University of California-Berkeley Visit Report by FindAPlace

Visit Activities:

Information Session: No - They offered one but we couldn't attend since we had an afternoon campus tour across the bay with Stanford (and barely made it there on time.)

Campus Tour: No - Tour groups had around 50 people, since this was spring break and about 500 students and their families were scheduled to visit that day. Despite the crowds, they kept things moving and on schedule.

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Campus:

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It was a sunny day and the students appeared equally sunny although some seemed rushed, perhaps since the campus is rather large.

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The tour guide, a junior in political science/public policy, really enjoys her campus in all aspects. She was a good representative.

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The grounds are gorgeous and on a clear day, the views of SF in the distance are spectacular. Despite the varied architecture, it seems to hang together well and there are few truly ugly buildings.

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Considering the size of the student population at 35,000, it had a well maintained feel to it, for the most part.

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No way to comment.

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Blue post emergency stations with call buttons are in many locations and the campus provides resources for escorts after hours. Some areas immediately off campus do have homeless people.

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Given the size and scope of the operation, I was surprisingly pleased.

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Off-Campus:

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This is more variable. There are numerous areas just off campus for reasonably priced eating and shopping.

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Again, this is Berkeley so it's highly variable. The high hills have some gorgeous homes, while the flats have social service buildings for the low income/homeless population.

Campus Visit Notes for University of California-Berkeley

Visit Description:

The appearance of the campus is quite nice, with the grounds well maintained around the buildings. The architecture is varied, with the old and the new. It seems to work well together. Since the campus is built on a hillside, students will stay in shape going from dorms to classes to outside activities. There are several inviting expanses of open space that seem perfect for either studying or frisbee,

For a public institution, one can see why Berkeley claims bragging rights at the best public. They do attract Nobel laureate faculty members (who have they own labeled parking, quite the perk.) As with many schools, they boast of research activities for undergrads. One of note was in the palentology field.

The tour guide took great care in describing how, on such a large campus, students could work to make things smaller by working with their advisors (who really do talk to students), joining any one of about 700 groups on campus. She pointed out a victory garden recently planted outside the Evans Mathematics building that was a student initiated effort approved by the administration.

Housing on campus is more of an issue here, since it's only guaranteed for two years for freshman or one year for junior transfers. However, the tour guide said there is the Greek system as an options, and there are many boards of information for housing options off campus and that the transportation system is great. For $6, students can take the Bay Area Rapid Transit across the bay and be in San Francisco. It appeared she said bus transportation within the city was free with a student ID.

The students on and off campus appeared energetic and chattering constantly. While panhandlers are present, they were less than I'd envisioned and non-aggressive. In the downtown area, there were police visible. The campus has it's own police force, as well.

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

Mass transit is the way to go in this town. Parking is tight, tight. There is a parking structure a few blocks from the start of campus tours.