What I applied for

Depending on which year I was in, I applied to different positions, but I always applied for software engineering roles. In my first year, I applied primarily to first-year-specific programs and some software engineering internships. In my second year, I applied primarily to software engineering internships and some second-year-specific programs. In my third year, I applied only to software engineering internships. In my fourth year, I applied only to new grad software engineer roles.

In comparison to many posts I see online, I feel that I had a pretty good application-to-interview ratio. I’ve heard of many folks applying to over a hundred places and still not hearing back, which is quite unfortunate :( I will also note that it is pretty uncommon for companies to recruit non-3rd years for internships, so a lot of rejection can just come down to what year in university you’re in at the moment.

Where I found opportunities

I primarily used that one GitHub repository of software engineering internships/new grad positions, LinkedIn, UC Berkeley’s EECS/CS undergraduate careers emailing list (internal to Berkeley), Handshake, Untapped, and Ripplematch. A link of all job posting websites I’ve found over the years can be found here.

If anyone I knew was offering referrals, I also asked them to refer me. This was a big advantage of being part of a lot of UC Berkeley CS clubs and being on course staff. Another advantage was that certain clubs (like the Association of Women in EECS (AWE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and Eta Kappa Nu (HKN)) had resume books that they sell to companies. Members can submit their resumes to be considered for employment. Additionally, many large clubs will have an #advice or #career Slack channel where you can ask for professional development advice. They also sometimes have professional development services like resume reviews or mentorship.

I also took advantage of recruiting events whenever companies I was interested in working at came to UC Berkeley. This was useful to learn more about the company and its culture, meet and talk to engineers and recruiters, and get unique links to apply / get on their radar. I rarely attended career fairs because they were usually overcrowded and not really worth my time. I “attended” Grace Hopper once when it was virtual due to COVID, but I did not go to many events and didn’t aggressively recruit there. However, I still am on a lot of recruitment mailing lists due to submitting my resume to their database.

When to apply

Ideally, you should begin applying in early August, although I have noticed that every year the recruiting season seems to shift earlier and earlier, especially for companies that are very popular or hard to get into. However, even if you “miss” the start of the recruiting season, the next best time to apply is now.

Typically, I have wrapped up the hiring process by the time the fall semester is over. Jobs are harder to come by if you start looking in the spring semester, but it is not impossible to get an internship in that period of time – just much harder.

How I prepared

Here are all of the recruiting resources I’ve found over time.

Applications

• Update your resume. I personally use a LaTeX template I found on Overleaf since it looks crisp and professional and is easy to electronically parse.
• Keep track of your application statuses. I use Notion databases to do this. I record the company, position, link to the role, copy and paste the role description (because sometimes it gets taken down later), and any other notes I think are important such as who referred me, when I applied, when my next deadline is, etc.

OAs

• Familiarize yourself with the OA platform. Common OA platforms include HackerRank and CodeSignal, which both have tutorial assessments so you can play around with the coding environment stress-free. They also provide practice problems, which can be useful for prep. I found this overview of OAs very useful in terms of strategizing for CodeSignal in particular.
• Save and/or run tests and/or submit (if you are allowed to change your answer after submitting) frequently. You should write your solution iteratively. Pseudocode is also helpful before writing out all the code. Test output and print statements can be especially helpful for debugging. Getting some of the test cases right is better than none of them right.
• The time crunch is what usually will get you. Stay calm.
• Make sure you have the right environment to take the OA. It should be quiet, have wifi, an outlet to charge your computer, water, tissues, etc. so you can do take the OA comfortably. If you can’t do it in your place of residence, booking a library room can be a good option.
• Leverage community for insights on what questions might be asked. Reddit (r/csMajors, r/cscareerquestions), cscareers.dev Discord, clubs, etc. are all great places to ask for advice and prior experiences with a particular company.

Interviews

I will go more in detail about technical vs. behavioral interview prep below, but regardless of interview type, there are some things you should always do to prepare:

• Know the interview format. If you don’t, email your recruiter to ask. Sometimes companies will also give you prep materials. If they do, read them!
• Make sure you have the right environment to do the interview in. The same environment criteria for OAs applies to interviews.
• Always come prepared with 3-5 questions for the interviewer. The more specific to the company the better, and the less “basic” the question the better. For example, instead of just asking, “What’s your favorite thing about company X?” you could ask “What’s your favorite thing about company X and the thing you think can be most improved?” This not only is more uncommon and thus less boring for the interviewer to answer, but also can alert you to any red flags about the company.
• Take notes about your interview experience. I usually had 3 rounds of note-taking: Before, during, and after the interview. Before the interview, you should have some bullet points about yourself (ideally you should memorize your introduction/elevator pitch but sometimes this can be helpful if nerves kick in), some notes on the company, and your prepared questions. During the interview, make note of your interviewer’s name and their responses to your questions. After the interview, reflect on the questions they asked you and how you did in the interview. What could you have done better? What did you do well?
• Leverage community just like for OAs.
• Thank your interviewer and recruiter after each round and ask about next steps after your interview ends.

Technical

• Use the REACTO method to structure your interview: Repeat the question, Write out Examples, describe your Approaches, write your Code, Test your code, Optimize.
• An often overlooked skill in technical interviewing is the ability to communicate your thought process. Writing the code to solve the problem is only half the battle.
• Instead of spamming every Leetcode question in existence, prioritize questions that are most relevant. If you are not actively interviewing, I recommend Neetcode’s Roadmap since the questions are sorted by topic and have detailed solutions and explanation videos. Another popular list is the Grind 75 or Blind 75. If you are actively interviewing, you should focus on Leetcode problems that are tagged with that specific company.
• Watch videos to review data structures and algorithms (DSA) concepts and system design concepts. For DSA, I recommend Michael Sambol’s YouTube channel and for system design I recommend this guide and the ByteByteGo YouTube channel.

Behavioral

• Research the company. You should know their products, mission, values, and culture. It can also help to read their engineering blog posts, if they have any.
• Make a list of what you like and what you’re interested in working on there. Be specific.
• Use the STAR method to answer questions. Be confident, friendly, show that you’re a leader and a good person to work with, and tie back your experiences to how that makes you a great fit for the company. Concrete examples are key. But don’t overdo it!

Recruiting experiences

Most companies had a process like this: Referral and/or application, online assessment (OA) (usually on HackerRank or CodeSignal), interview, onsite interview, and then offer decision. Most companies had more technical interviews than behavioral interviews, which makes sense for the profession. Most technical interviews I did were similar in nature, with the first 5 minutes being introductions, 45 minutes of coding (usually 1-2 Leetcode Medium type problems), and 5 minutes of Q&A with the interviewer. I only ever did 1 system design interview during my new grad recruiting cycle, but from what I can tell online those types of interviews become more common for full-time and senior roles.

Some companies have quirkier or more unconventional recruitment processes. For example, Roblox always sends OAs that have to be done on the Roblox platform, which required making an account, downloading the Roblox app, and spending several hours playing mini games (that weren’t directly related to programming) or answering MCQ behavioral questions about your work style. For other companies, I had to take “personality quiz” type online assessments or do asynchronous video interviews on HireVue.

The company I recruited for who had the most pleasant, fast, and relevant-to-the-job interview experience was Stripe, which consisted of an application, OA (which was more of a problem you might see day-to-day rather than a Leetcode algorithmic puzzle), and technical interviews (which tested coding fundamentals and more day-to-day problems). For full time roles, Stripe also has a debugging round, but since I interviewed for the internship position I did not have to do this.

How I did

Because this is popular to showcase on r/csMajors (and I was curious what mine would look like), here are Sankey Diagrams I created for all 4 recruiting seasons I’ve experienced so far.

Caveats:

• I counted each position I applied to as a separate application, even if it was for a duplicate company
• This might not be 100% accurate because I tracked this information retroactively
• I counted recruiter calls and behavioral rounds as interviews
• I counted each interview in an onsite round as separate

Summer 2022 Internship Search

See also: How I got my first internship at Bloomberg

Summer 2023 Internship Search

Summer 2024 Internship Search

New Grad 2025 Internship Search

Key Takeaways

• You’ll never feel 100% ready and no one is ever 100% qualified for a job. Just apply.
• Time is of the essence. Never delay on applying or scheduling interviews. Headcount fills up quickly.
• People are generally more willing to give you a referral or recruiting advice than you’d think. Just ask nicely and respectfully (without being entitled).
• A big part of interviewing is just showing your enthusiasm for the role and the company. It can be hard when you’re tired of grinding out applications/OA/interviews all the time, but smiling, being nice and friendly, etc. go a long way in leaving a positive impression.
• Treat every OA and interview as practice. It helps with nerves and is true!
• Remember that interviews are also a way for you to get to know the company. What do you think of their hiring process? Were the people you interacted with respectful and kind? Does the culture seem like a good fit to you? Come prepared with questions that can help you decide whether or not you truly want to work there.
• Cheating on OAs and interviews seems to be commonplace and I suspect it has only gotten worse with the rise of LLMs. I don’t believe in this behavior and I have managed to get jobs while maintaining my integrity, and you can too.
• Take care of your mental and physical health while recruiting. It’s very easy to get stressed, feel imposter syndrome, feel hopeless, etc. when recruiting. Your health is most important and if you don’t get the exact job you wanted, it is not the end of the world. Everything is a learning opportunity and it only takes 1 company to say yes!
• Negotiation can be intimidating, but is worth practicing often and early (although most internship offers seem to be non-negotiable). The worst thing they can do is say no (reputable companies would not retract their offer if you attempt to negotiate). I’ve found these resources useful for navigating this.
• An added benefit to being a TA for CS/DS classes that is not often talked about is you get a lot of practice talking through your thought process and refreshing yourself on DSA fundamentals.

SPOILER WARNING: The following review contains spoilers for Arcane seasons 1 and 2. Read at your own risk!

The Good

The most consistently stunning part of Arcane in season 1 continued into season 2: the animation. You could even argue that they outdid themselves this time around, especially with the expansion of all things magical. Another thing I’ve always appreciated with Fortiche’s animation is their dedication to cinematography and making it seem like Arcane was “filmed” with a real camera. Things like animating a scene so it looks like the camera is attached to a Jayce’s hammer (in episode 7 when he’s running away from Viktor’s automatons), attached to Ekko’s club (in episode 9 during the “Come Play” sequence), or being handheld and following Caitlyn as she shoots down enemies (in episode 9) are so cool. I also appreciated little details like blood/dirt/spit splatter on the lens, glitching, match cuts, impact frames, using a dolly zoom when Ekko realizes he’s in an alternate universe in episode 7, Jinx in AU Powder’s reflection also in episode 7, hidden frames in each episode title sequence, or the Ekko/AU Powder dance scene being animated at 4 frames per second as a callback to how far back in time Ekko can go using his Z-drive.

