I would recommend staying at Graduate (Google Maps)
I haven’t been myself but I have friends who stayed there last weekend to visit Cal and loved the proximity to campus and found the hotel itself very comfortable!!! Not sure about availability as I know it’s quite popular but something to consider.
My family stayed at the Rose Garden Inn-- would not recommend it. Prices were good but our bathroom didn’t work and it was a little unkempt.
Have an amazing time!
…that is perfect!..Do you think one full day is enough to see the school? If we get there Saturday afternoon can we see / get a vibe of UC Berkeley and the area and leave Sunday afternoon?
Yes!! Definitely. You won’t see every little thing, but it will get you extremely excited about attending!
I would get a map of the campus from the student store or print one out online and just plan out a walk on the main parts of the campus, making sure you see the faculty you’re committed to. Spend some time on Telegraph, Shattuck, and College (especially meals!) and walk by all the dorms to see where you’d like to live, what’s most convenient depending on where your building is, etc.
If you have extra time, I would really recommend doing a walk up through Berkeley Hills. Not a campus vibe, but beautiful views of Berkeley, the Bay, and San Francisco.
Feel free to PM me (and I’ll give you my email) if you’d like more specific spots to check out! I am from the Bay Area and decently familiar with what surrounds the campus. And I will be a first-year student there next year!
Thanks for the info. We are going in a week to see it and staying at the Graduate!
Berkeley is in an urban area. Local train (BART), long distance train (AMTRAK), campus bus, public bus, taxi, uber, lyft … many options for transportation. For example, if you are going to or coming from Airport (SFO or Oakland), you do not need taxi or uber, you can catch train from airport and come to Berkeley and vice-versa. The campus is inside the town of Berkeley (right on downtown), is surrounded by streets full of shops, cafes, restaurants and plenty of public transports.
If you’re staying at The Graduate, you might want to confirm the Parking situation with them. One great thing about that location are all the cheap international eats nearby. I’d recommend trying out one or two of the cheap spots right across the street from you on Durant. Most students hit these places a lot - I know I did when I was there, an my son does as well (Freshman now). Even with the current situation, Durant Ave. is pretty busy, day and night, and is really the heart of the Southside of campus.
Depending on where you are from, and if you’ve never been to Berkeley, you might be a little shocked at the scene that borders the campus. It’s incredibly unique, and when everyone is at school, it is very alive.
I agree with ig364728 about taking a walk above campus into the hills, especially if you can arrange a view into Memorial Stadium. That view looking over the stadium across into the SF Bay is one in a million.
We’ll be there this weekend too. We really love hanging out over there.
@JMManley Step 1. assist.org
2. Bother the advisor at community college. Assuming you have access to them.
3. When you get access to L&S advisors bother them.
They let her in. She probably has it covered if they already let her in.
If she needs it, she can probably take it over the summer, even if it’s next summer.
Once she’s on Calcentral, she can figure out who her advisor is and check on her graduation requirements.
If she’s already accepted, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
That would be me. I have a lot of other replies about this by the way if you click on my name.
We live in the area but drove to Berkeley to show our daughter since it looks quite different when you are an admitted student! Anyway, the Graduate was excellent. We ate pizza nearby and the Graduate let us use the restroom. Very cute Boutique hotel. There are 8,000 volumes of Nat Geo lining the wall behind the front desk! My daughter loved the campus! We started by doing the selfguided tour, starting it somewhere in the middle based on our parking. We definitely walked up to Memorial stadium and looped around through the dorms and ended on Telegraph. I suggest a drive up to the Lawrence Hall of Sciences that goes by the Arboretum. Great views and let my daughter see the more natural parts of campus and all of the hiking she could access. If your son/daughter is not used to an urban setting complete with all of the normal urban sights and sounds, be sure to show the other sides of the community/campus. There is so much to explore in and around campus! Good Luck and Go Bears!
Awesome! We will be there this weekend to visit Cal and Davis. My kid likes to hike so we will make sure we do at least one. Any advice from locals for a short (<3 mile) casual hike that we can do to give my kid an idea of the nature around Cal?
At the top of the hill just past the Lawrence Hall of Science is Tilden park…tons of hikes. Also, my oldest daughter just graduated from Davis…she just loved every second of her time there. It has such a GREAT vibe. Check out the farmer’s market in town on Saturday if you can. I think CAL has a farmer’s market, too. But, the Davis one is amazing!
Thank you so much! Both my girls loved Davis when we toured last summer! Even though there were no student around, we could tell by the way the campus is laid out, the decor, and the many student run organizations that Davis has a special culture. The oldest is interested in environmental science and the youngest wants to be a vet. My dream is for both to go to Davis and live together but I think the siren song of Cal could be too much for the oldest, plus she really likes the urban lifestyle. Conversely the more chill, collaborative vibe is more suited to my youngest. I will settle for one kid at Cal and one at Davis!!! Thank you again for the tip. We will definitely check it out.
Thank you. I got the info originally from Assist; that’s where the confusion began with a note on the CC and UCB GE agreement that says-
“* Unless the ENGLISH R1A and R1B equivalents are separately specified, do not assume that a sequence can be divided. If a series of courses at a community college is required (e.g., English 1A + 1B + 1C = English R1A and R1B), all the courses in the series must be completed and must be completed at the same community college.”
Our biggest concern was that she might need to take English 1C this summer before attending UCB, and the course is filling up since registration is open.
However, I did get an answer from the UCB L&S Virtual Advisor Help Desk. Even though 1A+1B+1C may need to be taken together in sequence, 1C does not need to be taken to fulfill the writing requirement or the reading and composition requirement. The note in the agreement does not apply. Strange that they include it on the agreement, but there you have it.
Hike to the a big C and the tree swing. Great views of the bay if it’s clear🤩
My daughter was accepted as well with the intention to major in MCD. Do you need to pre-qualify to get into the major? Based on what I read, it did not look like it. Also, was your daughter able to access an advisor? Were her freshman classes difficult to get into? And, how collaborative/competitive has the culture been? We just visited and loved the campus. My daughter is a little skittish about the city and safety concerns. During winter when it is dark early and you come out of the library, how do you get to Clark Kerr? It seems a lot of freshmen live there. Thanks for any guidance. She is evaluating her choices and Cal is definitely very high on the list!
MCB! (not MCD)
I could be wrong but I believe most freshmen live in the units
Make sure she uses the escort service. I think it’s called Bear Walk.
Or go/walk with a group.
Wow, ok a lot of questions…
I’ll do my best, but this is my D’s experience as I understand it, and just one student’s take on things.
There are certain classes to complete before declaring the MCB major. Advising is varied depending on who you access, there is L&S advising, MCB advising and premed advising, so a generalization can’t be made because they are all different.
She’s always gotten her classes, but early on sometimes she had to join the waitlist for a class. Once the semester starts, there’s a massive shuffling of classes as kids drop/add and she’s always gotten her classes after a few days.
Safety: it’s been written here before, don’t walk alone at night, dorms have study spaces so you can avoid a solo night trip to the library. There is a long wait (like an hr+) for Bear Walk so that wasn’t really viable. She tried it twice and couldn’t deal with the wait.
Alot of freshmen do live in Clark Kerr, as well as the units, Blackwell, and others. The Residential Life website has info on freshman dorms.
Hope I covered it all. I would definitely ask kids from your HS that currently attend for their opinions, that helped my D alot early on.