| Some things to consider: * If you're a freshman you're likely going to change your major a few times. I don't know about UPenn, but unless things have changed EECS (and a few other majors/schools like Econ) is an "impacted" major, which means you need to apply for it once your preparatory classes are done. * Start networking and trying to figure out what sorts of jobs you want to do sooner rather than later. I ended up doing programming after a somewhat circuitous job hunt the summer I graduated, but it could have been shorter had I started interning my last semester. * Money is a real thing. Compare your financial aid packages and try and get a feel for the cost of living. If you're not a California resident, UC is incredibly expensive. * Take advantage of the free/cheap things you get while in school. In particular, I wish I would have made more use of the gym/pools. * College is a good time to start working on developing a good work/life balance. It seems obvious to me now, but schedule your classes in a way that's conducive to how you want to live. Don't kill yourself taking 3 really hard classes in one semester. * Get involved in things you're actually interested in. It seemed like there were a lot of clubs in school that were basically shell games for "leadership" positions. FWIW I transferred to Cal from community college. In my experience the instruction was, for the most part, the same quality-wise, but the classes were much smaller. I also ended up keeping a bit of a network from my community college, because there tends to cohorts of students that transfer to the same places. |