My S was admitted for Fall 2023 class. We live in Ann Arbor, MI, and my husband and I are both U of M alum. Growing up S always imagined himself being a Wolverine (possibly due to our encouragement!) but in past year has felt compelled to examine other schools. We live close to campus and U of M started to feel too comfortable and close. So being admitted to UCB has been both exciting (to consider new option) and scary (same). Our D is 2nd year at University of Virginia, so we are open to him going out of state and believe there can be benefits to going away for college and going out of comfort zone to try something new. His concern is that from looking on various social media and talking to two kids from MI who go there, it sounds like UCB is incredibley competitive and many kids are solely focused on academics. He is a smart kid and motivated to do well, but also wants to have fun, possibly play club soccer or join a social fraternity. Are kids like that more in the minority at UCB? Every school has stereotypes for sure, but UCB seems to more competitive and have a lot of grade deflation, which also possibly causes some mental health issues for some students? U of M will certainly be academically challenging as well, but there is definitely a balance between academics and a social life.
Any thoughts, especially from current students or parents of current students, would be greatly appreciated! He just wants to make sure he will “find his people”! Thank you!
I would consider my first year Berkeley kid to be fairly normal wrt school activity. CS major wannabe so there’s a lot of pressure to get a good set of grades in order to qualify, but he still plays basketball with his friends every night and is playing intramural football this semester. Plus he still teaches classes some weekends. It’s nowhere as bad as some others make it out to be. Yes classes can be really hard and during midterms and finals most do put in tons of hours, but I don’t think that’s any different at any other elite school.
thank you @ProfessorPlum168 ! I appreciate that perspective from a current parent! I agree that any elite school will require students to spend a lot of time studying if they want to do well…just want to make sure that there is also time for things other than academics, as finding balance is important too! Glad to know there are other kids who take advantage of IM sports since at some schools they may be offered but not many kids participate in them! My S is thinking about Econ as possible major, which I think is also fairly competitive to qualify for… thanks very much for your reply!
@wolverinealum - FWIW, my D is from the East Coast and chose to join Berkeley this fall over UMich and a bunch of other great schools (JHU, CMU, UCLA, etc…) BECAUSE she wants a decent social life. Very similar to yours, she wanted to do club soccer and have a full college experience but also go to a well known school that can challenge her academically. Unlike many comments about UCB, my D did her own research and thinks she will find that balance at Berkeley. It has so many clubs, good weather (compared to UMich and the east coast), good food, amazing professors, etc… Within 25-30 mins drive in any direction outside of Berkeley you hit the ocean with amazing view. The student body is very diverse, I wouldn’t worry too much about not keeping it up. As long as your son has a good work ethic and has a strong foundation from this HS, which i am sure he has, he should be fine. And btw, my kid is COMPLETELY normal 
Regarding grades, you can find overall grade inflation levels at http://www.gradeinflation.com/ (list of colleges at the bottom), or by course for some colleges (including UCB, Michigan, and Virginia) at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/2074436-some-colleges-have-grade-distribution-information-available-by-course.html .
Regarding competitive students, you are likely to find the greatest tendency among pre-meds and in majors which pre-meds commonly choose (e.g. biology) at any college.
Otherwise, there may be majors that vary by college which are competitive admission to declare later. At UCB, the most competitive major is business. Some L&S majors require a prerequisite GPA or grade requirement higher than 2.0 or C to declare, listed at https://ls.berkeley.edu/advising/planning/schedule-planning/choosing-major/high-demand-majors . While computer science is one of these majors, note that the first two computer science courses that aspiring computer science majors take explicitly state that they are not graded on a curve, probably to reduce competitive or cutthroat tendencies.
Thanks so much @Nhatrang ! Your perspective is greatly appreciated! I fear that “normal” was not the best phrase to use…and certainly hope that it doesn’t come across negatively! I only meant kids who seek to have experiences beyond academics/research/studying. Certainly nothing wrong with kids who have that drive and focus, and they are just as normal as other kids! Just for my S, not kids that he would be able to connect with on multiple levels. So your daughter is class of 2023? The club sports definitely look great and when we visited last weekend, the weather was way better than it was in MI, despite the rain! Strong work ethic so although it will be challenging academically, I view that as a good thing…just want to make sure there are other kids who seek a balance between academics and other activities! Has she had any luck finding a roommate on FB Class of 2023 page yet? My S has been looking but hasn’t seen any kids he feels he would click with yet…hoping more will join after Cal Day!
That’s super helpful @ucbalumnus , thank you! My S is in L&S and is considering Econ or Political Science, and maybe business minor? We heard that Econ is a “capped” major, but he has done really well in AP Micro/Macro and APUSH so hope that he would continue to like those types of classes and do well in them in college.
