What is CEE?Transitions...Advising!Degree Stuff.CoursesActivities!Your Future
Welcome to the Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Survival Guide! This guide was written by current and former CEE undergrads to help you succeed in this challenging and exciting major. We will do our best to provide you with advice that will be useful throughout your academic career here, from helping you adjust to life as a Cal CEE undergrad to helping you find jobs or search for grad schools after you graduate. We hope this serves as a useful tool during your years at the Greatest Civil Engineering Program in the Nation. 

If you’re not a CEE major... 

We assume you’re reading this because you’re considering majoring in CEE. We welcome you and are glad you are interested in this major. This guide will also be of great value to you. If you’d like to learn more about the major and the exciting career opportunities available, see Chapter 1: What is Civil and Environmental Engineering? There you will find CEE and its various emphases described in easy to understand terms. 

What’s Inside 

The Undegraduate Survival Guide is divided into seven chapters: 

The following is a brief list of the information that you will find: 
  • Civil and Environmental Engineering described in lay terms so you can understand what the major and its emphases are all about.
  • Advice for making the transition to Cal from your previous school (high school or another college).
  • Information on advising and mentoring programs available to you.
  • Description of the degree requirements for CEE.
  • Descriptions of CEE courses.
  • A list of all the CEE student groups that you can get involved in.
  • Advice for what to do after you graduate.
  • A discussion of academic ethics.
  • Suggested places to look for help if you don’t find what you need here.
What’s Not Inside 

This guide is designed primarily to help you succeed as an undergraduate in CEE, not as an undergraduate in general. In other words, information that pertains to any undergraduate in the university is not repeated here. However, we will provide you with places to look for more help. 

The Resource Guide The University publishes a wonderfully complete guide to just about everything you need to know about Berkeley. It’s called The Resource. You should have received one free when you went to CalSO (or in the mail if you didn’t make it to the orientation). If you didn’t get one or need a new one, you can buy them at the ASUC store (they currently go for $4). There is also an on-line version of The Resource at http://www.uga.berkeley.edu/resource. This book/web site contains information on getting settled in Berkeley, things you need to do when you first get here (ID cards, e-mail accounts, etc.), enrollment help, services available to you, housing information, and campus activities. The Resource also includes a section called Living in the Nuclear Free Zone. LITNFZ lists just about every establishment in Berkeley--restaurants, bars, stores, hair salons, etc. The Resource really is a great asset, and you should take the time to at least scan over it soon after you get to Berkeley. 

The Berkeley home page also contains a detailed section designed for student needs. You can find it at http://www.berkeley.edu/for_students/index.html. This will link to you sites such as the Office of the Registrar, the ASUC, and Financial Aid, just to name a few. If you’re having trouble finding something, this is a good place to start.
 
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