<p>I am a transfer junior student from City College of San Francisco. I would like to know some experiences from student commuters at Cal so I can find out what I should do (to commute or to live in Berkeley). Can someone tell me their experiences and possibly give me any advice? I want to know how much time they spend for commuting, if they can manage to see the professors, get along with other students and study in the library.</p>
<p>woooo are you starting in the spring like me???</p>
<p>my sister lives in san leandro and commutes to cal everyday. The parking permits are REALLY expensive so thats an automatic minus and not only that but she had no dents in the car and once she started parking there it all went down hill. She is able to stay till late on campus (sometimes till 2am) and has time to do what she needs to do since there is not time constraint on the permit. </p>
<p>the thing is though you will prolly have an easier time of finding you niche if you are closer to campus since you’ll practically live there. My other sister who already graduated from cal lived in the co-ops and i mean it isnt the fanciest living but if you are strapped for cash its the way to go… the places are livable with a bottle of clorox and a good shampooing of the carpets before you move in.</p>
<p>You might also wanna factor in gas money if you are gonna drive to cal from sf as well as bridge tolls…</p>
<p>now if by commuting you mean ur gonna come to school on the bart then good luck… you’ll never get anything done.</p>
<p>Oh nice, you start in the Spring too?
I don’t drive so driving is not an option to pick.
The thing is I am not a social person so I fear that I will not be able to make friends if I commute.
If I live in the co-ops, I guess it’ll be easier to get along with students there and maybe make more friends?
Where you gonna stay then?</p>
<p>yeah i’m starting spring >.<</p>
<p>i would live in berkeley not only for the full experience but it’ll break u from that non social mold. Also if you do have a day where you wanna just be on ur own you could very easily just stay in and do ur own thing… its ur best option.</p>
<p>i’m living in an apartment off campus but in berkeley i’m soooo excited i’m moving up there on the 11th :)</p>
<p>Is living in an apartment off campus cheaper than the Co-ops? I think the co-ops is the cheapest, am I right? Do you know anything about Co-ops?</p>
<p>Yea, you don’t wanna live in Berkeley if you can help it. </p>
<p>Dude, there’s a friggin’ BART STATION! You can live anywhere along the bart lines and just take the train in, certainly it’s cheaper than a permit and you don’t have to deal with traffic, just crowded trains. </p>
<p>Living in Berkeley is like living in Oakland; unless you’re loaded it sucks. You can give me all you want about the culture and the street scene and stuff but… seeing it on a trip is one thing and living there is another.</p>
<p>my sisters both lived in the co-ops at one point it was alright it really wasnt that bad and it was definitely cheaper than living in an apartment i’m sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with 2 other girls for about 1400 a month so my rent is gonna be manageable i guess but like the co-ops are pretty cheap heres the link for prices…</p>
<p>[Academic</a> Year Rates](<a href=“http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/rates/40-academic-year-rates]Academic”>http://berkeleystudentcooperative.org/rates/40-academic-year-rates)</p>
<p>my sisters both lived at the rochdale it was dirty but cheap</p>
<p>I actually get an offer for the Ridge House so I may live there if I accept the offer. You know anything about Ridge?
Bart is convenient but the delays always happen so I will be late for my early morning class for sure. In addition, Bart doesn’t usually offer direct train to Berkeley from SF so it wastes more time to transfer to another train.</p>
<p>What do you mean no direct train?! The Richmond train (you know, the route nobody seems to remember cuz it’s “ghetto”) goes straight from SF through Berkeley.</p>
<p>The Richmond train sometimes don’t operate from SF to Richmond these days. We need to transfer to Richmond train at Mc Arthur station.</p>
<p>Actually that is only on certain weekend days. The richmond to San Fran train runs from the AM-7pm mon through thur and it is different only on the weekends where you have to transfer. </p>
<p>Also, OP, the co-ops arent much cheaper than rooming with people off campus. For example I live a mile from campus and my rent for a 2 bedroom that is really nice and clean is $1199 so if I got a roomie they’d pay around $700 for all util and whatnot, which isnt much different, and sometimes even cheaper then a lot of the co-ops. </p>
<p>It really just depends on your situation. Can you afford taking the bart from SF to Berk everyday? Thats like $7.50 a day! The downtown berk bart station drops you off in front of campus, so its super easy, its just it could get expensive if you have to be on campus 4 or so times a week.</p>
<p>However, if you have family and a good group of friends in SF and you already have a cheap place to live in SF then the cost of the Bart may not matter, and in the long run may end up being cheaper depending on your current living situation of course. Why leave all that when the public transit allows you to live in both worlds? </p>
<p>Personally, if I was already living in the bay area prior to attending UCB and had all my friends there, I would have stayed there and just commuted by the BART. It’s like a 20min ride from most of SF and its a straight shot that drops you off right at campus. Besides you’ll make friends that live locally so if some nights you have a late class and just want to crash I’m sure someone would lend you their couch. </p>
<p>However, if you feel there is nothing keeping you in SF, then move to berkeley since technically it is easier to be near campus (and I say technically very lightly, as the public transit is not at all difficult). There is always cheap housing options when you actually look, but it just comes down to what you want to leave, or if you want to start over somewhere new. </p>
<p>Also remember this–SF is close and all, but its not so close that it would allow you to hang out with your SF friends all the time if you lived in berkeley…trust me, I have friends in SF that I see about once a month because of the inconvenience of it. Not that its “hard” to get there, more of that I am lazy and its a 20min ride that is taking me 20min away from my home since I live in Berk. Besides the bart isnt 24hrs so its hard to go out at night in SF w/ friends unless I spend the night, so there is many variables to this situation…</p>
<p>hoe you figure it all out though!</p>
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<p>It was relatively nice when I was there, but that was long enough ago that you ought to visit it if you have any questions. It is right next to the BSC’s central office and the larger Casa Zimbabwe house, about a block away from campus on the north side.</p>
<p>As a new member, you are likely to have the last choice of rooms within the house.</p>
<p>For commuting, the downtown Berkeley station is one block west of campus.</p>