Here’s some things to think about to start:
Big college: So. Many. Niche. Classes. I took a History of the Celebrity class and a Peace and Conflict Studies class. There’s City Planning Classes, Archaeology of Food in the US, Biomimicry, Drugs and the Brain, etc. For major requirements, there’s more elective options than liberal schools, some of which might be that tiny area that you’re interested in. For example, I’m hoping to take two Health Economics classes.
Homeless people: All of you suburbia people, get out of your comfort zone, learn about humanity, don’t be isolated in your socioeconomic bubble. Talk to some elderly hippies and mildly crazy people. Billie is the Dinosaur man who dresses up every weekday and can have an intellectual discussion about feminism or Tolstoy. Common Terry might yell at you about oil and conspiracy theories but he’s a pretty nice guy if you ask how his day is. Thomas sits and does crossword puzzles on Sproul. BTW Sproul will keep you up to date about everything that is going on at Berkeley, ever, so take a flyer every now and then. Plus there’s bake sales always going on, so buy easily accessible food that supports something.
Protests: They don’t happen that often. The news helicopters are annoying. Protests were bigger in the 60s. Berkeley people aren’t passive. Some of us have strong feelings and we are willing to do something about it. We’re idealists who believe that we can make the world a better place. Plus, if anyone messes with us, mistreating employees or something, someone will protest and fix it. It makes the administration more inclusive of students. They keep us in the loop; there will never be accusations of a cover up.
Liberalism: There’s definitely an outspoken republican minority. But not everyone is liberal either, and there’s a good number of people who go to church. I will get a number on that later/tomorrow. People are moderate, with strong opinions on some things, usually different things. Which is interesting for debates. Anyone can find their group to agree with them or find someone who disagrees with them.
City: It’s not really a city. It’s more of a town. No skyscrapers or office buildings. Just a lot of apartments, victorian style houses, and good places to eat. I am not going to be able to try all of them in four years. There are also, of course, a lot of coffee shops. Find your favorite. So many possible parameters.
Academics: Are hard. You won’t be bored. You won’t get all As. Learn how to fail, but everyone around you is also not getting straight As so it’s alright and it’s a good experience. It makes you that much more excited when you get an A. Grad schools supposedly weight Berkeley GPAs slightly higher because of that.
The one thing that you need to like about a college is the people. You can’t get used to hating everyone, not relating to anyone. Find out the most you can about who goes to school, who from your school also got in or is going. Berkeley has a lot of really cool people who have started businesses, joined startups, started nonprofits, created cool things, and are really inspiring to be around. Your friends inspire you to try and get internships, or research, preparing you better for grad school. Everyone is smart, so no one brags. We aren’t competitive, don’t talk about grades much, although we do talk about cool stuff that we’re learning in classes and have philosophical discussions. We’re not fake happy (except for me and only sometimes); we’re real, sometimes cynical, but we believe that the world can be better. There’s people from all over, from Lebanon to New Zealand to China to France.