University of California-Berkeley Top Questions

UC Berkeley is a world class university, and the numbers show it: "In the latest National Research Council (NRC) study, Berkeley had the highest number of top-ranked doctoral programs in the nation, based on a regression analysis involving 20 criteria from more than 5,000 programs at 212 institutions" (http://grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/). But what does this mean for undergraduates? Well, the PhD students and professors involved in these top-ranked programs are the same ones involved in the undergraduate education you will receive at UC Berkeley! While the California budget crunch is making the "affordable" leg of California's Master Plan for Education (Accessibility, Affordability, and Accountability) less and less one to stand on, the quality of education at UC Berkeley still rivals that offered by private institutions who continue to charge fees above and beyond even the most drastic of fee hikes planned by the UC Regents. The effects of these budget restrictions can be felt in ways besides the frequent student demonstrations on campus: class sizes continue to grow larger, the list of impacted classes (http://registrar.berkeley.edu/?PageID=courseregs.html#impacted) grows larger, and, unfortunately, the amount of available, dedicated professors shrinks, as the university loses them to higher-paying institutions. In spite of its problems, UC Berkeley is fantastic. The campus is beautiful, the students are friendly, and from frat row to the southeast of campus, to the artistic, co-op community to the north, there truly is something for everyone,

best thing about berkeley? the people are great and you learn a lot. but this school is not for the faint of heart. even if you were valedictorian in high school, this place will definitely serve you up something new. dont go in to berkeley thinking you will be on top. study hard from the first day. the curves here are vicious. with classes larger than most universities, lecture classes being around 500 students, trying to meet people in class is daunting! and trying to get to know the professor? even harder.

The tuition may be low, but you will pay a high price for a substandard education in other ways. Students at UC Berkeley deal with faculty apathy, frustration in getting into required courses, and aggravation with the administration. In the 1960’s, Berkeley deserved its excellent reputation, but since then, California voters have elected not to support public higher education. Instead they prefer to provide welfare to corporations (Proposition 13). Ever since Ronald Reagan served as Governor of California, state funding for public higher education has steadily eroded. As a result, UC Berkeley has turned itself into a research center for hire. Contracts that finance research help cover some costs of running the university (libraries, maintenance, etc). Teaching is largely neglected because it does not bring in money like research. To make matters worse, budget cuts in Fall 2009 forced the main library to close one day per week. Course offerings have been reduced; class sizes are larger; and faculty and staff have been forced to take unpaid furlough. Unfortunately, UC Berkeley cannot afford to have good teaching. When it comes to education, you get what you pay for. If you can afford to go to a private school, then you will probably get a much better education there.

I just want to say that UC Berkeley is overrated, especially as a premed school. First off, the advising department is not that great. The science classes are basically cutthroat and you have to be a genius to be a premed at Berkeley. In other words, don't go to Berkeley for premed. There are better options like UCLA, UCSD which have medical schools and will advise you much better if you're a premed.

After class one day, my friend and I made crowns out of ivy while waiting for another friend. Once we all separated, I walked across campus wearing my crown. Not only did no one give me a second glance, but I got asked for directions, even though I was talking on my phone. Upon arriving home, I discovered we were having a country-western themed dinner at my co-op where my glory was recorded for posterity. (When I called my friend who lives on the other side of campus, she said that no one gave her a second glance either.)

There are so many incredible opportunities at a school with the size and prestige of Berkeley, but you need to know what you want out of college, and you'll have to take the initiative to find them, or else you may find yourself a bit lost.

