realistic? it's a forum on the internet, not his essay.

I have to agree with Valygrl. You don't just show up to Stanford or Berkeley without a sterling application. Also, I'm sorry to say that surviving in one of their engineering programs and putting in the time to be a serious racer would be, ummm, extremely challenging. Not impossible, but very tough indeed. And though others have noted that Berkeley is a state school, out of state tuition there is *steep*.

If California is your destination, look into one of the Cal State schools. Several have engineering programs.

Good point. Cal Poly (California Polytechnic State University) in San Luis Obispo has a very good reputation and is located on the central coast where the climate and terrain for cycling are great. I was stationed at nearby Vandenberg AFB in the early sixties, and love that part of California.

Hmm looking at public schools in Cal I guess I am out of luck the admissions process closed I goes it leaves Cal Tech and Stanford open schools in Cal hmmm I have a 3.0 I don't think a 3.0 transfer will get in either school

Go to a community college to get your general ed out of the way. It's much cheaper that way and gives you time to get your GPA up.

Yeah I was thinking about that, it was the mistake I made when I went to school first time. I was hoping that my gi bill would take care of that issue. I was also looking to perform better than first time so I could qualify for merit scholarships. If I don't get accepted anywhere than my plan was to find a nice place to live and go to community college.

Starting out in community college is a good idea.

Caloso, you make me want to cry.

I spent almost 6 years at Berkeley, where I rode my first bike since I was 10 yrs old. I'm in Seattle now, but traveling a lot for my job and not riding anywhere near as much as I'd like. Berkeley was FANTASTIC for riding. The hills, the views, the miles and miles and miles you can ride without ever stopping for a traffic light. Ahhhh.

Lots of engineers on the cal cycling team. Lots. The poor liberal arts majors have to put up with ridiculous conversations on the long drives to races.

I wish I'd been more into riding than beer, bong hits, and Top Dog when I was an undergrad. But everytime I'm back in Berkeley it amazes me could ride up those hills on a craptastic Schwinn, with 20 lbs of books in my back pack and a triple cap from Cafe Roma in one hand.

Top Dog! Man, I used to love their Andouille. Oh, and their Kielbasa. I was in Berkeley in December and I walked past Top Dog on Durant, thinking.... Alas, these days I try not to eat too much fatty red meat. But when I was 20.....