Planning for the future
Career counseling
If you're unsure of what career you want to go into, start with a visit to Counseling & Psychological Services. They offer career counseling and testing, and you can schedule a 15-minute Mini-Appointment to get answers to specific questions and have resumes critiqued (Tang Center, 2222 Bancroft Way, third floor; 510/642-9494).
The Career Counseling Library has an extensive collection of materials for exploring educational and career options, such as college catalogs, directories of graduate schools, and career books. There are interactive computer systems to help you discover occupations that match your unique skills, values, and interests (uhs.berkeley.edu/Students/CareerLibrary; the small building in front of the Tang Center, 2220 Bancroft Way; 510/642-2367).
See here for information on Counseling Services for Students.
Career Center
The Career Center prepares undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni to make informed decisions about their futures by providing comprehensive resources, programs, and counseling on career development, internships, employment, and graduate school. Some highlights of services and events are:
CalJobs (job/internship listings for both on and off campus positions, including full-time, part-time, and summer opportunities)
On Campus Recruiting (OCR) (employers visit the Berkeley campus to interview graduating students for positions)
Career Counselors available for individual assistance
Career, Internship/Summer Job, and Graduate School Fairs (representatives meet with students)
CareerMail (email notices about activities in your areas of interest)
Career Week (more than 40 programs providing insights to various career fields)
Graduate School Services (advising and resources on the application process)
Internships (advising and resources on internship options)
Planning your Future (self-assessment tools and decision-making assistance for career plans)
Letter Service (file for you to store your letters of recommendation to be sent to graduate schools upon your request)
For more information, consult the center's website or contact the office (career.berkeley.edu; M-F, 9am-5pm; 2111 Bancroft Way, between Fulton and Shattuck; 510/642-1716).
Professional Development Program
The Professional Development Program (PDP) promotes the success of underrepresented undergraduates in mathematics and science. Working jointly with the Mathematics Department, PDP trains math graduate student instructors who try out new teaching techniques designed to foster collaborative learning using innovative curriculum materials and traditional small study group techniques. PDP also provides research opportunities for students interested in graduate school in math, engineering, and science (www.aad.berkeley.edu/coalition/pdp.html; 230B Stephens Hall; 510/642-5881).
SAGE Scholars Program
The Student Achievement Guided by Experience Scholars Program (SAGE) is designed to increase the retention and success of academically high-achieving undergraduates from all majors who come from low-income backgrounds. Business sponsors provide UC Berkeley SAGE Scholars with comprehensive internships and tuition awards. Students are selected on the basis on financial need, honorary status (minimum 3.0 GPA at Berkeley), and outstanding leadership potential. Students are supported throughout the program with team building events, professional coaching, mentoring, career development classes, and events coordinated with SAGE business sponsors (sagescholars.berkeley.edu; 2223 Fulton Street #327; ucbsage@berkeley.edu; 510/642-2203).
Other resources
Doe Library has a complete microfiche collection of US college catalogs. The Newspapers & Microforms Collection also includes newsprint, microfilm, microfiche, and micro-opaque. The active newsprint collection numbers over 200 newspaper subscriptions and titles are regularly archived on microfilm. Several daily newspapers are subscribed to and available on the issue date (lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Colleges.html; Newspapers & Microforms, 40 Doe Library; 510/642-2975).
College Source Online features more than 23,000 college catalogs in original page format at www.collegesource.org.
California Alumni Association (CAA) can match you with an alumni mentor, or arrange informational interviews with alumni in various professions via an online mentoring program (alumni.berkeley.edu/samp; Alumni House; 510/642-5780). See here for more information about CAA.
Student pre-professional organizations are listed here in the Extra matter section.
Internships and summer jobs
Internships give you the opportunity to gain work experience, earn income, and find out about career paths you might like to follow after you graduate.
How can you find an internship or a good summer job? Visit the Career Center's website (career.berkeley.edu) and explore the Internships page. You will also find additional helpful resources, including information on pursuing positions in specific career fields, workshops, programs, on-campus recruiting for summer employment, career and internship fairs, and much more.
Begin searching in the fall semester in order to take full advantage of all the resources and listings available to you. Some deadlines are very early! Starting early allows you to balance more evenly the time required to conduct a successful internship and summer job search with other demands. Being well-informed will help you make better use of academic breaks to investigate internship and summer job opportunities.
Whatever the time of year, starting now is better than tomorrow.