Next up on my fall college visit tour, UC Berkeley.
A few takeaways from my campus visit:
- First, some history: when founded, UC Berkeley was the first public university in the state of California so many referred to it simply as the University of California. This was then shortened to Cal, and is why UC Berkeley’s pet name (especially with sports) is Cal. The school’s founders were from Connecticut and chose Yale Blue and California Gold as campus colors. There are 27 bear statues (the campus mascot) on campus.
- Residence halls frame the campus boundaries on the north, east, and south sides. While nestled in a fairly urban area, the positioning of campus housing and classic architecture gives the campus a cozy, inclusive, and walkable feel.
- For students interested in business, there is a new addition to the Haas School of Business: Spieker Undergraduate Business Program, opening to applicants in Fall 2023: https://haas.berkeley.edu/spieker-program/
- One of the oldest and best-known UC Berkeley traditions is the football game played against Stanford, called the “Big Game”. I happened to visit right after this past fall’s “Big Game” and our tour guide was very happy to announce their recent win (on my Stanford tour the same week, they were a little more hesitant to discuss the recent game’s final score).
- Like the other 8 campuses in the UC system, UC Berkeley will not consider SAT or ACT scores for future admissions decisions.
