<p>The thing I don’t like about Berkeley is it’s strong liberal/hipster vibe. All the shops, restaurants, and local business give out these vibes and I’m not a fan of it. I’m not a super conservative guy, but often it’s just too much.</p>
<p>Examplesss?</p>
<p>Go to Top Dog and read what they posted on the walls. 
I’m not offended by them, but some folks from OC might be.</p>
<p>Honestly, UC Berkeley is not that liberal these days, most probably because of the massive number of politically apathetic students on campus. I’ve even met quite a few fiscal conservatives (not too many social conservatives though). Sure, the city itself might be fairly liberal, but the students are disappointingly conservative. The only activism I’ve seen is against the increased tuition, but that is not really a uniquely liberal idea. It makes me sad that I’ve never met any students at Berkeley (other than my high school friends) that are as politically liberal as I am. If you’re conservative, you will not feel completely out of place at Cal; there are people of all political backgrounds.</p>
<p>If you want a REALLY liberal place you should go to Davis. At my high school we had a mock election around the time of the 2008 presidential election and more than 90% of the kids voted for Obama and more than 90% voted against Proposition 8. THAT is liberal. Not UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>I don’t actually go there yet, but I love the location. It’s so close to San Francisco. Berkeley itself is a nice town, even with the hobos.</p>
<p>Come on, hobos are like the funniest creatures ever. As long as you look at them that way, its great. If you expect every single person to be an upstanding citizen all the time, then you’re in for a world of hurt anywhere you go. Berkeley is just more blunt about it. Berkeley is great, something for everyone to do (or not do if you wish). </p>
<p>The one thing I have not really liked about Cal is the cutthroat process for getting into classes. Luckily no one really wants ESPM classes.</p>
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<p>A lot of the businesses around school and in Berkeley just give off that liberal vibe. A good example, which someone already mentioned, is Top Dog. I love their hot dogs, but I cringe when I see some of the material posted on the wall. </p>
<p>I know there are a lot of politically apathetic people at Berkeley, but I also see plenty of liberal professors/students. I remember I was shadowing a professor for one day as part of this program and she was talking about how outrageous the cost of public education was nowadays. When I asked her what she would do about it, she replied “The very first thing I would do, would put all the Republicans on Prozac”. </p>
<p>Another time, I remember the professor and a quite a few students ganging up on this one guy who vocalized some issues he had with some of the material the professor was talking about. I felt really bad for him because he was really outnumbered.</p>
<p>Top Dog is NOT LIBERAL. It is owned by an outspoken libertarian. </p>
<p>I think it’s a good thing that UC Berkeley’s populace isn’t overly liberal anymore. It offers a much more dynamic conversation on a range of issues. I’m liberal myself (Well, moderate liberal, with beliefs similar to JFK and Bill Clinton, and I am against the far/progressive left), but I totally respect fiscal conservatives and have some conservative beliefs myself on financial/economic issues. Sure, the religious right may have brought down the legitimacy of the Republican Party, but go read some books by Milton Freidman, and most of the economics faculty at the University of Chicago. All extremely intelligent people with convincing arguments. I may disagree with them, but I respect them at least.</p>
<p>Best:</p>
<p>-anything that has to do with the presence of the grad programs. All the faculty and students of top calibre (say, HYPSM level) really make Berkeley a potentially unrivaled intellectual experience, unless of course you go to one of those schools. According to usnews, berkeley (grad… but shared with undergrad) departments which rank #1 include computer science, chemistry, math, history, english, psychology, sociology… How many other schools claim that!!! I haven’t even listed departments which rank a measly #2 in the united states according to usnwr.</p>
<p>-all the undergrads who are also at that level, who are intellectual and care about thinking and are passionate about rethinking core aspects of society and technology and art.</p>
<p>-all the undergrads who are friendly, challenging, welcoming, quirky, interesting, humorous, passionate, and even sometimes a little mystical.</p>
<p>-the views of the bay, SF skyline, and the golden gate bridge which we can see walking around campus almost all the time. Seriously, how many campuses have our views? We’re perched on a hill overlooking the entire bay, it’s incredible.
