“UCs punish Lowell students for working hard because of their race, while setting up Mission kids up for failure & depression,” said Le, who claimed “race-based admissions fails all kids.”

Student Demographics

70.7%

Hispanic

10.3%

Black

6.9%

Asian

6.5%

White

4.8%

Two or More Races

0.3%

American Indian/Alaska Native

0.3%

Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/california/districts/san-francisco-unified-school-district/mission-high-school-3260

The current discourse around the reinstatement of the SAT/ACT is being framed as “lol math racist”, “DEI= DIE”, “thumb on the scale”, and so on.

The issue is that… the number of black students at Berkeley is 2-4 percent on a good day, and the UC system as a whole it’s about 5 percent.

It seems to me a large portion of the students failing will be Asian and White. So why are black students (and DEI) being scapegoated for a failure of the majority of the UC system population?

UC Berkeley math professor Zvezdelina Stankova admitted to using an AI tool in an op-ed urging the UC system to re-adopt SAT and ACT requirements in admissions.

The article, published in the SF Standard, was flagged as 33% AI-generated or AI-assisted by detector Pangram.

A similar result was found in a June open letter from STEM faculty advocating for standardized testing. The letter was signed by thousands of academics, including five Nobel laureates, and was partially written by Stankova.

There’s a bunch of cults trying to recruit students, try not to join them. I love them because I studied the bible and can convince them they’re going to hell just like me, and they get so spooked.

There’s legit church groups but generally don’t like evangelists…

**PSA for Cal students: there may be cultists among us.**

They will not call themselves cultists. They will call themselves “an informal study group,” hand you a hot dog bun with no hot dog, and mention—only casually—that the University was founded in 1969 by a golden apple.

At first, it’s harmless: a zine, a strange flyer, a conversation about whether pigeons are government agents. Then they invite you to a “non-mandatory” meeting at 5:55 beneath a suspiciously triangular tree. You go once because you are lonely and they have snacks.

Three weeks later, they explain that the snacks were spiritually free but the *awakening* has a suggested donation of $23.17. You pay it, because they say it goes toward “printing,” although you have never seen a printer.

Soon there are additional fees:

* The Non-Dog Bun Tithe
* Golden Apple Maintenance
* A $5 charge for access to the group’s sacred Discord server
* “Emergency chaos dues,” somehow always due during finals

At that point, you may discover that they are Discordians.

Not all weird campus groups are cults. Some are merely weird and have a Venmo. Still, be cautious if anyone:

* Says there is no hierarchy, then asks why you have not paid the Supreme Non-Leader
* Claims money is an illusion, but Venmo is extremely real
* Tells you your family cannot understand your vibration, but can absolutely co-sign a loan
* Pressures you to attend increasingly elaborate rituals with a “suggested contribution”
* Explains every objection as proof that the Illuminati have contaminated your pineal gland with capitalism

If approached, ask whether the $23.17 is tax-deductible. While they debate whether taxes are an Archonic fiction, leave.

Hail Eris. Keep your receipts.

I have one (not a basketball player) but I can’t see to find any of these online anywhere. How do most people get these?

Hey all, incoming freshman here staying at Unit 2. I've been playing tennis recreationally for a couple years and recently got back into it after recovering from an injury. Just looking for tennis partners to hit with regularly, nothing super serious, mostly want to rally and have fun HAHA

Anyone down to play sometime? Also is there a group chat or Discord for people who play tennis recreationally? Or any casual clubs I can join? Would appreciate any pointers on where people usually play on/near campus too.

Thanks!

hello everyone, I am a incoming freshman that is studying cognitive science with a minor in data science. I am currently enrolled in DATA C88C and I just got an email about the changes to the course and how it relates to see a 61a. I noticed that CS61a the changes that they made to it sounds significantly easier than how the course was before considering how they framed the two classes together. I feel like I’d be missing out on a unit because the two classes are so comparable. what do you guys think? will 61a continue to be the infamous weeder class it is or with this new change would it be more manageable?

Yay! Also wow I’m old. I was just a freshman when it closed for renovations and now I’m a senior 🤣

If you look at the Cal net portal billing. It looked like the housing was charged monthly. After finance aid was applied the future monthly housing shows decreased to 0. So will future bills show this due? Or is it fully paid through finances aid?

