University of California-Berkeley Top Questions

We're best known for our open-mindedness. UC Berkeley students are incredibly unbiased, refusing to make generalizations based on homelessness, ethnicity, background, drug use, disability, or sexual orientation.

As the liberal college, the hubub of activism that produces quality students.

UC Berkeley is known around the world as tree-hugging hippie liberals. Today, we've moved so much away from that. There is a large and vibrant conservative community here; the liberal community is alive and thriving as well. While everyone thinks Berkeley students will ostracize you for saying something out of line with the current liberal political view, everyday I see the opposite. I see my peers chiding each other for not listening and respecting others. I see my classmates seeing past each person's opinions and trying to understand the person behind the opinion.

Berkeley is known for having very successful faculty and graduate programs. It is also a wonderful city to live in, because it is so alive and close to many different places.

Music program, urban planning, engineering and research.

Prestige

My favorite campus tradition is the superstition of Athena. Over the doors of our main library (Doe Library) there is a beautiful statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. It is said that when you enter the library for studying, Athena grants you all the knowledge you need to complete your schoolwork and finals. But when you exit through those doors, she takes it all away again. Therefore, you have to exit through a small side door to retain the knowledge that she has granted you. It's just a silly superstition, but it's fun, especially around finals!

Berkeley is more than anything known as the number one public university in the nation. Academics are challenging but rewarding, and the faculty lives up to the school's reputation. There is definitely a strong expectation of academic curiousity and research.

In the '60s there was alot of campus activism. There is a still a uniquely hippie vibe on campus, in the co-op housing especially, but there is also a huge emphasis on academics. So I would say there are still alot of people who care about the world and want to change it, and there are many others who want to focus on their futures and their own incomes and well-being. The school is known for having alot of pride, a great football team (brand-new stadium!), Nobel-prize-winning professors, and lots of diversity.

UC Berkeley is recognized internationally as the best public school in the entire world. Cal students are dedicated to their academic life and students tend to be very competitive. While all departments at Cal top charts, the business program is the one that I am involved with. The US News & World Report has ranked UC Berkeley among the top three undergraduate business programs in the nation. In addition to academic life, UC Berkeley is also recognized for its strong alumni program and its close proximity to Silicon Valley for internships.