Brandon Aaron Amargo

Dear Ivy League Connection, I’ve just finished my first year at Cal and surprisingly am entering my final year. I’ve just finished my first summer course on the American Legal System (Political Science 150) in which we analyzed Supreme Court cases and just started my second summer course on analyzing American Public Problems (Political Science 186). This coming May I will be graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with an emphasis in Political Theory. In addition to school, I have continued working at the Vice Chancellor for Research Office as an Administrative Assistant and recently received a raise after working for six committed months. I truly love the office and have built strong professional relationships with the staff in the office, the Vice Chancellor and Associate/Assistant Vice Chancellors in Research. While completing my studies and working I am no longer living in the dorms and am instead living in a single apartment in beautiful downtown Berkeley (thanks Mom and Dad!) close to Trader Joe’s, campus, Yoga to the People (die-hard Yogi) and Bart for trips to San Francisco. Recapitulating my last email to ILC, I advise everyone to highly consider Cal when applying to universities. Despite budget cuts, it truly is an amazing place that provides an unbelievable amount of services and resources to its students. Remember, you can make a big school small, but you can't make a small school big. Here at Cal, every student finds his or her niche whether it is a club, organization or association. Another myth is about financial aid at Cal. We see in the news rising UC tuition, but just recently Chancellor Birgeneau announced that UC Berkeley would be the first public university to provide its middle class students a financial aid plan. An unknown yet remarkable fact about Cal is that it serves more students on financial aid than all Ivy League schools combined, giving the opportunity of higher education to as many students as possible regardless of their socioeconomic background. To all future Golden Bears congratulations on being accepted, your experience at Cal will certainly be like no other. If you have any questions feel free to email me. Best of luck to the ILC. Go Bears! Brandon Aaron Amargo