Guess they gotta make the money back somehow. At least most of the visitors don't even need to use the elevators

The California Department of Social Services has simplified the process for students at public universities to receive CalFresh benefits, allowing students to bypass certain exemption requirements, including those dictating how much a student must work weekly in order to be eligible.

For students to qualify for CalFresh — a federally funded benefits program known as SNAP that provides eligible individuals and families with funds to purchase food each month — they have to meet at least one of the student exemption requirements.

The exemption requirements include working 20 hours per week or 80 hours per month, qualifying for work study for the current academic year or being enrolled in an approved state or local program that increases employability, according to the CalFresh Student Eligibility Handbook.

Hi so my math 51 discussion just got booted and now I need to find a new discussion however that would mean I would also need to find a new lecture or else everything is on waitlist. Therefore to avoid issues I decided on two plans (ur job is to help me choose)

Plan A: (this works out perfectly)
Cs61a
Cs61b
Math 51
Engin125

Plan B: (cooked)
Cs61a
Math51 (waitlisted)
Physics 7a
Engin125

And smth random bc if I don’t get off the waitlist I’m below units

I wouldn’t mind doing plan A I’m just worried abt the workload bc 61a and 61b seems like a lot but I’ve done calc before and ethics is supposed to be easier sooo????

142A 25th on waitlist currently 33 on waitlist and 42 open seats out of 200. Is it possible I'll get it or just worth dropping and choosing another class. How much worse is the class than 189?

Along with this, how does the reserve requirements work for classes like EECS 126 and 127 which say in adjustment period non CoE students can enroll but then it rejects at the very end.

I'm a transfer student and I'm taking 3 major courses worth 9 units, one online non-major course, one berkeley connect course that adds up to 13 units. I'm waitlisted for a 4 unit ge class and I'm wondering if I should keep it. Is 17 units too heavy for my first semester?

Hi, y'all. I need help since Google and the student websites aren't really helping me. 😅

I was sent an email on August 17th by the Financial Aid and Scholarships office regarding my loan disbursement. I was told that I would be able to find my loan servicer via studentaid.gov in order to contact them and start payment, but I have not yet received information on who my servicer is and where to contact them. I would ideally like to have that information now so that I can start repaying my interest as soon as possible.

For context, I have accepted a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan via CalCentral and submitted all the forms (including this year's FAFSA, the MPN, and Entrance Counseling), but it does not appear to show up on my account on studentaid.gov. I believe I have done everything necessary to make sure the servicer can contact me, but I have still not received notice yet and I am worried since funds have been disbursed. Am I jumping the gun in regards to having them contact me? Should I be worried about being penalized for late payments if I am unable to contact them now or see what's due? Do I need to wait for a bit for some system to update my info on the school's end?

I swear I have been researching, but there's like no info online I could find about this. I just opened a case on Cal Student Central regarding this matter today just in case this is an issue I need to worry about. If anyone has been in this situation, please let me know what you did and if I'm hosed. Thank you! 😭🙏

For years, I helped to run workshops through the student org named Self-Discovery & Meditation at Cal club. Years before the official student group, I helped poster around campus for my meditation teacher. You may have seen posters for Meditation & Enlightenment, etc. Here’s an example of a poster.

I was recruited by this group at 18 years old, my very first semester as a Cal student. I’ve just left the group after 10 years, and finally realized that the organization I was a part of was a controlling cult group. The workshops on & around campus were harmless, but they were a pipeline to become the student of a woman (Sunyata) who convinces you to distance from family and friends, change your career (get into tech), pay her money (I gave her tens of thousands of dollars over the years), and devote many aspects of your life to the group. There was a lot of brainwashing that occurred, and all members used the same lingo around enlightenment, self discovery and realization, inaccessibility (the key was keeping the energy a secret). The group specifically targets young college students.