FWIW, even though my kid had 40 other students from his HS also attend last year, he insisted on going with a random process of assigning roommates (school housing assigns the roommates based on a set of criteria that you’ve already seen on the dorm application), even though interestingly enough it turned out that at least 2 of his better friends ended up on the same floor of his dorm. Anyhow, he (a local kid) got paired up with someone from Florida and I think it worked out pretty well.
@wolverinealum My D hasn’t tried to find a roommate on that FB page yet, she just joined yesterday. But she might just do what @ProessorPlum168 's son did, randomly.
I was worried about the grade deflation too and i gave her plenty of warning. She is going to grad school so she has to keep up almost straight A’s. She does not worry about it one bit, I don’t know why she is so confident, but I guess it’s a good thing? We will see. Compared to her other choices, she doesn’t want to go to schools like CMU or JHU because “they are all geeks”. UMich is good and has most things she wanted but terrible weather, she doesn’t think she can have great social life being inside all the time, it would drive her crazy. UCLA (honestly it would have been my first choice) has a really cool vibe but she ultimately likes the culture and environment of the bay area better, and that Berkeley would give her that extra sauce that makes her college life more special.
I am nervous too, but ultimately it’s her choice and I trust her. Good luck with your son’s decision, keep us posted!
L&S students need a 3.0 GPA in the prerequisites to declare the economics major. However, note that the prerequisites have some overlap with those that students trying to get into the business major take.
https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/undergrad/prospective/freshmen
If he wants to go on to PhD study in economics, he may want to take more advanced math and statistics (which pre-business students are unlikely to take).
https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/undergrad/current/preparing-for-grad-school
Political science does not have GPA minimums beyond 2.0.
https://polisci.berkeley.edu/undergraduate-program/declaring-major
I have a driven but otherwise totally normal kid who is going to major in something environmentally oriented and plans to join the Peace Corps. She’s done a lot of talking to alums, students etc… as have I as I work with a lot of Cal grads (medicine). She also will probably play club or IM soccer and expects to join at least one community service oriented club and at least one outdoor oriented club. She isn’t a typical partier and has no interest in joining a sorority, but I wouldn’t call her a cutthroat academic. I mean we probably all think our kids are normal 
Also the three other kids from her school who are going are all different, but all very normal. There’s an artist, and a dancer and a kid who is a coxswain (sp?) for a club crew team. All well rounded, nice kids who did very well in school but with a lot of talents in a lot of areas.
I went to UM for grad school, go Blue!
This is what I posted in another thread. I have two boys in CoE, a senior and a sophomore. They both really like Cal and the people they meet there. We are a religious family from suburbs and they are active in campus fellowships and never experience any discriminations because of their beliefs. They play intramural sports, are active in some clubs, go to the city with friends, and even watch some Warriors games. So it’s possible to have a social life outside of academics. They are never bothered by the protests, because they are not interested and they don’t feel being forced to do anything they don’t like.
I know not every student likes Cal and yes, the academics is very challenging, but my sons really enjoy their lives there.
Hello, I am a UCB alum from both undergrad and grad school and currently living in Westland, MI with two siblings having attended UM. I was an out-of-state student myself coming from northern Virginia area so UVA was also a strong consideration.
For me choosing Berkeley came down to visiting all the campuses I was accepted to and I was immediately attracted to Berkeley. I was part of the marching band and spent a good time outside of the classroom such as IM sports because I liked to have fun too, but I do agree that there are quite a few people solely focused on academics.
The academic challenge came from the fact that most classes were based on a curve, and it was difficult to do better than those who spent all their time studying, and they fully deserved it. I developed better study habits like group study as college progressed on, but there were numerous times that I felt my best isn’t enough and my self-esteem took quite a fall.
So I stopped doing marching band for my final undergrad year and solely focused on academics myself, and it did work out as I managed to get straight A’s for the first time while applying for grad schools, but it was a clear proof that there is some tradeoff unless you are that smart and disciplined.
Joining a social fraternity will certainly put your S as a minority, and I can also say with reasonable confidence that more than half of students will attend just one or no football games at all during their time in Berkeley. One thing that shocked me when I first came to A2 was how students were actually smiling when walking around campus, and how so many folks truly support their alma mater which shows in the endowment.
After it’s all said and done though, I’m one of the biggest UCB fan. It was such a memorable time and I’ve learned so much with so many people who continuously amazed me with their work ethic or just their general mindset. It’s one of the smartest towns, although A2 holds its own beacon. UM certainly has a balance between academics and social life, and I cannot guarantee the same sweet spot for UCB, but if your S hasn’t visited the campus yet, then I strongly encourage him to, and see where the ‘gut feelings’ take him.