Really loved the people I met as a student in the Graduate School of Education. Tolman Hall, the building housing Education and Psychology, is known as the ugliest building on campus, and rightly so. However, parts of the campus are lovely and great for walking. The weather is relatively mild--never needed a real winter coat--just added another layer. There are frequent goings-on around campus--from drum-beating to protest rallies. The campus area is fairly safe, though a bit dicey late at night. And one more thing--don't wear red before or during the Stanford-Berkeley big game--you'll catch major flak! And if you're truly adventurous, sign up to live in the co-ops. The bigger ones are mostly freshman and all-night parties (with the usual campus music and "refreshments") are a rite of passage. Most seem to survive it. I lived in Casa Zimbabwe for one semester before moving to a quieter, cleaner house. You'll definitely meet interesting people and make friends, bonding over workshifts like "naked cooking." And in some co-ops, like mine, the bathrooms are completely co-ed. A little disconcerting at first, but you get used to it. I think living in the co-ops really adds to the Berkeley experience! But don't bring a car to campus if you can avoid it--parking is expensive and scarce. Paying for parking will not guarantee you a spot, either! Walking, biking, riding the campus shuttle, or using city buses are the preferred modes of transportation.

One thing I'd change about UC Berkeley is the housing situation. When I attended, university housing was only guaranteed for one year. This meant that students ended up living in a whole host of different housing types while at Berkeley - some entered the Greek system and others lived in co-ops, while the majority moved into apartments located all over the East Bay...So, students often came to campus just for their classes and then went home, wherever home was. This, combined with the lack of places to hang out on campus, created a kinda lackluster, unexciting campus environment. Berkeley needs more casual cafe-type spots on campus where students can meet up and hang out. To be honest, I spent most of my time on campus in the library or in classrooms. Most people do their socializing off-campus, and particularly, wherever they live. Berkeley is a big school, and your experience there is totally dependent on what you make of it - where you choose to live, the classes you decide to take, the clubs/organizations you join or don't join, the mostly-lame parties you do or don't go to.

Huge school with tons of possibilities. Really your time here could either be spent killing yourself with the really tough classes and not having a social life...or being really social, broadening your horizons, and making tons of really good friends. It all depends on what you want to make of your time at the school. The important thing is that you really can do whatever you want with your education here.

to this day my sister calls me a tree-hugger. when anyone hears that i attend Cal they automatically say "wow, you must be really smart". some will even tell me a brief history of the events that went on here. there is a lot of school pride-around football season. it kind of dies down from there. most people are too busy with their studies to get involved with school spirit related activities. we do take pride in the extremely intelligent homeless men who speak wise words to us on the way to class. they are harmless and are never threatening, but they continue to preach their message to the students and visitors. there is one who waits for people to walk by with their ipods or cellphones so he can preach to them about how we are letting technology take over our lives. there is another who is called 'happy happy man' who has a giant sign with many grammatical and spelling errors on it, yet people listen to him, even if they dont take him seriously. we have some of the friendliest homeless around, and some of the most entertaining. the word is that some of them are even past students from Cal.

UC Berkeley's a place where you can find people for whatever interests you may have, if you put in the effort and look. However, there's not much hand-holding, so prepare to work for what you want. I like the city: There is a very active community, and for a couple of blocks around campus, Berkeley is definitely a college town. Further out you can find up-scale food and shopping, but driving is a pain, so use shared-car plans like FlexCar and City CarShare. Thanks to the UC's location right next to downtown and near 2 other major cities, there's always stuff to do. The administration and financial aid departments are fairly clueless . . . or they are deliberately trying to sabotage the students.

There is a lot of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, yes. Berkeley is not exempt from any of this. However, there is a strong progressive community - especially students of color - that fights against these "isms."

The best thing about UC Berkeley has been its location and the people that live in this small college town. San Francisco is just a 25-30 minute BART ride from the campus, there are beautiful views of the the Bay Area from the Campinile and Berkeley Hills, and the campus is surrounded by diverse foods, stores, and people. Residences of the town are friendly and welcome you with open hands. It is a pedestrian friendly town and everyday you see people walking the streets and enjoying the beauty of the weather and environment. There are various different types of foods available to try and the many restaurants in South Berkeley, Downtown, and the Gourmet Ghetto in North Berkeley. People respect the environment. There is hardly ever litter on the floor and the town is very clean for the most part. If I could change one thing it would be to make our student population more diverse. We need more students from different backgrounds and an effort for more funding in social science departments like Ethnic Studies. Furthermore, our university needs a real multicultural center. We currently claim to have one that only features on small mural on about 5{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the wall. We need a more welcoming university for students of color and show that our campus truly is a public university and every student has the potential to be accepted.