The fight choreography this season was also top tier. While I noticed that this season leaned more into making fights look more on “epic and grand” side (utilizing a lot of slow motion) than the “realistic and gritty” side like Season 1’s fights, I think that matched well with the atmosphere and change in narrative focus. Some highlights for me included Sevika and Jinx vs. Smeech (episode 2), Vi and Caitlyn vs. Jinx, Sevika, and Isha (episode 3), Vi vs. Warwick (episode 5), and Caitlyn and Mel vs. Ambessa (episode 9).

Another thing they took from season 1 and dialed up to 11 was the mini music videos within each episode. Previously, there was usually just 1 song per episode and they only occasionally switched art styles (such as the Misfit Toys and Dynasties and Dystopia sequences). Now, armed with the well-earned confidence from season 1, the Arcane team included 2 musical moments per episode, with a variety of art mediums from charcoal to comic book to watercolor. And despite the dramatic increase in quantity, the quality of the songs and storytelling has (mostly) stayed just as high as before. The clout the music team earned after Season 1’s amazing soundtrack also enabled them to attract talent like Linkin Park (Heavy is the Crown) and Twenty One Pilots (The Line), while still partnering with up-and-coming artists to showcase their talent.

While I had some issues with the writing this season, there were definitely a lot of things that the writers did well. Act 1 was the strongest, with each episode building momentum and escalating the conflict between Piltover and Zaun (on a macro-level) and Vi/Jinx/Caitlyn (on a personal level) in a way that felt like a logical progression from the events of season 1. I also appreciated the slowed down pace in episode 7, where Ekko’s journey in the “happy” alternate universe was juxtaposed between Jayce’s journey in the apocalyptic universe. Additionally, I appreciated that the writers were not afraid to kill off champions, including new ones like Ambessa (who was a character original to Arcane but who recently became playable in League of Legends).

The last thing I wanted to applaud is the voice acting, which was so seamless with Fortiche’s expressive animation style that I have no notes.

The Meh

The instrumental score this season was still great, but there were noticeably fewer “dramatic scene where just the score takes over” moments in comparison to season 1. For instance, songs like The City of Progress, You’re Stronger Than You Think, She’s Here, The Concerto, Romance, She’s Back, and Fallout were all standouts to me in season 1, while in season 2 there were only a couple moments where I was watching a scene and thought to myself, “man, I need to look up the score for this afterward.” Those were Appointment of a General, I Promised You, and The Bridge (Reprise). Of course, this is probably just due to screen time constraints. Instead of dramatic score moments, there were more dramatic soundtrack moments as I mentioned above.

Additionally, while I appreciated the songs on the soundtrack, there were a couple times where I felt like there was a slight overreliance on montages to tell the story when having scenes with dialogue would probably have been a better fit, if there was enough time and resources to animate them in 9 episodes (I suspect there was not, and thus we got the montages). For example, episode 2 catches the audience up to what has been going on in the undercity in the wake of Silco’s death – all the criminal bosses are vying for control, with 3 left who have risen to the top. This sets up the expectation that some non-insigificant portion of time will be spent resolving this question of who will win, but instead this gets resolved in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in the Hellfire montage where the 2 remaining bosses are seemingly arrested (or perhaps killed?) while the third boss, Smeech, was killed in the Jinx and Sevika vs. Smeech fight in episode 2. Another unfortunate result of relegating this plot point to a music video is the framing of character actions. As fans in the comments of that video point out, the fact that Caitlyn and the strike team are literally using chemical weapons against the undercity is lost in the coolness of the song and art.

Of course, I don’t think the Arcane team means to condone this kind of behavior – definitely the opposite, given the lyrics of the song (“Can I do the right thing for the wrong reason? Is it bad that I’m making friends with my demons […] But when you live for the thrill that death’s giving / I’d rather have some fun than to be forgiven”) and Caitlyn’s overall arc this season of realizing that justice and revenge are not the same. But when you choose to present the content in this way and let the rule of cool take over, it can muddy the waters.

The other montage that I felt should have been full scenes is the Paint the Town Blue montage. First, while the montage conveys the passage of time, to viewers it’s not clear exactly how much time has passed. And if you miss Caitlyn and Maddie discussing how several months have passed at the beginning of episode 4, it leaves viewers a little lost as to how long the martial law has taken effect. I’m fine with them having a time skip as a concept, but another issue I have with the montage is that this is basically the most the writers/animators were willing to go in terms of Piltover subjugating Zaun. At the end of episode 3, there is this whole dramatic scene with forboding music as Caitlyn is appointed general and you get this feeling that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better because now Caitlyn has absolute power, is spiraling after losing her mother and girlfriend, and is only going to be manipulated and egged on by someone as cunning as Ambessa.

And yet, by the time the Paint the Town Blue montage is over, Caitlyn is already expressing doubts about continuing martial law to Maddie. It makes sense to me from what we’ve seen in season 1 that Caitlyn is a good person at heart who is lashing out over her grief, but the show gives us no time to experience the hopelessness that comes when the person who had the most empathy gives into her anger. The setup and payoff was not done very well, resulting in a much less compelling story than the one I was expecting (moral corruption and subsequent redemption), but I suppose you could again chalk this up to limited resources.

The Bad

The aspect of Arcane that I think suffered the most from season 1 to season 2 was the writing. I would not go so far as to say it was a deal breaker, but it definitely felt like a shift from what I and a lot of people found engaging about the show in season 1. The show went from character-driven to plot-driven, from a show about the impacts of class conflict and technological advancement through the intimate lens of people living through it to a show about people who hate each other working together to overcome a common external conflict (without resolving the underlying hatred) and the nature of free will.

As an audience, we can only speculate about the reasons behind this change, whether it is completely intentional, limited time or resources, studio meddling, different writers in the room (seems like this was not the case), unrealistic fan expectations, etc. I like to give the team the benefit of the doubt considering how good season 2 was despite all of the issues I had below. I think most Arcane fans would agree that it would have been nice to get another act, or better yet, a whole other season to resolve all of these problems, but I also respect that the creatives didn’t want to drag out the show until it sputtered its last breath in an undignified manner.

I felt that a lot of the weaker writing decisions started happening in Act 2, and I even wrote a whole Reddit post about it. In the next few paragraphs, I’ll try to summarize/avoid repeating myself and add some more thoughts now that I have now watched the entire season.

The enforcer strike team (Maddie, Loris, and Steb) were underdeveloped characters. While the Maddie’s death in episode 9 was the culmination of an incredibly tense moment (I actually thought Caitlyn might die there), I felt that the reveal of her being a Noxian spy felt more like a convenient way to move her out of the way of Caitlyn and Vi’s relationship. We don’t really learn much about Maddie or why she is a spy (and some fans were even confused about when exactly Maddie became a traitor), so it would have been nice to get a scene to explain this. Loris and Steb barely say or do anything so they felt a lot like redshirts to me, but there’s already so much going on in season 2 I’m not sure where we could fit their character development anyway.

Isha felt more like a plot device than a truly fleshed out character. She literally falls into Jinx’s lap and follows her around without much explanation aside from the fact that Jinx saved her from the goons who were chasing her. It would have been nice to learn where Isha came from, why she was being chased, why she idolizes Jinx so much, etc., but instead her major impact on the plot is preventing Vi from killing her sister in episode 3 and sacrificing herself in episode 6 (also, it was so obvious to me that Isha was going to die the moment she showed up as a cute, innocent, underdeveloped character that I couldn’t even properly be sad in episode 6). It’s very heartwarming for us to watch her develop a sibling relationship with Jinx, and this gives Jinx some character development, but that’s just it – Isha is more of a character to push the plot and other characters forward, rather than a character in her own right.

The bad blood between certain characters was resolved too easily. There are 3 core character dynamics that I felt could have used more development: Vi/Jinx, Jinx/Caitlyn, and Caitlyn/Vi. The first two pairs go from being mortal enemies to begrudging respect due to an external character forcing them to work together. In the first case, Vander/Warwick, and in the second case, Ambessa and Viktor. While this is a logical explanation for them being temporarily aligned, I feel like more needed to be done (either through dialogue or a scene or some character actions) to resolve their mutual hatred at their core. As for the third pairing (Caitlyn/Vi), they do not get to the point of wanting to kill each other, but there was still a lot that each of them did to each other that was hurtful (for example Vi going back on her word when it came to killing Jinx, Caitlyn hitting Vi with her rifle, or Caitlyn leading the martial law efforts) that could have been addressed (for example during their argument in episode 8), but instead gets glossed over. Of course I acknowledge that people rarely explicitly say “I’m sorry” and that actions speak louder than words, but getting some kind of acknowledgment is nice. It’s just like how in their sex scene, it was on Caitlyn to make it explicit to Vi that she had been seeing Maddie during their separation. This not only demonstrates how Caitlyn is a communicative partner, but also acknowledges to the audience that yes, the writers did not forget about this hiccup in their relationship. It also makes it extremely cathartic when Vi says, “Cait, I don’t fucking care.”

A lot of plot points make sense on paper, but the execution is lacking. For example, in episode 3 when Caitlyn is appointed general, I don’t think anyone expected her to stay angry and vengeful forever given how empathetic her character was in season 1 and her relationship with Vi, who showed her that Zaunites deserve equal treatment. So it was not a surprise when Caitlyn switched sides and betrayed Ambessa. What is surprising is when she switches sides. Instead of Caitlyn learning some significant realization (for instance, that Ambessa was the mastermind behind the memorial attack or that Ambessa and her Noxian army were abusing human rights), the turning point for Caitlyn is randomly running into Vi outside Viktor’s community, Vi telling her that Warwick (who Caitlyn only knows as a bloodthirsty monster) is Vander, and Vi calling Caitlyn “cupcake” again. It just feels laughable and in fact has become the subject of many memes and discussions in the fandom.

The main response I’ve seen online to this criticism is, “Were you not paying attention during the entirety of Act 2? Caitlyn had doubts about the whole martial law deal since episode 4. This is a natural progression!” To this argument I will say yes, I did notice that Caitlyn was expressing doubts about martial law. However, the fact that this was the pivotal moment that tips Caitlyn in the opposite direction doesn’t make sense. For all the build-up of Caitlyn becoming a general in episode 3, her “redemption” does not feel very realistic or earned.

Another example of odd execution is Viktor’s turn to the dark side. I was confused as to why he would join sides with Ambessa, especially considering that for the majority of the series he is against the weaponization of hextech. His descent into being anti-free will could have been clearer. It is also confusing to me why Viktor was the mage who inspired Jayce to pursue magic. If the purpose of mage!Viktor was to prevent evolved!Viktor from destroying the world, then why give Jayce the means to create hextech in the first place? The only explanation I can think of is that Viktor would have invented hextech regardless.

