, Refresh Your Novelty 🌅

Many students say that coming to the US adds a time-zone barrier with family and friends back in China — a 15-hour difference that scrambles normal social rhythms and brings melancholy. But in California, you can absolutely head out alone to events: sports, clubs, orientations, dinners, hikes — meeting new people and sparking new connections. Don't confine your social radius to a fixed few; add a little random perturbation, and only then can you escape a local optimum and find the global optimum. The people I met at Berkeley came from different schools, countries, and cultural backgrounds; every casual conversation was a cross-dimensional information update. My phone notes still hold records of those chats — each time I open them, they're a treasure of thought. And of course, some friends who returned to China are still in touch, sharing California sunsets and downtown street music. These memories have become bonds we can't shake off. 🤝

GPA Not Affected ≠ No Effort Needed 💪

My home university is CUHK, and on our campus's anonymous wall (like a confession board) everyone said the GPA from an outbound exchange won't appear on your transcript, so you can just coast. In reality, Berkeley is basically a "little Hengshui" of North America — many courses have three or four midterms, exams as frequent as monthly tests, homework every week. The workload is no lighter than back home. But more importantly, coming to Berkeley let me shed past baggage and start fresh. I didn't worry about pulling up my old GPA; free of that burden, I just worked hard — and ended up with a beautiful transcript. I took only major courses and earned a GPA higher than at home. I felt the environment reshaping my ceiling: when course design, teaching pace, and peer level all push you upward, even your "normal performance" gets redefined. Don't use "it doesn't affect my GPA" as an excuse to slack — that might be the closest you've ever been to your best self. 🎓

Give Your Experience Its Own Meaning ✨

Don't just cling to a "life is for experiences" attitude and let fate carry you. Every experience deserves a project summary. Don't wait for others to define whether your experiences have value — give your moments and existence meaning yourself. This semester I was simultaneously reading papers for Graph Algorithms and Network Flows, running LLM-inference simulations, and quietly following consulting cases that tell stories with data. In an entropic world, we find signal in noise and turn it into a convincing story. These six months in Berkeley were the most complete case study I've ever done on myself — and the conclusion I gave myself was: don't extinguish the edge of your soul; the world you want, you take with your own hands. 🔥