-the weather, blue skies, not too hot, usually not too cold
-the occasional mood-setting fog
-the unique, cultured, and cheap food which is all over town
-the incredible amount of interesting small shops (I love the general lack of typical chains) record stores and creperies and so much more
-greek / mediterranean architecture, the campanile
-one of the largest library systems in the US, along with the collections of congress and harvard
-the big football games in memorial stadium, when the whole area is alive and music is playing all over in the streets
-the legacy: fighting for what you believe in, school pride (chem/physics achievements include Berkelium, Plutonium, Calutrons, etc) academic excellence, international influence</p>
<p>Worst:</p>
<p>-an unfortunately large (majority) part of the undergraduate student body…:
who don’t care about thinking, reconsidering, debating, etc
who push for grades… just grades
who seek out easy classes (our hallway was filled with fliers advertising “easy courses”)
who aren’t passionate, join clubs for the resume, don’t care about anything except weaseling their way to become “credentialed”
who protest and join clubs about issues they don’t even care/know about, rendering the movement useless, annoying, and a waste of space.</p>
<p>-the fact that so many brilliant people are here all over campus but they’re diluted among an army of thousands of people who really don’t care about anything except “the process” they’re in</p>
<p>-the lack of a manicured campus, including the presence of several ugly buildings. California hall and such should have remained an architectural model for the rest of campus. It would be so much more beautiful if they had maintained the greek theme. It would have destroyed stanfurd taco bell giant fast food restaurant, and would provide such a fresh change from gothic (yale/chic/princeton etc). I can’t think of any other major universities with a greek theme.</p>
<p>I FIRMLY believe that by simply reducing the size of the undergraduate population, berkeley would instantly become a peer (yes, at undergrad level) of HYPSM in ways that even higher-ranked schools (emory, hopkins, washU) simply couldn’t, at least not by the easy/quick decision of cutting more kids. the faculty, top students, college town, everything is here but I feel like too many people crowd it out. Issues of large lecture halls, waitlist issues, etc would also be fixed immediately. This is honestly possibly the easiest move any school could make to drastically transform its effectiveness and also prestige across the board. Of course, maybe in that case I wouldn’t have been admitted! :D</p>
<p>People always say that berkeley is supposed to be large so it can serve CA kids, but I think by reducing the size of the undergraduate population, Berkeley would better serve the top CA kids. It’s not like we have a shortage of other public universities in this state…</p>
<p>^ Basically, everything is amazing except for a large majority of the huge undergraduate population (and the issues which result from this), and also the lack of the campus greek/mediterranean theme!</p>
<p>I love everything else (academics, courses, faculty, weather/location, food, town/shops, core building style, top incredible students/peers both undergrad and grad, the library sports, legacy/prestige)</p>
<p>Not bad IMO! Not too far from being my, or should I say THE ultimate university!!</p>
<p>^ Right, my thoughts exactly.</p>
<p>Likes:
-great big campus with lots of things to do</p>
<p>Dislikes:
-Full of hobos lol!!!</p>
<p>I don’t mind hobos, they come with being in a large city. When I visited schools and the surrounding neighbourhoods in New York, Boston and Chicago, I almost got mugged three times. At least hobos have the decency to ask you for money. I’m considering applying to Berkeley and I hope it’s not as bad as the majority of the posters in the thread made it out to be.</p>
<p>[UCPD</a> Berkeley | Crime Alerts | 2011](<a href=“http://police.berkeley.edu/crimealerts/2011/]UCPD”>http://police.berkeley.edu/crimealerts/2011/)</p>
<p>wheeee</p>
<p>so this is how you fight crime, huh batman?</p>
<p>lmao oh great… Illegal Sexual Conduct with Patients - University Health Services</p>
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<p>^ Seconded. There’s a whole nine other UC campuses and a whole other CSU system out there for those who are just going to take up space and float through the system just so they can rack up their numbers and prestige. However, I do understand that as a public school Cal could use the extra income coming in from tuition (especially out-of-state). </p>
<p>I really do believe in the academic prestige of Cal though, and despite its financial setbacks and crowding it really isn’t that far down from top “intellectual” schools like UChicago and some ivies.</p>
<p>From my brief visits thus far, before I start this Fall, I have a few opinions:</p>
<p>Likes: </p>
<p>The campus (haas especially)
Top Dog
RSF</p>
<p>Dislikes:</p>
<p>The FOBs (I’m Asian and from De Anza, and there’s too many international students for my liking)
The Berkeley high school punks
The homeless people who harass you (different from homeless people I help feed in SF who are less obnoxious)</p>
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what a saint, caring about people when it’s convenient. is that the bs you spun to get into Cal?</p>
<p>^I think that’s a stretch. I can relate to the frustration Investment feels with the high school age street-punk kids who don’t seem to be seeking any progress/mobility in life (even by begging for food/money). After spending many times on telegraph it’s easy to become resentful of the constant smell (dreadlocks) general crudeness, harassment and pity for the poor dogs they keep with them – for better or worse. Personally I can’t help but think that not long ago there was a family for these kids that would’ve wanted them to succeed but they rejected them (perhaps it was mutual). Let’s just say that it is natural to have different attitudes to different strains of the “less fortunate”, just as you may have different views of pre-meds who seem only after the prestige vs those who really seem committed to the subject.</p>