Learning that Silco knew Vi and Powder’s mother, Felicia, recontextualizes his actions in season 1 and feels like a retcon. I find it a weird writing decision to have a flashback showing that Silco knew Felicia because that means he was hellbent on killing one of his close friends’ children in season 1. There was no prior indication that he knew that they were Felicia’s children in season 1. You could chalk this up to saying that Silco was so far gone that he didn’t care anymore, but even for Vander – someone he hated – he acknowledged their past history.

Mel and the Black Rose storyline felt detached from the main plot and more like a backdoor pilot for the next series which will likely take place in Noxus. It is when shows/movies try to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe with its post-credit scenes and tie-ins that we get lost in the sauce of setup for future projects instead of focusing on making the current project good.

There were also some issues I had with the writing in Act 3:

• There was a lot of tonal whiplash seeing Caitlyn and Vi consummating their relationship after witnessing Vi being clearly emotionally distressed over what Jinx is going to do after she escapes. As much as we were all anticipating this moment for Caitlyn and Vi’s relationship, as much as I loved that Vi was finally choosing to take care of herself, and although there were some nice parallels between that scene and Caitlyn and Vi’s first meeting, the scene just felt misplaced. I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive for Caitlyn and Vi to have this moment and for Vi to demonstrate that she still cares for her sister.
• Ekko was able to push past the 4 second limit on his Z-drive without any consequences.
• Jayce shutting off the hexgates during the invasion instead of before Ambessa and Viktor arrived was confusing.
• Zaun came to Piltover’s rescue without much explanation other than “Jinx and Ekko told them so,” despite years of oppression and animosity.
• Jinx’s death-as-redemption fate turned out to be a fake out. I feel like it would’ve been much more effective to just have her live and leave Piltover/Zaun since I find death-as-redemption arcs lazy, but to each their own.

Meta: Fandom Discourse

With how much I’ve written about “the meh” and “the bad” you may think that I was a season 2 hater, but to the contrary, I have never felt more in love with Arcane than now. The only reason why I’ve analyzed it this much is because I care and think about it so much. I am a big proponent of criticism of all forms of media. It helps creatives improve and hone their craft, it helps fans keep the fandom alive. Debate is good. Different interpretation is good. Criticism of any media, even well-loved media, is good.

It does not mean a critic is “media illiterate”, “hasn’t paid enough attention”, or “can’t read the subtext.” In fact, if something is unclear to a consumer of media, that can often be an indication of weak writing, as this redditor explained so well. It can make sense for a character to go from point A to point B on paper, but if we are not shown that journey, then it still will not land or feel satisfying. It sucks that we have to have posts like this to make it clear that criticism is an essential part of consuming any piece of media.

Source

At the same time, valid criticism is NOT personal attacks on the creatives or other fans. It is NOT throwing a tantrum or feeling entitled to get exactly what you want. Valid criticism is thoughtful, supported by evidence, respectful of other opinions and people, and takes into account practical limitations of producing a show like Arcane. It is done in good faith with the willingness to change one’s mind if a better case is presented.

At the end of the day, I’m very much still in the “shut up and take my money” phase with the whole Arcane universe. Yes, despite all of my criticism, I still think it is worth watching and I recommend it to everyone I know to the point of annoyance. I also acknowledge that there’s a lot about the production of an animated TV show like Arcane that I don’t know, and that as creatives, they must balance so many conflicting priorities and budgets. I will be the first to say that it ain’t that deep and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Further reading and watching:

• When a show loses track of what made it special by Youtuber pey talks anime - A nuanced take on the flaws and strengths of season 2
• entering the arcane fandom after season 2 like by Youtuber ColeyDoesThings - A funny and accurate video of the fandom right now
• Arcane’s Beauty and Tragedy: A Reflection on Its Themes and Untapped Potential by u/PlayfulMaintenance64 on Reddit

Lightning Round

Season ranking: 1 > 2

Favorite character this season: Caitlyn. I loved that she was fleshed out more this season and we saw her struggle with justice/vengenace for her mother, her desire to do right by the undercity, and her love for Vi.

Least favorite character this season: Maddie. Love the voice actor, Katy Townsend, but boy when it was revealed that she was a Noxian spy the entire time and went for the headshot I nearly screamed (it was 3 am though so I had to settle for internal screaming).

Favorite episode this season: Episode 3 Finally Got the Name Right. It felt like the perfect culmination to the escalation between Vi/Jinx/Caitlyn and was filled with emotional gut punches. Plus their fight scene being intercut with Jayce/Ekko/Heimerdinger playing with the anomaly and Woodkid’s “To Ashes and Blood” playing in the background was chef’s kiss.

Least favorite episode this season: Episode 4 Paint the Town Blue. Felt like things started going badly writing-wise here. The time skip was confusing and characters started acting weirdly.

Favorite lines this season:

• “Why is peace always the justification for violence?”
• “Sometimes taking a leap forward means leaving a few things behind.”
• “As good as it feels to pour everyone’s drink, you need to fill your own cup every now and again.”
• “Who decides who gets a second chance?”
• “No matter what happened in the past, it’s never too late to build something new.”

Favorite songs from the soundtrack:

• Heavy is the Crown by Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong
• To Ashes and Blood by Woodkid
• Isha’s Song by Eason Chan
• Ma Meilleure Ennemie by Stromae and Pomme

The Verdict

8.5/10

Arcane season 2 is a beautifully crafted animated series that sometimes struggles to live up to the expectations and plot points it sets up, but is ultimately still groundbreaking and satisfying to watch.

All seasons of Arcane are out now on Netflix. It stars Hailee Steinfeld (Violet / “Vi”), Ella Purnell (Powder / Jinx), Kevin Alejandro (Jayce Talis), Katie Leung (Caitlyn Kiramann), Toks Olagundoye (Mel Medarda), Harry Lloyd (Viktor), Jason Spisak (Silco), JB Blanc (Vander), Reed Shannon (Ekko), Mick Wingert (Cecil B. Heimerdinger), Ellen Thomas (Ambessa Medarda), Brett Tucker (Dr. Corin Reveck / Singed), and Amirah Vann (Sevika).

• 🚫 Disclaimer
• How to be a great TA
• How to be a great student
• At the end of the day…

🚫 Disclaimer

This advice and information is somewhat limited due to the fact that I am one undergraduate student studying EECS at UC Berkeley, and have only been a TA for data science courses at Berkeley. However I believe this post is applicable to any EECS/CS/DS course at Berkeley.

How to be a great TA

• Empathy, patience, and responsibility are the most important traits to have as a TA. Many teachers can deliver course content, but making an effort to connect with your students is where you can go above and beyond.
• When answering a question, it’s always better to say “I’m not sure, let me get back to you” (and actually get back to the student) rather than trying to make something up or saying something you’re not 100% sure about
• Classroom environment
  • Positive affirmations mean the world to students and are crucial for creating a safe, inclusive classroom environment. Acknowledge what the student does get right/understand, even if their response is not 100% correct. And if they do get it correct or ask a good question, let them know!
  • Don’t assume prior knowledge, but also don’t be condescending. An easy way to do this is to ask people before diving into a problem how comfortable they feel about a topic using a quick thumbs up/thumbs down poll.
  • Students behave differently when they know people (like the TA or other students) are watching them. Thus, to get students’ true opinions, do polls and surveys as anonymously as possible. What I like to do in my own sections is asking everyone to close their eyes before we do a vote.
  • Fun icebreaker questions, collaborative Spotify playlists, and a positive, approachable vibe go a long way.
  • It’s hard, but learning student names is worth it
• Office hours
  • Office hours is a lot like being a customer service representative. You need to quickly diagnose the problem the student has or the misunderstanding they have and guide them to the solution, all while making sure you are sensitive to the time, effort, and struggle the student has likely gone through.
  • Come to OH on time, and leave on time. You should finish up any ticket you are in the middle of responding to, but do not overwork.
  • One thing that can be very tempting when faced with a tricky question is to tell a student the step-by-step solution. While this is a fast way to resolve the problem, they might not get as much learning out of it. So what I try to do instead is ask them questions like:
    • What have you tried so far?
    • What do you notice about the problem/output/error message?
    • What do you think caused the error?
    • What do you expect to happen / what do you expect the value of this variable to be at this part of the code? (Drawing out an environment diagram with the student can also be very useful)
    • What if we printed the value of this variable?
    • What if this edge case happened? How does the code currently handle this case?
  • You do not need to get the student from start to finish. Instead, you should give them enough hints and guidance such that they can finish the problem themselves. (This is good from a pedagogical standpoint but also from a practical standpoint, because often for large EECS/CS/DS courses the OH queue can become astronomically long and you need to serve as many students as possible.) A good way to do this is to construct the pseudocode with them, and leave it to them to implement. Reassure the student that they have the information they need and that if they get stuck, they can always re-queue, but that they should now try to do the problem themselves.
  • Giving a similar but simpler/smaller version of the problem can be helpful for students to build intuition. Another important thing to determine when helping a student in OH is what they’re actually trying to do / what question they’re really asking (the XY problem). Sometimes you can go down a rabbit hole only to realize what they asked for is not even needed to solve the problem – so getting to the root of things from the start and asking clarifying questions is great. To do this in practice, I usually start by asking students if they can explain to me in their own words what the problem is asking them to do, what their current approach is, what issue they’re running into is, and how they have tried solving it.
• Ed
  • (If this is included in your list of responsibilities) Check Ed regularly (ideally every day) and answer questions. Don’t let one or a handful of TAs do everything.
  • Ed supports Markdown and LaTeX formatting, so take advantage of that when answering questions
• Plan out when you will do TA-related work and don’t let yourself overwork. If you find yourself overwhelmed with work, reach out to the head TAs and/or instructor(s) of record sooner rather than later so it doesn’t become a problem.
• Be very careful when discussing grades with students. It is an understandably sensitive subject and you should not make any “promises” you can’t keep when it comes to grades. Sometimes it is best to let instructors answer such questions, since they have the final say in grades anyway.
• When prepping to teach any topic, you should not only know the topics and material you are about to cover, but you should also anticipate what students might ask or get confused about. It may be helpful to also think back to what you struggled with when you took the course. Things to pay attention to are:
  • What concepts do students need understand to complete this problem? What about prerequisites?
  • What are some common approaches to solve this problem?
  • What are some common pitfalls for this problem?
  • What does the staff solution look like?
  • What are some hints I could give without giving away the entire solution?
• It is normal not to finish the entire discussion worksheet. Prioritize quality over quantity when teaching.

How to be a great student

As a quick aside, you may be thinking, I’m a student paying UC Berkeley to give me a quality education. Why should I care about making my TAs happy? This is their job. While it is true that TAs do this because it is their job, there are many things you can do as a student that make TAs’ jobs easier, which in turn helps them help you without burning out or becoming disillusioned about students/teaching in general. There’s a lot of passion and dedication and hard work that goes into running a course, most of which the average student will not know about unless they become a TA themselves. Doing what you can to help your teachers is not only helpful to you, it is also the right thing to do and shows that you respect TAs’ time.