Clark Kerr: All the international people, sports people and frat/sorority people.
Somewhat surprisingly, almost all of the Clark Kerr football people who I know are in UGBA 10.
Business/Econ is a popular normal person major.
PoliSci people sort of scare me. They’re similar to history majors and write like 15 page papers while reading a very large amount of material. Not my thing.
I’m personally nerdy though. Just in the not writing, not math-ing way.
Regarding fraternities, there are about 39 recognized fraternities (33 IFC, 5 MCGC, 1 NPHC) and 9 unrecognized fraternities (which students are discouraged from joining): https://lead.berkeley.edu/find-a-chapter/ . However, they make up only about 10% of male students (and 10% of female students join sororities), so a student who is not interested in fraternities will find plenty of other students outside the fraternity scene to interact with.
Wow! SO appreciate ALL of these great comments and insights! I love that everyone has a unique perspective to share yet it all helps to fill in the gaps and paint a fuller picture of what our S potential experience at UCB could be.
Thanks to each of you…
@ProfessorPlum168 that’s a great tip about just housing “blind” (that’s what they call it at UMich!) and glad to know it’s worked well for your S!
@Nhatrang sounds like your D is a wonderful confident girl! I like the “extra sauce” comment! My S also wants to go to grad school (MBA or Law?) so grades are also rly important and that is one of my worries as well.
@ucbalumnus that GPA info is very interesting and frankly kind of surprising! Seems like a 3.0 should be very doable…and 2.0 most certainly! Unless the whole point is that those are considered “good” given the grade deflation?
what did you major in when you went and what is your impression of grade deflation and balance between academics and other activities?
@disneygirl14 I was a coxswain (yes that’s correct spelling!) at UMich when I was undergrad for a few years! Sounds like a nice group of kids coming from your D’s HS. Are you in CA? My S also has done a lot of community service and plans to join a club for that as well. Again, I’m regretting using the word “normal”…I think balanced/well rounded would have been a better choice! All of these kids definitely have that!
@sdhotmama Go Blue! glad to know your boys are having positive experience there and playing IM sports and going to Warriors games (my S would love that!). Also reassured to know that protests don’t affect daily life…there are some other people out there who give the opposite impression and say that they sometimes can’t get to class because of crossing picket lines! I’m sure that is an exaggeration, and there are definitely some protests at UMich too but like your boys have experienced, no one forces others to do anything they don’t want to do!
@UpMagic you are not too far away at all! (points to Westland on hand ) Funny the UVA consideration as well! We did visit the campus last Friday, so not there for Cal Day but the only time we could go. S did really like the campus and whole vibe a lot, but also so hard to tell what the kids are really like when just walking around on tour…and that’s one of his concerns. We offered to go back for another visit, and may do that next weekend. Crazy to decide where you will spend the next 4 years after a 6 hour visit! Sadly no “gut feel” either way…he really likes things about both schools! Thanks for sharing your personal experience…I would say that is similar to what my husband did at UM. You’re right that having balance can also make the GPA not as high as it could be, but I hope that if our S knows that going in, he will not end up feeling as discouraged as you did. Frankly, I don’t mind if his GPA is a little lower if he can still do things like play IM sports or join a few clubs as I think that helps to ensure mental sanity and happiness. Your comment about UM kids smiling more really hit home!! I get what you’re saying about the people you met and their mindset/work ethic…there are amazing people at UM too, but I did sense a slight difference at UCB. It sounds like UM has advantage in being able to more easily balance academics and social life, but it’s still achievable at UCB, just takes a bit more effort. I don’t really want S to join fraternity, but he has many friends at UM who are freshman now and did that and have liked it. Club/IM Soccer or professional fraternity/community service clubs all feel like better options IMHO. @ucbalumnus that’s good to know that it’s only 10% involved in greek life at UCB.
@Walter924 are you a current student? if so, what year?what is UGBA 10? a class or hall in CK? Sorry to not know the lingo! are you involved in any clubs? what is your impression of being able to balance academics with social life (whatever that may be!)?!
Thanks again everyone for your comments/thoughts…I’ve never posted anything on here before and I am pleasantly surprised by the great responses and truly appreciate you all taking the time to do it!
Speaking of rowing, my kid’s roommate if I’m not mistaken is a member of the Cal Lightweights, a rowing club at Berkeley.
It’s an intro business class.
I’m a sophomore.
I work for fun, I volunteer at a hospital, I’m in Undergraduate Economics association, and I’m in National Residence Hall Honorary which is sort of a fake club but there’s free food every meeting.
About roommates… my S1 went through the random process and his first year roommate was a bit socially awkward and wasn’t very considerate. But my S said after that experience, he feels he could room with anyone. So, I think a lot of it depends on your perspective.