Two UC Berkeley Alums Share Their Summer Successes
As an underclassman at such a large university, I’ve always felt some pressure to start the grind as early as possible. I jumped from a busy high school schedule into a busy college one, and have spent the last few months thinking about how to make the most of my UC Berkeley summers—balancing rest and activities I enjoy with extracurriculars—and start working towards making myself a competitive applicant for future endeavors. I wondered: What did my upperclassmen friends and acquaintances do? What advice do they have?
I interviewed some upperclassmen and compiled their advice, regrets, and what they did besides the incredibly overemphasized “research-or-internship, do-or-die.” To cast as wide a net as possible, I went for polar opposites: Cooper Jacobus, Class of 2025, studied astrophysics with a background in research and teaching, and Kaylie Corbett, Class of 2025, was a transfer student who studied English and creative writing.
I’ve gained a lot of valuable knowledge, and wanted to share it with fellow golden bears (or anyone, really!). If you’re wondering what you should do this upcoming summer, here are a few ideas.
Background on Kaylie & Cooper
Kaylie: As a commuting student and second-year transfer, Kaylie had limited time on campus, which they undeniably maximized. They’re finishing off strong at UC Berkeley by being the co-teacher of the Star Wars DeCal (which they created with a friend!), and preparing to attend San Francisco State University’s M.F.A. in Creative Writing in Fiction program in fall 2025. Kaylie and I met in our Intro to Playwriting Class with Professor Philip Gotanda, which is a course that counts towards our creative writing minors.
Cooper: After two semesters of teaching Astronomy C10 with Professor Alex Filippenko over two years, Cooper assumed the position of Head Undergraduate Student Instructor (UGSI) for his third and final semester teaching the course. This happened to be the semester I took the course, which is how I met Cooper. Cooper is a passionate teacher, learner, and researcher, and will continue his studies on cosmology at a Ph.D. program at Stanford University.
Cooper, in his element!
What did you do over the summer break between junior and senior year?
Kaylie: “Last summer, the only real summer being a student at UC Berkeley, I dedicated myself to getting some requirements done for my creative writing minor. I took a rhetoric class to fulfill one of the literature requirements and took two short writing workshops through College Writing Programs, equating to an eight-unit summer course load. I also took that time to start putting together my M.F.A. applications. Graduate school applications are due in the fall or winter the year prior. I knew my fall 2024 course load was going to be a lot so I wanted to make sure my application was the best it could be in spite of that.”
Some of Kaylie’s adventures in the summer included visiting Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, CA, a trip to Newfoundland, Canada, and relaxing in Capitola, CA:
”Here’s the Santa Cruz Beach boardwalk sign! This is something I did last summer right before starting senior year.” —Kaylie Corbett, Class of 2025
”I also went to Newfoundland with my girlfriend’s family so here’s a nice view of a lake near the family’s house.” —Kaylie Corbett, Class of 2025
“I also love visiting Capitola with my dad so that’s this last photo here. It’s always been our relaxation spot!” —Kaylie Corbett, Class of 2025
Cooper: “This past summer I did what you might consider the most impactful, clear cut internship: I worked at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Tokyo for about three months. This came to me, unofficially, essentially, through networking. I was able to get connected with a professor there at the institute. She was the former Ph.D. student of my senior thesis advisor, so she was a friend of my advisor and my group, and was doing work which was similar to the work that I was doing. I was able to arrange a deal with them where they flew me out, and they put me up in their guest house for visiting postdocs and faculty. And I was able to get Berkeley Lab to pay me a small stipend over the summer, and that was a really great deal. I had a well-defined project and the paper that came out of it, and those are all things that are really impactful for grad school.”
What do you plan on doing in the summer between graduating undergrad and grad school?
Kaylie: “As I’ve probably made obvious, rest is important to me. As an undergrad, it can feel a bit like you’re drowning with no life raft in sight, especially as a transfer who really had to hustle to get all my requirements done on time. This summer is a brief reprieve before I start the next stage in my academic journey. I want to focus on finally editing my book (which I’ve put off so I can prioritize school work), reconnecting with my friends, and sleeping in.”
Cooper: “Sleep. I also want to go backpacking a lot. That’s my big plan—and to have as little responsibility as possible. I’m really partial to the Sierras, but I want to try a number of places in the state. That’s the thing about California; there’s so much good nature around. When we’re nose to the grindstone for four years, we don’t actually really get to engage with it, which is pretty tragic. I’m gonna capitalize on the amount of good nature.”
Advice
Cooper: “It’s never too early to start playing around with things that you’re curious about. Even before I had any kind of internship, I spent a lot of my time writing code for fun. I would watch math YouTube videos, and they would come with these animations. I would go and sit down at my computer, and I would try to recreate the animations using code.
Once I realized that this is something I really like, I was able to go search for ways to capitalize on that. I want to emphasize that that’s the place to start. A lot of people come into college and have this message shoved down their throats: you need to get an internship, you need to get research. It depends exactly what your major is and what your community is, but there’s always a lot of pressure. People can find themselves lost pretty easily in that pressure, and not really question if that’s what’s right for them.
If you’re a freshman, and it’s the summer, and you don’t have an internship at Google or Berkeley Lab, that isn’t a problem. I recommend you try to learn something on your own time. Try to teach yourself something. And if you’re able to make a project out of it—you know, build something, write a piece of code, build a piece of equipment, write a report that you publish on your blog—something that’s tangible, I think that’s really valuable. It helps you build the skill of managing your time, managing your energy and your enthusiasm, and producing a deliverable; have a portfolio of evidence that you are capable and passionate.”
Takeaways
If you didn’t land that one “career-altering” internship your freshman year, it absolutely does not determine the rest of your time in college. Dedicate those efforts towards continuing to learn and explore. Find new things to do, whether that’s volunteering, a summer job, or taking summer classes.
Summers are your time to rest, relax, and pursue something you’re interested in. Whether you’re completing course requirements or interning in a lab abroad, summer is a time for you. If this means you’ll spend it creating a project from scratch for fun—great! If this means you’ll binge the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or learn to cook—awesome! Traveling? Fantastic! And if this means you’re doing something off of your anticipated path, that’s perfectly fine.
Milana Berhe, Class of 2028, is majoring in astrophysics and political science and minoring in creative writing.
Want More?
- Melissa spent her summer studying abroad.
- Here’s what other Golden Bears did over summer.
- Tips for future internship success.