• It is normal not to finish the entire discussion worksheet.
• Instructors and TAs don’t have control over enrollment or waitlists or expansion, so it is not useful to ask in the course Ed. Instead, talk to your department/major advisor or the registrar.
• Using Ed or any other online Q&A course forum
  • Follow Ed etiquette established by your course and general “formal internet communication in an educational setting” etiquette. This means, for example, you should follow any Ed templates given to you and that asking for dating advice is not appropriate.
  • Search before asking to avoid duplicate threads
  • Ask questions in the appropriate megathreads. This is so that if another student has the same question, they can benefit from the answer too.
  • When asking a question on Ed, make sure to choose the “Question” category, rather than the default “Post” category. This is because TAs will typically sort by Unresolved, and only unanswered Question posts or comments will show up. For the same reason, if you have a follow up question, post it as a reply and make sure to mark the thread or post as unresolved.
  • Avoid screenshots of code or text output. Instead, copy and paste everything into the Ed post, and use the multi-line code block. This is useful for readability, searchability, and in case the TA needs to reproduce your error (for example, by running your code on their machine) or for searching up the error message you are seeing.
  • Provide enough context in your question so that TAs can help you. Avoid the XY problem and don’t be a help vampire – tell us what you did to debug or fix the issue so we know that has been ruled out. This is also a useful skill to learn for your professional life, where there is no answer key.
  • If you have multiple questions, separate them into separate comment threads or posts (whichever is applicable) instead of asking multiple unrelated questions in the same post. This helps with searchability of Ed answering fatigue.
  • While TAs will try to answer Ed posts as soon as they can, remember that they are limited by the fact that they are also students and have to balance their own classes and commitments and that depending on the size of the course staff and how many hours each TA is appointed for, they might not have time to answer your question right away. Depending on how large the course is, staff can also be inundated with questions. For example, as of the end of Fall 2024, I have answered literally thousands of questions on Ed. Thus, refrain from bumping your Ed post / panicking about not getting a response until 1-2 business days have passed.
  • If you have a concern about DSP accommodations or any personally extenuating circumstance, it is generally better to directly email the course email rather than make an Ed post (staff will also usually respond to Ed posts by telling students to email the course email anyway). This is for privacy reasons (only instructors and head/admin TAs have access to the course email) and because it’s logistically easier to keep track of everything via email.
  • Read all weekly/logistical announcements on Ed in their entirety. They contain important information and it is your responsibility to know it!
  • If you agree with a comment/post, you should just like it rather than cluttering up Ed with comments like “+1” or “me too”
  • Don’t use the answer box of a Question post to make a comment. Only use the answer box if you are actually answering someone’s question.
  • If your question requires you to post your code or solution, make sure it is private. If your question is not sensitive, you should make it public so that other students can benefit.
• Email
  • For anything related to the course, you should email the course email rather than emailing TAs or instructors individually. This is for record-keeping purposes and because the head TAs and instructors have access to the course email anyway and it separates personal and work stuff. The main exception to this is if you need to directly contact the someone for privacy reasons.
  • Like Ed, please allow 1-2 business days before following up. During the first week of classes, midterm season, and finals season, also expect longer response times. If your issue is truly urgent, indicate this in the subject line.
• If your course accepts extension requests at scale (usually through a Google Form), please do not hesitate to use it if you have an extenuating circumstance. Staff are generally more lenient than you might think and we understand unexpected things happen and/or that students with disabilities require accommodations to learn.
• Grades
  • While TAs are involved in grading assignments and exams, they do not have control over your final letter grade – that is something only the instructor(s) have control over.
  • If you’re curious about common grade distributions, Berkeleytime is your best bet. But of course, the instructor(s) have the final say and every semester is different. So take everything with a grain of salt. As a Berkeley student myself, I’ve just made peace with the fact that grade calculations are rather opaque and I just have to do my best. Whatever grade will happen will happen. I just try to focus on my own learning and what I can control, rather than what I can’t.
  • Refrain from contacting the instructor(s) or course email to ask for a grade round up, especially if they’ve already stated in the syllabus that they don’t do this. Professors get flooded with grade-related emails especially during finals season, and it would probably not make a difference. If you have a truly extenuating circumstance, you should probably request to take an incomplete rather than a grade boost, because by the time it’s the end of the semester, there’s not much that can be done.
  • Generally, grades in EECS/CS/DS courses at Berkeley are binned rather than curved, which means that as long as you achieve above a certain point threshold, you are assigned a particular letter grade. What this means in practice is that the majority of students get B+/A- grades.
  • The short answer to the question, “How can I improve my grade?” is always “do the work.” The long answer varies by course and by person, and is something you should reach out to your TAs or professor(s) to discuss during office hours.
• Participate in discussion/lab. Please I promise we don’t bite and it’s just as awkward for us as it is for you when no one speaks :)
• Office hours
  • If there is an online queue, use it appropriately (e.g. fill out the template and don’t abuse the queue to let everyone ask their questions)
  • Please don’t put TAs in the awkward position of deciding whether to help you or leaving once their OH period is over. It is totally understandable that you are stressed about assignments, but once their shift is over, they are not obligated to help anyone and it would be unfair of them to give anyone special treatment. Moreover, this leads to burn out and overwork.
• If you find a mistake/typo/wrong solution, please tell course staff so we can fix it
• This is not really a tip but more of context, but the reason why TAs will ask everyone to stay in the exam room and stay quiet after they finish collecting the exams is because we must count the number of exams we received and ensure that we have everyone’s exam. It would be really bad if we lost track of someone’s exam and wouldn’t be able to give them a grade.

At the end of the day…

… the key to being a good teacher or a good student is to work hard and be kind. Whether it was course staff social bonding, Professors Justin Yokota and Peyrin Kao helping me set up in Dwinelle 155 for my CS 88 guest lecture, a former CS 88 student asking a question for me in busy LING 100 office hours, feedback about my teaching in course surveys and evaluations, a thank you email, or a witty response on Ed making me laugh, small kindnesses mean the world.

🚫 Disclaimer

I’m one (EECS) student at UC Berkeley (from 2021-2025) so take my advice with a grain of salt.

1. College is long, but also short

When I’m in the thick of the semester, midterms are happening left and right, I have a dozen homework assignments and projects due, college can feel really, really long. Like, “please get me out of here I just want to get this over with and graduate and have a full time job already” long. I’m not sure if that’s just the “academic rigor” of Berkeley or just college in general, but sometimes that’s just how I feel, and my perfectionist nature used to mean that I would spend late nights to finish assignments instead of, say, hanging out with friends.

What I have learned since then is it helps to put things into perspective. College is only 4 years. That’s the same length of high school, and it feels even quicker in many ways. Do I want to spend those 4 years moping about my workload or doing fun things with friends? Of course, you should do your work and do it well, but at some point it’s better to do what’s required of you (and not anything more) and enjoy college while you’re still there. After you graduate, you’ll probably be working for the next 40+ years of your life, so why not enjoy the freedom you have left? Plus, this will probably be the last time in your life where you are living this close to your friends, so take advantage while you still can. There is a balance to be had between grinding away to get to your next goal and living in the moment.

2. You can always do more, but should you?

Ever since my first semester at Berkeley, my calendar has been filled to the brim and my work consumed most of my time. I am, of course, grateful for all of the opportunities that have come my way, whether it’s cool classes, clubs, or research. But as time has gone on, I’ve also realized that saying no to things is just as important as saying yes. College is for exploring, and when you’re done exploring, it’s okay to just stop and do what you genuinely like or move on to the next thing.

3. Relationships matter

Another major life lesson I have learned in the semesters since freshman year is that relationships are important – all kinds of them: Romantic, platonic, teacher-student, mentor-mentee, boss-employee, classmates, close friends, acquaintances, club members, etc.

This seems rather obvious but when I was little I had the mindset where as long as I focused on developing myself and my skills, things would be fine. Opportunities and good things would just magically come my way as the people around me took notice. While developing yourself is great, it is only half of the equation (and is a rather lonely way to live).

Again, I think it’s good to make sure you have a strong work ethic, but you should not focus solely on work or your accomplishments because that alone will not make you happy, and they certainly won’t help you when you need advice or a helping hand. There have been many times these past few semesters where I really needed someone to talk to, either to ask for help, get their opinion, rant, or just share a meme. Those are the moments you will remember and cherish, not when you win an award or get a high score on an exam. (There’s also the practical benefit of networking or finding roommates, but you should try to cultivate relationships for the sake of getting to know people, not to get some advantage from it.)

4. Friendships in adulthood

Why is everything so difficult to schedule and why is no one in the same place at the same time?

5. Adulting is maintenance

Adulting just feels like a lot of maintenance to me. Keeping my unread count in my multiple inboxes low. Paying my credit card bill. Paying the rent and utilities. Taking out the trash. Making sure I eat, sleep, shower, work out. I’m even getting to the age where I start to feel nostalgia for my childhood, and I’m barely in my twenties. Yikes!

6. Get grad gifts for your close friends

It’s a nice little token of appreciation and congratulatory thing you can do for the graduating seniors in your life.

7. Take PE classes

For a while I had no idea physical education (PE) classes existed at Berkeley, but they do! I decided to take PE 1 Self-Defense: Yongmudo, PE 1 Basketball 1, and PE 1 Circuit Weight Training 1, and they were both a blast. I had never taken a martial arts class before, and this was a nice introduction that got my blood pumping. Similarly, while I had played casual basketball with friends all the way back in 4th-5th grade, I had never had formal basketball training. And taking the circuit weight training class introduced me to all types of exercises and made going to the gym seem a little less daunting.

I highly recommend taking a PE class if you’re like me and you need extrinsic motivation to work out. I personally hate doing “boring” things like just running. I’ve always thought sports were fun (with a side benefit of keeping you healthy), so if you’re into martial arts, archery, swimming, basketball, volleyball, dancing, boxing, yoga, etc., Berkeley PE has you covered. (Plus, you can take them pass/no pass and they are usually only 0.5 units! This is perfect for Phase 1 where you weirdly have a cap of enrolling in 12.5 units worth of classes.)

8. Take classes outside of your major

I’m pretty sure all majors at UC Berkeley require you to do this, but regardless, I highly recommend taking classes outside of your major. Instead of seeing this as something you have to do for the sake of graduating, see it as a way to dip your toes into a whole new world. It was mainly courses outside of EECS/CS that restored my intrinsic desire to learn and came as a breath of fresh air amid all of the looming deadlines and drudgery.

