University of California-Berkeley Top Questions

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.