People usually find it quite an accomplishment that you are a UC Berkeley student... but at the same time there are pressures to attending what is considered one of the best public universities in the world... people expect you to be incredibly intelligent all the time. I found that people, especially my friends would tease me about making mistakes in speech or asking "stupid" questions, usually with a response of "GO BERKELEY!" or "Is that what you are learning at Berkeley?!" "How'd you get in?" While at first it may have been funny and it is obviously in good humor it gets quite annoying when you hear it often and more than once or twice from the same person. You also hear, oh there are a lot of hippies or oh its so liberal up there when you tell people you are going to Berkeley. Even when informing people about my interest in attending before I applied and was accepted I heard all the same things. Obviously it all comes from common stereotypes and seems so ingrained into people's mind, but it gets tired and old. The reputation of Berkeley in the 60's has really shaped people's perception of what the institution stands for and what it means to go there, even though decades have past and things have changed.

Berkeley isn't quite what it was in the 60's, so don't come expecting a die hard liberal institution.

I was pretty much set on going to UCLA until I visited both campuses and realized the biggest difference between the two schools: school pride. I remember attending one of those welcome orientations for prospective students at UCLA and a parent asked the speaker "convince me why UCLA is better than Cal" and the speaker answered with "well both are very good schools..." When I visited Berkeley every tour and orientation I attended stressed the achievements and successes of Berkeley. I love Berkeley because the students take great pride in their school (unlike another certain school that feels that they are second best to another certain school). I also love the urban atmosphere. Although many people often complain of the homeless that reside on the sidewalks adjacent to campus, every eatery, clothing store, record store... etc has its own Berkeley flavor that cannot be found anywhere else. The homeless usually do no harm and are just a part of the city. I think I love the urban atmosphere because it is a drastic change from the sheltered suburbs of my hometown of which I am so used to (and bored of).

it's easy to fall through the cracks at Cal. i think that's why i like it, respect it. when you do well at Cal it's because you deserve it. noone holds your hand through your college career, guiding you every step of the way. if you fail, you fail. if you do well, you do well. that's why it's different - it's real. you get exactly what you put into it.

When i first came to Berkeley, i didn't like it. i was almost frightened and intimidated at how large the college was. However, I got involved and plugged into a Christian church (KCPC) my freshmen year where i was able to make many friends who became my closest friends here in Berkeley. I also got to be involved at KCM (Korean-American campus missions) where it is a christian fellowship on campus. Through this program, i was able to find a lot of people i was able to connect with, learn from, and also go to Uganda, Africa for missions during my freshman year summer. Although Berkeley seemed foreign and a bit far from home, i learned to adapt to it because I met awesome friends and grew as an individual through encountering people everyday- people i will love, and people i will learn to appreciate and respect. Most importantly, I grew so much in my faith, my relationship with the Lord. He allowed me to become mature in my walk with Him, and to see the bigger picture in life and that wherever I go, my real home is in heaven and not on earth. I realized how studying in Berkeley is such a blessing and great opportunity to grow in faith and love the people around me. Later on as a sophomore, I joined a church called The Ark where I met such awesome people who loved Jesus and taught me a whole new way of loving the Lord. God also implanted a heart where I wanted to see people come to the Lord and also a heart to love the students and the people in this community. Overall, I learned to love God more and realize the important things in life as I meet awesome people in an awesome place!

Berkeley is a great school, and I like it more and more each semester. I like the freedom of the campus, I embrace the anonymity and I create my own community within the sea of students. However, I think that some of the facilities are a little worn out - the bathrooms, for example, are pretty disgusting, and the lines we have to wait in for basically everything are always a mile long.

Berkeley has a fabulous atmosphere and a beautiful campus that I appreciate now all the more since I don't live in the greenest place. Lots of interesting people. Lots of open space. A really diverse class schedule that lets you study exactly what you want and also pick a few things that you never thought you'd be interested in but turn out to be fascinating.