Some courses I’ve taken that I would recommend include SOCIOL 3AC (intro to sociology), FILM R1B (craft of writing: film focus - in particular my class was focused on monster movies), LING 100 (intro to linguistics), and INTEGBI 134L (computational genomics). It also helps to have friends who are similarly interested in things outside of your major. For example, I had a group of friends who convinced me to try out linguistics and I’m so glad that they did. (For fun, here’s the NY Times interactive dialect quiz and Winston Durand’s IPA keyboard (I met Winston during my Stripe internship)).

9. Join course staff

I joined CS 88 (aka DATA C88C) course staff in the spring of my sophomore year as a tutor, became a TA, and finally became a head TA. This past fall, I switched course staffs to teach DATA 101, and for my last semester I’ve accepted an offer to return to CS 88.

Being on course staff is really fulfilling and fun - you get to teach a subject you love, see how courses work behind the scenes, help the next generation of DS/CS/EECS majors, meet a lot of cool people also interested in teaching, talk to the professor(s) of the course (which helps with research and grad school opportunities!), and maybe even write homework/project/exam questions! (Can you tell which exam questions I wrote for CS 88? Hint: I’m a fangirl.) You also get paid and receive prorated tuition remission, which is great! My only caveat is to make sure you have enough time in your schedule and to actually do the work because students (and the professors and head TAs) are counting on you.

It’s kind of funny – I’ve only been on course staff for courses I’ve never taken (unless you count being an Academic Intern for CS 61A, but that was unpaid). This was definitely more of a challenge for DATA 101, because I had taken a similar but not exactly the same CS course (CS 186) the semester before. After the first month or so, I was learning the content right along with my DATA 101 students, except I had to learn it well enough to teach it.

Another difference between teaching CS 88 and DATA 101 is that the former is a much more developed course. CS 88 takes a lot of its materials from CS 61A, which is an even more mature course. On the other hand, DATA 101 has only been around for a handful of semesters, so every iteration it has been offered, something changed. In my case, we added a midterm exam and optional final project, among other things. As the head TA for assignments, I had to make sure all the homeworks and projects we released were correct and usable. Suffice it to say, even with all my efforts and late nights proofreading and writing new autograder tests, every single project I helped put out had some small or glaringly large issues, either because of a mistake I introduced, or an error created in a past semester (since we generally reuse assignments). For DATA 101 students in Fall 2024, I apologize for all the project re-releases…

10. Research

Although I mentioned in my UC application that I wanted to do research in college, because my first few semesters were consumed by academics and club stuff, I just didn’t have the bandwidth to try and apply for research positions, let alone actually do research. However, as I began to transition away from being an active Codebase member, I decided to try it out. As a result, I applied to 3 different URAP positions in fall 2023. I ended up being interviewed and accepted into the CHEN Lab for the climate change health AI project, advised by Professor Irene Chen, who joined Berkeley faculty that past summer.

Up until that point, research had kind of just been an abstract thing and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Indeed, there was not much time to do any formal ramp-up or training – PIs are busy teaching and with their other research projects, and for the project I joined, I was working with 2 other undergrads and no grad student, which made things a little more difficult. (Usually in large research labs, undergrads will interface more with the grad students, who can provide guidance and mentorship.) This was not the fault of the professor – I could have reached out to any of the grad students in the lab working on other projects, but I think my busy schedule and imposter syndrome got the best of me. This was the semester where I definitely bit off more than I could chew, and I felt constant anxiety that everyone there would eventually find out how much of a fraud I was despite the fact that they all seemed like nice people and the professor no doubt screened many applicants and chose me for a reason.

I ended up leaving the lab after only a semester, but it was an important step for me in terms of finally stepping away from something I wasn’t really enjoying. For a while, I thought that was it for me. Maybe I just wasn’t cut out for research and how self-directed it is. However, I realized that maybe that lab or that field wasn’t the best fit for me and gave CS education research a shot, since I’ve always loved teaching. This led to joining ACE Lab and working with Professor Lisa Yan. I learned more about qualitative research, wrote a paper (it got rejected), and wrote a poster (it got accepted into SIGCSE 2025). So I guess the moral of the story is, if at first you don’t succeed, try again but slightly differently.

11. On leadership

• No one likes to micromanage other people, and no one likes to be micromanaged.
• From what I’ve observed at least on the undergraduate level, there seem to be 2 types of leaders: The quietly competent type and the charismatic (but not as competent) type. It is rare to be both.
• Being a leader is 20% logistics and messages, 10% meetings, and 70% people.
• Preempt failure or delays. This is not necessarily because people are incompetent or lazy (although that can happen), but also because everyone is busy and dealing with their own battles. You can’t expect everyone to be perfect 100% of the time, and having the empathy and wisdom to plan ahead is the mark of a good leader.
• Utilize tools like Slack’s recurring reminders, saved messages/remind me later feature, and Notion’s reminder features to save your sanity.
• People don’t read, so stick to bullet points and concise text as much as possible.

12. More Berkeley food recommendations

• Angeline’s Louisiana Kitchen - Great tasting Cajun food, but on the more expensive side. Good for a nice sit-down experience
• Cholita Linda - Cuban sandwiches and more. There is technically another one that has opened right in Downtown Berkeley, but I’ve only been to the Oakland location.
• Nikko Sushi - Sushi in downtown Berkeley. I’ve had the hungry roll many times and think it’s worth the $30 price tag
• Momo Masalas - Indian and Nepalese food on northside with a very friendly (maybe?) owner
• La Note - French breakfast and brunch place. Come early in the morning otherwise you’ll be waiting 40+ minutes in a very long line

13. Places to work on campus

I quickly learned way back in freshman year that it’s incredibly time inefficient to go back and forth between campus and your dorm/apartment, and so because my schedule is usually so packed I can stay on campus for 12 hours at a time. In between classes and meetings, I’ve found a couple places that are useful if you’re in a similar situation and need to work:

• Libraries, especially Moffitt since you can talk (on certain floors) and they allow food/drinks
• ASUC Student Union / MLK
• Soda Hall (upper division lounge on the 3rd floor, or the lobby area on the 3rd floor where there’s seating)
• Cory Hall (2nd floor lounge or courtyard if the weather is nice)
• Li Ka Shing lobby (seating but no tables. But it’s close to Brown’s if you need food)
• Berkeley Way West lobby (lots of seating, including tables)
• Literally any building on campus. It’s not uncommon for me to just plop on the ground since there’s wifi and my next meeting or class is near there

14. Take advantage of public transportation

When I was a freshman, I was still in the mindset of pre-college school where you would walk to your classes since everything was close together. However, a college campus is obviously much larger than a high school. Why walk for 20+ minutes and be sweaty when you can take advantage of free public transportation? (All UC Berkeley students get an AC Transit pass for unlimited rides. And although it feels “free” it is technically billed with your tuition so why not use it?)

Aside from AC Transit, there are also the UC Berkeley Parking and Transportation shuttles, such as the P and R lines (for Perimeter and Reverse Perimeter, respectively) which are especially useful for EECS/CS majors who have to go to Soda and Cory Hall often since the AC Transit buses don’t have many options to get from southside to northside.

15. SF is right there

Speaking of public transportation, UC Berkeley is close to 2 BART stations. Thus it’s incredibly easy to ride 30 minutes to San Francisco, where there are a lot of fun things to do, places to see, and food to eat.

16. Having a Slack addiction can be fun

I have the Slack desktop app open on my laptop 24/7 and it is quite fun to hop around the 20+ workspaces I’m in and see what everyone is talking about. It’s nice to learn about different opportunities, things going on in the EECS/CS/DS departments, and just have silly conversations with friends in club Slacks.

17. Do your donuts

A lot of club Slack workspaces have an app called Donut which randomly matches you with another person who opts every week or two. It’s kind of like coffee chats except it’s usually for casual, getting-to-know you hangouts. I highly recommend opting in to these as a way to meet new people. Just make sure that before you opt in, you are serious about it because it doesn’t feel good to be matched with someone who ghosts you! Donuts can also be stressful if you yourself are busy, so the Donut app also supports a “snooze” feature where you can pause donuts for a few weeks if you know you’ll be busy.

18. How to entertain yourself to stay sane when you have a busy schedule

There have been many times during my Berkeley career where I have just been drowning in work (most recently dead week and finals week of Fall 2024). To try and preserve my mental health, I try to do little things every day that are not work, but don’t take up a lot of time. For example:

• Listening to podcasts or audiobooks while eating (has the added benefit of keeping you up-to-date on current events)
• (More dangerous for productivity) Watching TV shows while eating
• Listening to music while walking to class and doing work
• Playing guitar

19. Roommates

If I could go back in time, it’s hard for me to say whether I would change what I had done in terms of housing. In spring of freshman year, I decided I wanted to live in an on-campus apartment, which meant saying goodbye to my freshman-year roommates, who I had really connected with. In the two years since then, I was living in an on-campus apartment with mostly random roommates, which meant that I widened my circle of friends, but also had some not-so-great roommate drama that I would almost certainly have avoided if I’d just continued living with my freshman-year roommates. To anyone trying to decide what to do, I would say the safest option is to never let go of great roommates once you find them. But if you are ever in the position of going random, things are not all bleak. You might meet some really cool people too!

20. Check out student films

Shoutout to my former roommate Yasmine for introducing me to the world of student filmmaking on campus. For example, the Cinematic Arts and Production (CAP) Club at Berkeley premieres short student films every semester, some of which are quite cool and impressive! (Sadly they don’t do a very good job of uploading all the films to YouTube, but you can watch some of them here).

21. Get people’s contact information when you meet them

This might seem like a no-brainer to most people, but I don’t really use social media that much to keep in touch with people, so I often need to remind myself to get people’s phone numbers or social media handles so that we can communicate later on, whether that’s because we’re in the same class or I want to meet up with them later. It also helps to have people’s full, written-out names in my contacts because I’m terrible with names.

22. Check your posture

Don’t develop the habitual shrimp spine like me.

23. Off-campus meal plans are pretty great

Although I get teased about this, I think it is honestly worth the money to get a meal plan even after you move out of the dorms. If you are like me and you are perpetually busy the entire day, have abysmal cooking skills, and don’t mind the mediocrity of dining hall food, having an off-campus meal plan is so worth it. And honestly, the dining hall food is better and healthier than anything I could cook myself, and saves me the stress and time it takes to shop for groceries, cook, and clean.

24. On-campus apartments are pretty great

For all of the non-freshmen at Berkeley worried about housing, I highly recommend applying for on-campus apartments, such as Wada Hall, which is a building in Unit 2 (that is not dorm-style living). Wada is the most affordable option, and yet is still miles above the quality of any of the dorms I’ve seen. The apartments I lived in during my sophomore and junior years were large, clean, and comprehensive, with 2 bedrooms (1 double and 1 triple), a bathroom, and joined living room/kitchen.

