<p>well, you dont need a car at berkeley for sure
but if you wanna see allll of california, yes, a car will be needed, then a nice weekend trip down to LA can be arrranged :)</p>
<p>I would love that....because LA might keep me from being too homesick...</p>
<p>But what do you mean when you say you don't need a car at Berkeley? I understand that it is a satellite city, but one would still have to get around in the Bay Area, right? Or is there no reason to leave it?</p>
<p>it's easier to understand once you visit the campus
the streets that guide you around campus are not really meant for travel by students or any visitor, they're basically there for maintenance crew (janitors and such) to get around in their carts... furthermore, there is zero parking. a cool little side note to illustrate how limited the parking is: there are signs around campus that have the letters "NL" on them. meaning those spots are reserved for the people who have that title. any idea what NL stands for in this case? well, strangely enough, it's nobel laureate. i think there are at least 7 on campus that teach or do research, and they basically have the monopoly on parking spots. students dont have that luck..haha</p>
<p>dont worry about travel to the bay area. berkeley (and i believe stanford too) equips all their students with a transit pass that can take you all around the bay area and a little further as well. the transit pass should be sufficient enough to get you anywhere around san francisco, berkeley, oakland, possibly fremont</p>
<p>You definitely don't need a car here. I've only been off campus a few times since I've got here (maybe 4?). However, it is nice to have if you want to say go to movies, when you need to go shopping, etc.</p>
<p>I'd suggest not getting one for the first year (like you're supposed to do, but that's not hard to get around) and then see how much you want one.</p>