I’m having dinner in a couple of hours outside of campus with my kid and some of his HS friends who also went to Berkeley. My kid is definitely more relaxed this year than he was the last couple of years while trying to take 6 APs and the like. Knowing people at a school definitely is a good thing.
I think the “depression” thing came from one or two posters who posted that they are depressed for whatever reason, but it stands to reason that at any academically challenging school, you’re going to have students like that. Personally, I would be more depressed for example if I were at a rural school with nowhere to go or being holed up in a dorm for days on end because it was too cold to go outside.