There are many misconceptions when it comes to non-dorm housing at Berkeley:

• Misconception: You have to be a Regent’s Scholar to have a chance of getting an apartment. Reality: It’s a random lottery. Just apply! All you have to lose is some time filling out the online form and the application fee, which is less than $50.
• Misconception: You have to get a meal plan to live in an on-campus apartment. Reality: You don’t need to buy a meal plan. You can get an off-campus meal plan if you want, but you are not required to.
• Misconception: On-campus apartments are terrible, are like dorms (small and communal bathrooms), and are expensive. Reality: As I mentioned above, I lived in Wada Hall and that was the cheapest on-campus option. It was much better quality of living than all other dorms I’ve seen and the average monthly price is basically the same as the rent I currently pay for a much smaller, off-campus apartment (assuming you are like me and don’t live in Berkeley over the summer). There are also many benefits unique to on-campus living:
  • It is generally safer: You are only living with other students, buildings require key card access, and everyone has their own room key
  • The laundry services are maintained well and you pay with a mobile app (not necessarily the case in all off-campus apartments). For Wada Hall, you also don’t need to go outside/go to a separate building to do laundry
  • There are elevators
  • It is managed by the university, so if you have noise/neighbor/roommate issues you can always talk to your RA
  • Utilities (water, gas, electricity, wifi, trash) are included in your rent and you don’t have to deal with scammy landlords or pricing
  • Apartments are fully-furnished
  • In your housing application, you can apply with other people you know to room together (but this is not guaranteed)

25. Track what you do

I find it interesting and useful to track what I do, mostly so I can remember what I’ve done, see statistics about my habits, and recommend media to people. For example:

• Movies: Letterboxd (they are going to add TV shows soon)
• Movies and TV: IMDb (useful because it will send push notifications to remind you if something on your watchlist is about to premiere)
• Books: Goodreads
• Tasks, habits, spending: Notion, Google Docs, Google Sheets
• Work and extracurricular experiences: LinkedIn
• Music: Spotify

26. Certain concepts are difficult to fully grasp until you’ve experienced them yourself

And then when you read a story or watch a movie or listen to a song you’ve heard a million times before, it takes on a new meaning.

27. Coffee isn’t that bad in moderation

I’m not sure if this is a genetic thing or because I made a concerted effort to not drink coffee up until junior year of college, but I am mostly able to drink coffee only for its utility of keeping me awake (for example, if I didn’t sleep much the night before and need to wake up early) without getting addicted. Of course, this can be a slippery slope if you build up a high caffeine tolerance and become addicted to coffee or energy drinks (which I would avoid).

28. Alcohol is pretty meh

I feel like I grew up in a relatively sheltered neighborhood, so I didn’t really have the stereotypical “high school experience” of going to house parties and having been high and/or drunk before being 21 years old. Since I’ve turned 21, I’ve started to very slowly and very cautiously explore alcoholic drinks and how they affect me, and to be honest I’ve mainly been disappointed because of the terrible taste and middling effect of making me slightly warmer and sleepier. Either way, I still think that it’s totally fine to not drink at social events or to drink responsibly, whatever floats your boat.

29. You never know, someone might read your blog

I’ve mostly been writing these blog posts for fun and for myself, but I’ve talked to some people who have actually read my blog posts, including Berkeley students and 2 interviewers, which is cool!

Music

The TLDR from this section? I’m a big fan of songs that tell stories. (Film/TV scores are great too, but with only 5 picks I was limited.)

Satisfied by Renee Elise Goldsberry, Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton

A whirlwind of emotions as you go from introductions to meet cute to yearning to a marriage to sisterly love. Plus, it’s a delight to watch them “rewind” on stage.

Eraser by Ed Sheeran

The burdens of fame, coping with vices, and coming out the other end. A great song for if you’re tired but you need to keep going.

She Used to Be Mine by Sara Bareilles

Funnily enough I first heard this song used in So You Think You Can Dance, and little did I know one of the dancers would later have a successful music career (Tate McRae). At the time, I also had no idea it was originally written for the musical Waitress.

Anyway, I love this song because you can interpret it in different ways: The speaker could be talking about an external “she” or an internal “she”. Either way, it is a powerful ballad about regretting where you are at but finding the desire to pull yourself out of it.

Split by 88rising, NIKI

For the immigrants who struggle to define home. While I am not an immigrant, the themes of having warring cultures in your head resonated with me.

If We Have Each Other by Alec Benjamin

A heartwarming, wholesome, and catchy song about all the different kinds of love in our lives and how the relationships you build are all you really need.

Honorable Mentions

• Tears of Gold by Faouzia
• Legends Never Die by League of Legends, Against the Current
• Audition (The Fools Who Dream) by Emma Stone
• All Too Well (10 Minute Version) by Taylor Swift

If you’re also someone who listens to the words closely, here’s a playlist with my favorite songs with cool lyrics.

Books

A lot of my taste in books is stuck in my pre-college years, but that doesn’t mean the books are bad!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. What more do you want???

In seriousness, I love this book because it was my gateway into the Grishaverse. It has impeccable world building, characterization, and plot. The characters are smart, sharp, and distinctive. They feel like real people even though the things they accomplish together are incredible. And it’s not your chosen one storyline - this is about the criminals, outcasts, and rebels. If you want Ocean’s Eleven but in a fantasy world, this book is for you.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

A beautiful, heartwrenching, and powerful coming of age story about being Pakistani-American in a small California desert town that spans 2 generations. This book doesn’t pull punches, is excellently paced, and has well-written twists. The characters behave like real people who deal with real issues.

Matilda by Roald Dahl

A whimsical story about a book lover. (What can I say, as a book lover I am biased.)

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

A historical sci-fi novel that interrogates how racism takes root.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

A look into the life of Michelle Obama.

Here’s my Goodreads if you’re curious. Looking at this reminds me I need to read more haha.

Movies

After years of franchise films from Marvel and Star Wars, I’m trying to diversify my taste. A24, indies, film festivals, and arthouse films here I come… but perhaps not yet. (In my defense, I went to Tribeca 2023.)

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

The real multiverse movie that came out that year. Absurdly funny, philosophical, emotional, Asian-generational-trauma, LGBTQ+, action. It really does have everything everywhere all at once. I saw this 3 times in theaters.

Short Term 12 (2013)

Aside from seeing the beginnings of many Hollywood stars-to-be, this film deals with its subject matter – learning to care for traumatized kids while dealing with your own trauma – with a lot of heart.

Knives Out (2019)

A crowd-pleasing, laugh-out-loud, and twisty murder mystery with a side of social commentary about immigration politics in America.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Stunning animation in a multitude of styles, thrilling action, a budding ship, and the age old free will vs. determinism with a multiverse twist.

Inception (2010)

It’s dreams all the way down with a stellar ensemble cast.

Honorable Mentions

• Black Swan (2010)
• Baby Driver (2017)
• Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
• Zootopia (2016)
• Booksmart (2019)

TV

There’s so much good television out there I had to give the TV category 6 slots instead of 5!

Andor (2022)

A political spy thriller, Andor is the “adult” Star Wars TV show we’ve been waiting for. Love morally gray characters? Anti-facism themes? Grounded plot and excellently written monologues? This is for you – regardless of your prior knowledge of the Star Wars universe.

Daredevil (2015)

While this is technically a Marvel TV show, I would describe it as a crime drama that happens to be about a superhero. Superbly acted and written, Daredevil is about the struggles and triumphs of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), lawyer by day, vigilante by night. Opposite him is the terrifyingly cunning Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio). This show doesn’t pull punches (figuratively and literally) and has stellar stunt work (including impressive one-take fight scenes in each season).

A new Daredevil show is also in the works, Daredevil: Born Again, with some of the cast from the 2015 show reprising their roles.

Arcane (2021)

Every frame looks like a high quality wallpaper. The character dynamics are varied and full of rich emotional depth. The soundtrack is great to listen to even outside the context of the show. The writing touches on classism, police brutality, poverty cycle, dangers and wonders of new technology, and the nature of family. Watch this show, even if you haven’t played the games (in fact it’s kind of better if you haven’t).

Dopesick (2021)

A limited series that spans multiple timelines and follows the lives of different people, all affected by the opioid epidemic in the US. This was a heartwrenching watch and important especially if you have no idea about the opioid epidemic or the role of Purdue Pharma in perpetuating it.

Mr. Robot (2015)

A surprisingly accurate depiction of a hacker aiming to disrupt the capitalist system while dealing with mental illness. It’s also known for its unique cinematography which makes characters feel isolated in the frame. Definitely worth watching blind – do not search up anything about the show, otherwise you will probably get spoiled.

The Last of Us (2023)

An adaptation of the video game of the same name, The Last of Us took the world by storm last year, and rightly so – with an emotionally devastating but also endearing story about a grizzled survivor and his job to transport a young girl across the country for the chance at a cure. Although it is set in an apocalyptic world, the focus is not on the zombies (called “infected”) but rather on the human systems and relationships that emerge from the wreckage.

Honorable Mentions

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013)
• Mare of Easttown (2021)
• Beef (2023)
• Barry (2018)
• Only Murders in the Building (2021)
• Abbott Elementary (2021)
• The Good Place (2016)

If you’re interested in all of my TV/movie recommendations, check out this IMDb list I made (and will continue to update). I also recently made a Letterboxd!

The intern experience

For some reason, my expectation going into my first internship was that I’d sit at my desk in the Bloomberg office and code for 8 hours a day. This could not be farther from reality (and I’m very grateful that it wasn’t). Of course, I still had work to do in the form of my project, but there were intern events every week to keep things fresh and exciting. I loved that there was a variety of things to do, whether it was Tuesday Tech Talks, intern TED talks, boba-making, partying at the Loeb Boathouse (which sadly is closing down), sight-seeing at the Edge, training sessions (for topics ranging from personal security to Kafka to finance), team lunches, a Yankees baseball game, a broadway show (The Lion King), data center tours, tours of Bloomberg’s Princeton office, and my favorite, the intern puzzle hunt. Suffice it to say, I was never bored during my internship and it was really fun.

Another thing I didn’t realize was how long it would take for me to actually start on my intern project. For some reason, I thought that I’d be working on day 1. However, interns spent about 1.5 weeks in a training course. We were put in 1 of 2 cohorts and spent the entire course together, which I appreciated because it gave me a chance to meet other interns and make friends. I’m also glad that the training was so in-depth because otherwise I would’ve been very lost in terms of Bloomberg’s tech stack and internal tools. It also gave me a chance to see what it was like at a Bloomberg office different from my own (there are 3 offices in NYC)!

After the intern training, I spent the next week or so onboarding onto my specific team. Once again, this was a great chance for me to get acquainted to how my team worked (e.g. daily standups), the office I’d be working in for the rest of the summer, and the tech stack.

I spent the rest of the summer working on my project and attending various intern events. My mentor and manager were very supportive of me, whether it was encouraging me to go to intern events, take breaks, or answering the many questions I had.

