Archana
As a recent graduate, I feel I wouldn't be who I am without the experiences I had at Berkeley. I moved to California to attend UCB and that in itself was a huge change for me. The people I met, the things I did, and the classes I took all influenced me in some way or another. I loved it.
Berkeley can be academically rigorous if you want it to be. I was so confused for the majority of my college career about what I wanted to study that I ended up taking classes in a huge variety of disciplines - from economics to organic chemistry to religious studies. I still managed to graduate in four years (in a major I don't think was particularly right for me) even though I took so many courses outside of my major. I don't regret the path that my academics took, but I do recommend exploring at least 5 different options for a major before deciding on one... you really never know what you might discover by taking a random class in another discipline.
As for location, I really don't think it gets too much better. The bay area is magnificent in all its glory - just walking around on campus and being able to see the ocean... wow. Berkeley was a large enough city that I didn't feel like I was stuck in a bubble that I couldn't escape (after all, the BART or bus to take you into the city is right there). Berkeley has tons of great food and nice neighborhoods and is so much more than just a campus (in reality, the school is just a small part of it). There was always an experience to be had - something I had never seen, done, or eaten before. Being very close to Oakland and San Francisco is a huge advantage for students to explore opportunities outside of what the campus has to offer.
Overall, I feel really lucky to have been able to attend UC Berkeley.
Gene
Never did I hope to be at or even imagine life for myself at another school. I have learned some of the most important lessons of my life at UC Berkeley- some from world-famous biochemists, some from my aggravating classmates, some from wonderful co-operative living environment, and some from the hyper-cynical attachment-o-phobes that you encounter in the Berkeley dating scene. The above highlights some of the key elements of Berkeley that I will also describe in the specific categories below. Just in case this text box and my following replies get separated, I will enumerate the following:
1) "World-class academics" is not just a cheesy tag line. Your professors, particularly in the biological sciences, are the leaders in their research fields, and most of them also know how to teach. This is extremely awesome.
2) UC Berkley students, particularly in the biological sciences, are cutthroat, driven assholes. My recommendation: study alone.
3) The Berkeley Student Co-ops (BSC) are the most awesome of possible living environments for anyone who values independence but also loves the fun that can come with living in a collective, who is willing to do chores but not have to do ALL the chores yourself, share resources and space and in turn get access to more resources and space than you could ever have on your own, who would like to come back to homemade dinner every night, and who is down to recycle, compost, have murals on the walls, etc.
4) If you're looking to snag a hunny who will put a ring on your finger by senior year, for the most part, unless you're in some Christian group, don't come a-lookin' here. People at Berkley are all about "seeing all there is to see" and are more likely to break up with you senior year because "its weird that theyve only been with one person" or date strictly casually.
Robin
The best thing about Berkeley is the way it rewards people who know what they want from it. And the longer you go here, the more accurate your expectations are. You can learn a lot about music, or just about your major. You can develop life long friends, or set a strong career path for yourself, or most likely both.
The size of the school is a both a blessing and a curse. It gives you the room you need to live how you want, provided you have some notion of what you want already. People outside of Berkeley tend to react well, and that is a source of real school pride. The school pride concerning the football team, though loud, is mostly a freshman experience, and has little to do with real feelings of pride about the school. It’s the intelligent and passionate people that you see on campus every day who really make the wheels turn.
UC Berkeley is integrated humorously with the city of Berkeley, and there is a lot to learn from that. You can live far or close to the source of student energy near campus, and your experience will be shaped by that choice. Sometimes the distraction of student life is overwhelming, and sometimes the isolation of life down University Avenue or in Oakland can leave you hanging. But on telegraph, academia, homelessness and the hyphy movement tend to collide without regard for one another, and to great comic effect.
The administration of the school, and the student government make a lot of noise, through sidewalk chalk and through the daily cal, but my experience is that they can be almost fully ignored without effecting your demeanor if you are good at saying “no” to flyerers in the spring, and if you don’t read email bulletins from the chancellor.
It seems like students can be intimidated by the impersonal aspects of their Berkeley experience, and often feel like the academic and social aspects of the school are disconnected and don’t support one another. But there is a lot of life and energy at UC Berkeley, and if you put in a little effort you can learn a lot about it.
Maureen
The best thing about Berkeley is the capacity for change. When most students graduate, they are almost unrecognizable from the person they were as a freshman. Berkeley teaches its students not just facts and formulas, but a wider perspective on life. Most people undergo drastic changes because they find new causes to support, new hobbies to explore, or they meet people who expose them to different backgrounds. Most of the time when I tell people I go to Berkeley, they assume I am a big egghead with no social skills, or they say something teasing like, "Oh, did you stop shaving your legs and become a lesbian?" Pretty closed-minded ideas, in my opinion.
I spend most of my time on campus trying to find a way out of Dwinnelle, the most confusing campus on building. Luckily, most people who aren't History majors don't have to spend much time in Dwinnelle. I love to sit on the hills outside Wheeler on those few warm, sunny days. During Finals Week, I live in the library, along with the rest of the student population. There is a great sense of community on the Berkeley campus. I was surprised to find how often I ran into people I know on campus. Everyone seems to find their niche, and if you grow out of your niche, there's always room for change.