How to get the benefits of traveling while staying on campus
“Where are you from?”
If you ask a Berkeley student, half the time, the response will most likely be “Norcal.” or “Socal.” A nearby suburb. A freeway exit you pass by all the time.
But then there are people whose response to that question might be Prague, Bangkok, Mohali, Riyadh, Otaniemi, Accra, Berlin, or Madrid.
Turns out the world isn’t that small. The person sitting next to you didn’t just take a different bus to get here; they actually flew over a few oceans.
It’s pretty cool to be sitting in class, and the person next to you has come from a part of the world that you’ve only seen on a map. What does their life look like back home? Why are you both interested in the topics of this class? Do they like gelato as much as you do?
Well, if you’re interested in meeting more people with cool last names, you’re in luck. SCET courses offer Cal students a unique opportunity to work alongside students from around the globe. There are exchange students scaling ventures, studying a Master’s in astrophysics, or eating ruisleipä for breakfast. Different education, different cultures, and different perspectives. Yet just like you, they’re sitting in this class taking notes.
Read on to hear about the international entrepreneurship experience, the different nuances of rule-following and rule-breaking, discovering entrepreneurship as a compelling career path, strengthening resilience and risk-taking, and finding family among fellow movers and innovators.
Diana DeMartini
Diana first came across SCET while searching for classes outside her traditional business curriculum.
“I wanted to find something business related that wasn’t a Haas or UGBA class, and I found entrepreneurship. I never really thought I wanted to explore that because it was too much creativity. But it kind of sounded fun. I signed up, and I really didn't know what to expect.”
While the first two weeks were an adjustment period of learning different startup terms, Diana says she soon “got in the groove.”
Although both are rooted in business, Diana explains there is a difference.
“SCET classes are way more project based. We did not have a textbook, and we're not reading textbooks or have written homework assignments or quizzes. It's really hands-on with projects and people.”
“Understanding that everyone can be an entrepreneur started here with the SCET class.”
What made the experience transformative was not only the class format, but the people. She describes how her class included students from France, Spain, Germany, Nigeria, and Uganda. These students were in SCET classes as part of SCET’s Startup Semester Program for visiting students.
“It was really interesting. Having different voices and different opinions will ultimately make a product better, and it was interesting to experience it. It's not only because everyone says diversity is important, I actually experienced how it shapes products so much better.”
Jai Bhatia
“Building stuff for the class led me to dropping other classes and going full in on building the startup that I'm building now. I got a lot of clarity from just taking the class and being in that environment.”
Entrepreneurship has always been the plan. “I wanted to make my own startup. That’s the reason why I chose Berkeley in the first place.”
Yet before the AI-Powered Startups class, he was on a different path. Jai was fully prepared to take a full-time software engineer job after graduation.
Working with other entrepreneurial minded exchange students made him rethink his startup journey. “We would brainstorm together and they convinced me to be serious about the startup stuff.”
“I was like, ‘Okay, maybe I can make some money on the side.’ But they were like, ‘No, you got potential and we can do something together.’ They were just super excited and energetic. They had a lot of gratitude for being in the Bay that I took for granted.”
“They were like ‘Look, we're in the best place in the world. We’re in Berkeley. We can do whatever we want.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, maybe.’ But they really had all that conviction because they worked to get here. It was a different perspective.”
Prisha Singh
“My CS classes have a very particular demographic. Going to classes outside of my major was something I looked forward to, and meeting people that I probably wouldn't have otherwise.”
In her Applied Resilience course, students formed teams and engaged in various projects. On her team were two exchange students visiting for the semester. “We actually really got to know each other. It was a really great time, and a really good opportunity to learn from people.”
One teammate was a Master’s student who had spent time in industry and returned to school. “It was really cool to learn from someone like that, especially because she was from Norway and did her undergraduate degree in the UK. She had a lot of different perspectives to share.”
Prisha’s other teammate, Enzo, was from Brazil. “I had a lot of questions for him because he was also a computer science major, and so we talked a lot about how the degrees were similar and different in different countries.”
Prisha explains how the focus of the Berkeley EECS department is primarily research focused. “Whereas when I was talking to Enzo, even though he was studying computer science, he had a really broad focus. He helped a lot with the business component of our project, and he really understood a lot more about business fundamentals. I think that's because his degree was a little bit more general than ours is. He wasn't just focused on taking AI classes like we do. His focus is primarily getting a broad understanding of how computer science plays a factor in the real world. It was a really cool situation to be in. I realized that every school has its own culture for every single degree program, and how different computer science degrees are across the world.”
“I think it definitely opened up my eyes to a lot more possibilities.”
Dominik Jaeger
Bonus: Let’s flip the script. How did the exchange students feel about Berkeley students?
Meet Dominik, an exchange student from Germany, who enrolled in the Bio-inspired Innovation Challenge Lab during his time at Berkeley.
Despite coming from abroad, Dominik shares the same views as his Berkeley peers when it comes to the SCET classroom environment. “It was quite diverse. It was really cool to work together with multiple different people.”
“Before I came to Berkeley, I already knew that I wanted to become an entrepreneur. That's actually also one of the reasons why I chose Berkeley. I think it's really important to combine the technical fields with the business entrepreneur fields.”
Collaborating with his classmates made him more invested in entrepreneurship. “I realized I'm really passionate about following my own goals, but also having lots of freedom and working on intense challenges.”
“I noticed that people in the US can really present well, especially selling and communicating. That’s a big skill of American people. It was a great lesson for me. I really improved multiple social skills throughout my Berkeley experience.”
UC Berkeley SCET offers visiting students from around the world the opportunity to join Startup Semester either in the fall or the spring semester. Startup Semester is designed for aspiring tech entrepreneurs, future tech innovators and those interested in learning more about how mature startup ecosystems function. At SCET, the Innovation Collider model is a key pillar supporting our mission of empowering innovators to positively change the world. The Innovation Collider concept is simple: Teams with diverse perspectives, experiences and talents will design better solutions for customers. Startup Semester supercharges the Collider model by bringing entrepreneurial talent from around the world to work alongside Cal students on some of society’s most pressing problems.