Summer in NYC

Another cool thing about interning at Bloomberg last summer was that it was the first time I was living on my own for an extended period of time. For instance, in the week between finals and the start of the internship, my mom taught me how to cook very basic dishes.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to be an amazing cook. Interning at a big tech company had the advantage of things like free lunch at the office and corporate housing (or a housing stipend). I took the corporate housing option, which was a single bedroom, communal bathroom, and communal kitchen at the 92Y on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. After my parents helped me move in, I did feel a bit homesick the first week. Additionally, because I didn’t have any roommates to keep me accountable, I messed up my sleep schedule slightly. However, I soon adjusted to the 9 to 5 lifestyle as well as cooking my own dinner.

As a high school student, I used to dream about graduating college and starting work so that I no longer had to do homework after a long day. However, I realized that adulting is not that different in terms of how much you spend doing “work” versus “play” – it’s just that the tasks you have to do change. You might not have to take classes or do homework, but now you have to commute, go to work, commute back, make meals, do laundry, go grocery shopping, etc. That said, I was definitely less stressed and had more free time over the summer than during the school year.

However, there was an upside to living on my own (and in a single room): more independence. I could spend my free time however I wanted. I did many tourist-y things in New York (sometimes on my own, sometimes with other interns, once with my roommates from freshman year when they visited, and once with my brother when he visited) or stayed home the whole weekend to binge watch season 4 of Stranger Things (hence my very detailed review of it).

It also helped that many other UC Berkeley students were in New York that summer for their own summer internships. For example, many other Codebase members were in NYC so I was able to grab dinner and boba with them.

Overall, I’m very grateful for the chance to live and work in New York. It truly is a unique city – there’s so many people, things to do, places to see, and food to try. At times it felt a bit overstimulating for an introvert such as myself, but regardless, I really enjoyed meeting everyone and working on my intern project.

Thank yous

My experience interning at Bloomberg would not have happened without the support of countless people. Thank you to:

• My brother for giving me recruiting advice and believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself
• My parents for supporting me through the move in, move out, and signing paperwork process
• My professional development mentor at Codebase, Parth, for doing a mock technical interview to help me prepare
• My friend Jyoti for sending me this opportunity in the first place
• My recruiter Brittany for helping me throughout the process
• My mentor Steve for answering my questions and guiding me through the project
• My manager Partha for encouraging me to do intern things and take care of myself, not just work all the time
• The many intern friends I made at Bloomberg, especially one person who I still talk to today, who is the reason why I had so much fun last summer

Studying Approaches

Take 2-3 practice midterms from previous semesters so you can get a feel for the pacing and types of questions that show up on exams. Do not take more than 5 because you will just end up stressing yourself out and becoming burnt out. Get plenty of sleep, rest, food, and water.

It may also help to study with other people (e.g. form a study group) so you can go over practice midterm solutions together. However, I recommend doing the entire practice midterm yourself so you know what you don’t know and what you do know.

Where can I find practice exams?

Generally, the course website will have practice exams under the Resources tab. CS 61A sorts exams by semester and also by topic, so do whatever you think is best. Additionally, you may be able to find more exams on HKN or TBP’s exam databases.

Review Sessions

Often, course staff, CSM, or HKN will host review sessions. Take advantage of those to review the material and also go over practice problems!

Approaching Code Writing Questions

My general advice for approaching coding questions is:

1. Understand the problem

a) Read the problem text and annotate important stuff (e.g. parameter names, parameter types, what the function returns, the return type, whether the function mutates anything (you will learn mutation later)) on the template code.

b) Read at least 2 of the doctests and make sure you understand how input got turned into the output. This is helpful for catching edge cases and thinking about how you might implement the function.

c) You can usually tell what concept they’re testing you on by reading the problem. Use this knowledge to recall common problem-solving strategies/patterns. For example, if it’s a digit manipulation problem, you can probably put something like n //= 10 somewhere (this is not guaranteed but is a good place to start).

2. Guesstimate and/or pseudocode

At this point, you should have a hopefully somewhat solid understanding of the problem, even if you’re not 100% sure how to implement it. From here, you can usually do one of 2 things:

a) Look at the template code and guesstimate what goes in the blanks based on that, based on tip 1c, and based on the multiple choice options (if there are any).

b) OR you can ignore the template code entirely (especially if you find it distracting) and then try to pseudocode your own algorithm. Then go back to the template code and try to make it fit.

3. Verify your solution

Assuming you are not running very low on time, I highly recommend going back to 1 or 2 doctests and going through the code you wrote as if you were Pytutor. It might be helpful to draw an env diagram here too to make sure your solution works. This is a very important step because in the heat of writing the code, you might’ve missed an edge case or did an off-by-one error or some other silly mistake that you probably don’t want to be banging your head over when you get the exam back.

Also, remember that you should be writing your code in the answer boxes provided, not necessarily the first blanks you see.

After the Exam

Congratulations! You survived! It was probably very hard, possibly the hardest exam you’ve taken ever up until this point, but you made it. Celebrate with friends, go out for boba or some Little Gem waffles. (Sometimes, CSM or HKN will also hand out oreos or cotton candy.) Worrying over your score or what you put down for question 5a will not do much, so just sit back, relax, and wait for scores to come out. Catch up on sleep and work you missed due to studying. You got this!

🚫 Disclaimer

I’m one (EECS) student at UC Berkeley so take my advice with a grain of salt.

1. You can choose your own priorities

One thing about going to college that is different from high school is that you are pretty much on your own. You’re living on your own (possibly for the first time) and there isn’t really anyone to tell you what to do. Well yes, there are courses you have to take if you want to get your degree, but other than that, it’s up to you to figure out your interests. This can be both freeing and very scary – what if you choose the wrong thing? What if you end up “wasting” time on a club you end up hating?

What I realized in my second semester (continuing off from a very busy first semester) is that you should give yourself permission to cut out activities in your life that you don’t care about to focus on the things you do care about. You don’t have to do everything. In fact, you shouldn’t, otherwise you’ll end up with burnout (which I’m beginning to feel only after 1 year of college). You are no worse or better than your peers for picking and choosing your battles.

2. Take advantage of free and discounted stuff

Since Berkeley has this, I’d assume that most other universities have this too: Access to free software, discounts, etc. For example, with your @berkeley.edu email, you can sign up for WSJ+ (which I mainly use for the monthly free ebook and audiobook), Adobe Creative Cloud, and more. You can also get a lot of educational discounts, such as free admission to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art or free Personal Pro plan on Notion. If you’re a Berkeley student, I highly recommend checking out software.berkeley.edu to see what you’re eligible for.

SPOILER WARNING: The following review contains spoilers for the entirety of Stranger Things 4, including Vol. 2 which was released on July 1, 2022. Read at your own risk!

The Good

The production value of Stranger Things has never been better – and good thing too, because Netflix reportedly spent $30 million on average per episode. The production design, costumes, VFX, cinematography, and use of licensed music was on point. Most of the cast (both new and returning) were also outstanding in their performances, so bravo to casting director Carmen Cuba for finding these talented actors. I bet it wasn’t cheap to hire a starring cast of around 20 people! I’m also glad that Netflix had the confidence to allow the Duffer brothers to play around with the episode lengths (the last 2 episodes were about 1.5 and 2.5 hours, respectively), because it allowed the story to breathe a bit with the 4 different plotlines going on.

This season was also a return to Stranger Things’ horror roots from S1 with Vecna’s gruesome kills, lots of time spent in the slimy Upside Down, and a scene with the Demogorgon absolutely ripping apart the prisoners in the Russian prison. In comparison to the fun summer blockbuster vibe that S3 had, it really upped the stakes and there were several moments, especially in the 4th and 9th episodes, where I was truly unsure whether our favorite characters would make it out alive. The season finale was, without a doubt, the most stressful finale I have watched in my life so far, and the writers did a (mostly) good job of throwing up death flags for a lot of main characters.

I also enjoyed the writers’ willingness to take some narrative risks, such as the team’s first major “loss” when Max “died,” causing Hawkins to be split into quadrants and unleashing the Upside Down into the real world. It was a bit confusing for the characters to seemingly have no reaction to this besides the long stare into the distance in the final scene, but I’m excited to see where the writers take us for the next and final season.

Stranger Things 4 also succeeded in giving many of the main characters a moment to shine. Here were some of my favorites:

• Max “running up that hill,” or rather out of Vecna’s mind lair (episode 4), which served as a powerful metaphor for overcoming depression
• Max’s confession about wanting Billy dead (episode 9), which brought much more nuance to her relationship with her brother
• The reveal that the “friendly orderly” was 001/Henry Creel/Vecna (episode 7), which was creepy, mind-blowing, and featured an awesome fight between him and El
• Lucas defeating Jason and overcoming his desire to “fit in” with the “cool kids” (episode 9)
• Robin’s feminist monologue which allowed her and Nancy to talk to Victor Creel (episode 4), which proves just how good Maya Hawke is at reading lines exceptionally quickly yet also organically
• Will clearly talking about himself and not El (episode 8), which made me simultaneously sad that Will was hurting, angry that Mike was oblivious, and annoyed that the Duffer brothers are still leaving room for ambiguity in Will’s sexuality which they promised they would resolve in Vol. 2
• Eddie shredding Metallica’s Master of Puppets while all hell breaks loose (episode 9), which was just plain awesome
• Mike’s “I love you” speech to El (episode 9), which felt earned despite it being cliche in nature
• El bringing down the helicopter and not forgiving Brenner for abusing and manipulating her (episode 8), which I appreciated because (1) it was badass and (2) redemption arcs should only be given to characters who are worthy
• The Sinclairs winning their respective games (episode 1)
• Eddie and Chrissy’s talk outside school (episode 1), which was surprisingly charming and full of chemistry. Too bad they both died :(

Finally, I wanted to praise Jamie Campbell Bower for his incredible performance as Vecna, who is now my favorite Stranger Things villain. Human, complex, creepy, personal, cruel, (somewhat) successful in defeating our young heroes, and apparently thirst-inducing, Vecna is the perfect antagonist for this darker, more intense season.

The Meh

This season the cast of Stranger Things is bigger than ever, with about 20 starring actors. As a result, it makes sense for the writers to split them into distinct groups, with each of their own distinct storylines (as suggested in the teaser poster for this season). However, not all storylines were created equal.

As always, the Hawkins storyline with the mystery of Victor Creel and Vecna was the most gripping. The California storyline seemed to be the writers’ “we don’t know what to do with these characters” purgatory, the Russia plotline could’ve been much shorter*, and Eleven’s arc with Brenner and Owens was important to the reveal that Henry Creel is One is Vecna and El getting back her powers, but I missed her dynamics with her friends. The Jason and Sullivan plotlines were also a bit cringe-worthy because of how outrageously incompetent those antagonists were, but oh well I suppose we have to have both human and monstrous villains.