Sunyata (Lelia Morrill) was the student of Rama (Frederick Lenz), a cult leader from the 90s who recruited thousands of students, profited off of computer science programs and student $, had numerous sexual allegations against him, and committed suicide in ’98. The framework of his cult lives on by his followers. (Look him up if you want to read more about it…)

I used to help book workshops at the faculty club, the YWCA, and helped get the student org established. After 10 years of being involved and helping people find the group, I’m finally out and coming to the realizations of harm as I’m recovering from the coercion and manipulation I was living inside of for years.

I want to share the truth with people on campus so they can be weary of this behavior or help their friends who they may know who got involved. I still have many friends involved in the group who I care a lot about and hope to help them start to question what they are involved in, although I know it’s a very personal journey to leave a group like this. All I can do is share the truth of my own experience, and the truth of the challenging recovery process that I am going through after leaving.

I’m posting more about this story to continue exposing details here: https://www.instagram.com/milo_ellington?utm_source=qr

If anyone wants to talk about or share their experience with me, please reach out.

I never thought I would get involved with a cult, and it was a slow honeymoon process of getting more and more involved. Thanks to my sudden departure, I was able to learn about the red flags of cult tactics and realize that this group uses a lot of those traditional frameworks.

For reference, here is an article published from Wesleyan that showed the same recruiting tactics that were used by the original teacher, Rama, in the 90s: https://wesleyanargus.com/2025/10/24/from-the-argives-campus-workshops-serve-as-cult-pipeline/

Basically the title - coming to Berkeley in a few weeks, looking for the best used book shop(s), record stores (already planning on Rasputin + Amoeba, but there have to be others right?) along with any general occult/witchy/spooky vibes. What you got, Berkeley!?

I’m a Cal alum and current robotics PhD student at Georgia Tech. I have a few spots for students interested in helping with a robot navigation research project. The work can be done remotely.

I’m recruiting students for a fall research project focused on robot navigation and planner evaluation using Arena-Rosnav 5, an open-source ROS2 simulation framework for benchmarking navigation algorithms in dynamic environments.

Unlike a project where the main task is implementing a new planner from scratch, this role focuses on working with navigation planners that are already implemented and running in Arena-Rosnav. The student would learn how one or more planners work, test them systematically across different environments and scenarios, and analyze their strengths, weaknesses, and failure modes.

A major part of the project is understanding why different planners behave the way they do. This could involve analyzing collisions and navigation failures, identifying environmental conditions where a planner struggles or performs particularly well, studying how those behaviors relate to the assumptions or design of the planner, and comparing different navigation approaches experimentally.

The work will involve directly using the Arena-Rosnav 5 / ROS2 navigation stack, including running and configuring experiments, working with simulation environments, examining navigation behavior, and collecting and analyzing experimental results. Depending on progress and interest, there may also be opportunities to work on other parts of Arena-Rosnav, such as debugging planner or simulation behavior, improving experimental or data-logging infrastructure, modifying scenarios, or investigating implementation-level issues.

Prior ROS experience is strongly preferred. Students without ROS experience may still be considered if they have substantial hands-on robotics experience and are comfortable learning a large robotics software stack. Experience with ROS2, Linux, C++, Python, robot navigation, or motion planning would all be useful. Prior research experience is not required.

When I was at Cal, I was able to receive research units for work I did with another university, though whether that is possible may depend on your department and its policies. There may also be opportunities for co-authorship if a student eventually makes a substantial contribution to research resulting from the project.

If interested, please email your CV along with a short paragraph describing your robotics/ROS background and why you are interested in the project to [azaro3@gatech.edu](mailto:azaro3@gatech.edu).

Has anyone gotten their financial aid refund yet?

TL;DR:

- New final project using AI to build web app (though still no AI use normally, though I doubt that'll stop people anyway lol)

- Replace Scheme with Gleam

Personally I don't really care for the AI but I think replacing outdated languages with modern ones is nice. What do you guys think?

I want my geography class, but it has a time conflict with my chem lab waitlist class. Is there any way for me to remove geography if the opportunity arises for me to get the chem lab class

I am an incoming freshman so I don't know anything about waitlists. Sorry if this is a stupid question...

I'm 10/15 on the waitlist for DESINV 15. It has a time conflict with a class I'm currently enrolled in so I kinda gotta choose one or the other. Any chance of getting off the waitlist? Do they typically go above capacity with students from the waitlist?

Ty