School Spotlight: University of California, Berkeley

The crown jewel of the 9 University of California campuses, UCB is popularly known as the number 1 public research university in the world. Being a public university, Berkeley has its own pros and cons compared to a tiny private liberal arts college. Home to an undergraduate population of 25000+ students, Berkeley can boast of a large number of renowned departments and degree programs such as engineering, social sciences (particularly Psychology, Economics and Political Science), computer science, mathematics and life sciences. Located near the thriving San Francisco Bay Area, Berkeley students get certain advantages because of their close proximity to Silicon Valley, Bay Area and San Francisco city. More than 90% of the undergraduate student population undertakes either an internship or community service program in the three aforementioned areas.

With 14 schools and colleges in total, including graduate and professional institutions, Berkeley has accumulated an impressive faculty which includes 7 Nobel Prizes held by current faculty, over 75 Fulbright Scholars and 4 Pulitzer Prizes held by current faculty. On account of its graduate schools, there is ample opportunity for exchange and collaborations between graduate and undergraduate students in the field of research.

With over 1000 student organizations, 170 academic departments and programs and 1620 full time faculty, Berkeley is synonymous with thriving variety. On account of its gargantuan size and multitudes of resources, no student can complain of not being able to find their niche.

Despite its large class sizes, there is so much scope for individual interactions with professors. The administration at Berkeley is fully aware of the fact that 600+ people in a class can be daunting for both the professor and the student. They combat the problem of large classes in two ways- after every lecture there are various discussion groups led by Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) who are experts on the topic or student-professor interaction during ‘office hours’. The discussion groups are capped at 20-30 students to allow each student to make his/her opinions heard. It is also the perfect environment to clear your doubts and collaborate on ideas with your peers. Office hours are specific times of the day that professors through open their doors to eager students who want to know more or who didn’t find the answers they were looking for in the discussion groups.

There are lots of fun ways to fulfil college requirements in the College of Letters and Sciences- Berkeley is known to have a long list of college requirements and a rigid core curriculum. But Berkeley offers many ways in which you can fulfil requirements and increase the total amount of units completed- Freshman/Sophomore Seminars, DeCal courses and Berkeley Connect. If you’re eager to take a course on Game of Thrones or House of Cards and get up to 1-2 units for them, Berkeley is the place for you. Moreover, there are nearly 2000+ courses offered each year and the sheer volume of courses makes it possible for students to find something interesting to fulfil their requirements.

Berkeley offers many minors whose requirements include a compulsory internship- these minors are the perfect amalgamation of theoretical knowledge and hands on experience. In other words, Berkeley is cognizant of the fact that an internship is quickly becoming ubiquitous in the undergraduate world. The Global Poverty and Practice (GPP) minor is only one example of such a program. 

Aid history for International Students: not impressive, but lots of opportunity for work study jobs and internships

SAT 1 average- The statistics differ from college to college, but the academic standards are high. The average SAT score of incoming freshmen was 2200.

SAT 2- recommended.

College strengths: Wide variety of research programs, internships, study abroad programs; academic standards and quality, large international student body, strong graduate school.

College weakness: long list of requirements, level of competition can be daunting, strict grading curve.

Collegify Recommendation: Highly recommended.