*As a brief aside, I am one of those Stranger Things fans who thinks Hopper should have stayed dead, and I say this as a person who cried when he “died” in Season 3. I felt like him being “alive” was a very “Somehow Palpatine returned” moment that undercut the emotionality of his death. But alas.

The cast shines when the actors are able to play off of each other, but unfortunately having such a large, split up cast was not very conducive to that. Even Millie Bobby Brown agrees that the cast needs to be pared down. While we don’t need characters to die left and right, Stanger Things has a predictable habit of introducing new, lovable (side) characters just to kill them off in the same season, which makes it seem like the main characters have plot armor. It also means that there isn’t enough screentime for all of the main cast to shine and develop; instead we get scenes like the one in the finale where Jonathan, Will, Mike, and Argyle basically just sit around while El battles Vecna in Max’s mind.

It also didn’t help that the Duffer Brothers, the cast, and even the Volume 2 trailer overhyped up the amount of death that would happen in Volume 2:

• “The Duffer Brothers on Stranger Things 4’s big reveals, cameos, and why ‘everybody is in jeopardy’” -EW
• “The Duffer Brothers Say We Should All Expect a Dark Stranger Things Season 4 Finale” -IGN
• “Noah Schnapp In Tears Over ‘Stranger Things’ Finale As Fans Worry For Will: Photo” -Hollywood Life

Even the fans have started memeing how formulaic Stranger Things is becoming, and that’s not a promising sign.

I was also one of the fans who was eagerly anticipating some sort of explicit confirmation of Will’s sexuality, since he has been ambiguously queer since season 1 when Joyce tells Hopper that Lonnie called him a homophobic slur. Season 3 saw Mike’s outburst at Will where he said “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” which further leaned into the idea that Will was perhaps gay. Season 4 leaned into this even more with Will’s heartfelt speech to Mike (among other things) about how El will always love him and that Mike is the heart of the group, which was clearly not about El but about himself. Yet there is still no explicit confirmation. The season 1 line can be interpreted as Lonnie just being a jerk. Season 3 can be interpreted as Mike not grieving for the loss of their childhood as much as Will. And the season 4 scene can be interpreted as Will just being really, really close friends with Mike. It smells like queerbaiting, and I’m not sure how much longer fans are willing to wait for a definitive answer. Of course, one does not have to come out in order to be gay, and being out in the 80s was probably not a great experience for most people. But this is not real life. In media, representation is important. And that representation can’t happen if it’s being used as an ambiguous plot device.

Additionally, I found Eddie’s and Max’s death scenes both predictable and therefore not very moving. I couldn’t turn off the writer part of my brain who was thinking to herself, these deaths don’t make sense. Yes, we get closure of Eddie’s “I always run away” arc, but he died a somewhat meaningless death – there had been no indication so far that the demobats would follow Dustin and Eddie into the regular world (where they both could’ve gone in the amount of time they had), and the editing made it seem like at the moment that he decided to stand his ground, Steve, Nancy, and Robin still weren’t ready to attack Vecna. Plus, if Eddie shredding to Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” was all that was needed to distract the demobats, why didn’t they just record it and then blast it from speakers from a safe distance? Eddie was also throwing death flags everywhere, such as the scene in which he tells Dustin to “never change,” which made me anticipate his death rather than it being an emotional shock. This predictability is compounded by the fact that Stranger Things loves to introduce side characters only to kill them off, as I mentioned earlier in this review.

Similarly, Max’s death scene was predictable in a sense that her resurrection * was predictable. There was no way the writers were going to end her character’s arc of struggling with grief by breaking all of her limbs and killing her. Yet, the writers also had to somehow get to the point where I assume they wanted to get in Season 5, which is that the Upside Down is leaking into the real world (more on that later). Thus, they needed Vecna to kill Max. Moreover, they probably wanted to “kill” off one of the main characters in order to establish some sort of stakes going into the fifth season. The result of these conflicts of interest was the writers trying to have their cake and eat it too: they kill Max to get the emotional effect and setup for Season 5, but resurrect her with El’s ambiguous powerset.

*Brief aside 2: I know many fans on the r/StrangerThings subreddit claim that there was no magical resurrection since El has canonically manipulated people’s body parts (such as when she made the bully Troy pee himself in Season 1) – El simply did long-distance CPR. But that is exactly it – El’s powers do not reach that far, and quite frankly, they shouldn’t otherwise there would be no stakes. Thus, Max’s resurrection felt like the cheaply shoe-horned in force-healing that happened in Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.

Another issue I had with Max’s death scene was the way it was written. It is supposed to be this huge emotional moment, but I think it had 3 key issues that made me not really connect with it emotionally:

1. It felt like a re-hash of Tom Holland’s tear-jerking “I don’t wanna go” performance in Avengers: Infinity War, which inevitably made me compare that scene to the one I was currently watching. In both scenes, a young character is dying in the arms of someone they hold dear, and both young characters are afraid and don’t want to die. While Tom Holland is given the opportunity to act the hell out of the scene (stumbling, grasping Tony Stark’s shoulders, collapsing to the ground, voice cracking, speed of voice increasing to a desperate panic), I don’t think Sadie Sink was able to do the same thing because it was written in the script that all of her limbs were broken (thus she can’t physically act).
2. Additionally, Max’s eyes were still white from Vecna’s curse, which somewhat added to the rising feeling of dread when she announced that she couldn’t see anything, but it also meant that we couldn’t really see Sadie Sink’s performance. Acting with the eyes is one of the most important ways for actors to connect to their audience emotionally, but the decision to make her character blind eliminated that opportunity.
3. Even if I had been devastated by Max’s apparent death, the sadness I was feeling would have been immediately undercut by El’s resurrection of Max.

Some other more minor things that irked me but I was willing to overloook:

• Clearly the writers didn’t plan for it to be “Vecna all along,” but they did a good job of tying everything together from previous seasons to make it seem that way
• The fact that the writers forgot Will’s birthday (lol)
• Nancy didn’t aim for Vecna’s head when shooting him
• The solution to a lot of their problems is the power of friendship (e.g. episodes 4 and 9), but I think it was well done enough to not be cringy
• Angela and Co.’s over the top bullying
• Will’s haircut (lol)

The Bad

The two days later time jump in the finale felt very jarring, with barely any acknowledgement of Eddie’s death by the main characters (besides Dustin, but he was already there when Eddie died) and Hawkins acting so normal despite it being SPLIT INTO ANGRY RED QUARTERS WITH TENTACLES STICKING OUT. No, this was not an earthquake!!!

I also extremely dislike El having the ability to bring people back from the dead. That opens so many terrible writing doors, I’m shuddering at the thought of it.

Jonathan, Will, and Argyle did basically nothing besides a couple heartfelt speeches and stoner jokes. In season 5, I am begging the Duffer Brothers, please don’t do the “Will is kidnapped/possessed” or “Will touches his neck in fear of the Upside Down” plot again.

The re-hashing of the Nancy-Steve-Jonathan love triangle was exhausting. Just have Nancy pick someone or let her be her own independent woman.

While the first half of the finale was intense, the last half just felt like a combination of rushed reunions and season 5 setup. I wish they spent more time resolving what had just happened, like the team mourning Eddie.

Lightning Round

Current season ranking: 1 (classic) > 3 (well paced, good balance of humor, heart, and horror) > 4 (ambitious, dark, back to true horror roots instead of summer blockbuster feel, high stakes, but not great pacing) > 2 (pretty alright)

Favorite character this season: Max, no contest. She had the most character development and I just want her to be happy in Season 5. I need more wholesome Lumax moments!

Least favorite character this season: Argyle. He seemed like he was a convenient writing solution to the dark tone of the season and the fact that team California needed a lot of salt for El’s bath in the season finale.

Favorite episode this season: Episode 4 Dear Billy. Great emotional stakes and pacing. Plus, it introduced me to Kate Bush.

Least favorite episode this season: Episode 5 The Nina Project. Just felt like we were running in place, especially after the high of Episode 4.

Favorite lines this season:

• “I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer.” -El
• “Normal’s just a raging psychopath.” -Lucas
• “I’m still here.” -Max
• “Try before you deny.” -Argyle (yes, I love pineapple on pizza. Fight me.)
• “This is music!” -Eddie
• “Crit hit!” - Erica

Favorite use of licensed music this season: Tie between:

• Running Up That Hill (TOTEM Remix) by Kate Bush
• Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Bryce Miller/Alloy Tracks Remix) by Journey

They’re both just too emotional and epic to choose!

Questions for S5

• How did the Upside Down become a snapshot in time of Hawkins if it was originally “untouched by man” as Vecna describes it?
• Will Max wake up? If she does, will she be blind? Paralyzed? Completely fine? Is it just that her “soul” is stolen by Vecna?
• What was the significance of Max’s memory of skateboarding as a young girl when El was trying to find her in her mind? Was it just foreshadowing that her bones would break? That she always fights back?
• Where are Murray, Dimitri (Enzo), Yuri, Sullivan, and Dr. Owens? Did they really just leave Dr. Owens there, lol?
• If everything that Nancy saw when she was cursed by Vecna is true, does that mean her entire family is going to die?

The Verdict

8.5/10

Stranger Things 4 is an ambitious, dark, and intense 4th season that expands the show’s lore and scope, but it’s also weighed down by too many predictable plotlines and characters.

Stranger Things 4 is out now on Netflix. It stars Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven / Jane Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Matthew Modine (Martin Brenner), Paul Reiser (Sam Owens), Jamie Campbell Bower (Henry Creel / One / Vecna), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), Eduardo Franco (Argyle), and Joseph Quinn (Eddie Munson).

For 18 years I spent half of my 24 hours a day with my childhood friends, some of whom I have known since 2nd or 3rd grade. The other half of my day was spent with my parents and brother. Now that I am in college I will basically never see them except during holidays or the summer. And now even the summer is taken up by internships or summer classes. (Of course, don’t get me wrong - I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to study EECS at UC Berkeley and work with cool companies.)

The fact that I had so little time left with my old friends and family made me realize how important it is to proactively maintain the relationships you have with the people you care about. As a child, I didn’t really have to put in much effort to do so – I just lived with them or had a structured way to be with them on a daily basis (school). I didn’t go out of my way to be social because I was so focused on my academics, getting into college, and my future career. But now everyone is doing their own thing. Time must be set aside to stay in touch, lest things become awkward after a long time of no communication.

While there were obviously ups and downs, my childhood was definitely a very privileged and fortunate one. But one thing I wish I did more was live in the moment. Enjoy the time I had as a child. Because I’ll never get that experience back. In the meantime, I’ll just be listening to mxmtoon’s “victim of nostalgia” to compensate.

Note: Isn’t weird that my first 3 blog posts are all coincidentally on the 16th of a month? Weird…