The OP’s D is a transfer student, I don’t think it was stated where she’s transferring from.
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I guess being born and raised in SD…does nothing for me anymore…but again…up to her…she is comfortable there for sure…she has been many times. I would choose Santa Barbara…but she has no interest for some reason. On a serious note…I am grateful she has choices. Straight out of high school, not one of these universities accepted her. Just enormous numbers of applicants.
Thanks, I should probably have read the first line. 
It sounds like she has made up her decision.
Regarding the student notifications of crime, could she be referring to the WarnMe alerts?
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This is a psych degree. Where you go matters little and all three schools are great. There will likely be no outcome difference for UCB, UCSD, or UCSB. And you can add pretty much every state flagship to that statement.
Even if it was once in a lifetime, do you really want your student to be uncomfortable with where they are, day after day.
The student got into 3 wonderful schools. As long as there are no budget issues and I assume there aren’t as only housing would be different, then the student should decide.
Best of luck to them.
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I don’t use forums much. Mostly because in my gut I think why would you let strangers influence what you think. I suppose in the past I went to forums looking for affirmation of my existing opinions right :>)…and another reason…their is always some hardened million post guy that just slaps you in the face with your confusion. They exist just to irritate people.
But honestly this time…I think I actually have changed my mind a bit on things. I probably was thinking Berkeley was “the opportunity of a lifetime” …maybe I was influencing my child…and I am more comfortable now I think with any school she chooses. Now its true she has said her gut says Berkeley, but I will let her know we are comfortable with whatever she decides and for whatever reason, if any at all.
One thing I did not mention is that her best HS friend also got into UCSD(and USB I guess) and I was afraid she would base her decision on rooming or something with her friend, even though IMO her friend is quite unreliable in most things :>)…anyway that is not the point. Just to say thanks for all the feedback. It was positive for me I think.
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One thing I’d add is that there are two related but different safety issues all kids should be aware of in urban areas. For sure, one is knowing how to reduce their chances of being a victim of theft. But, I also think it’s important to understand what to expect and how to navigate living with a homeless population. There’s a very fine line of not being dismissive but also not engaging. There’s a real unpredictability when dealing with potential mental illness and/or drug use. I won’t go any further. But I do think it’s a skill that needs to be learned and kids should be prepared, whether it be at Berkeley or another urban environment.
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Story: when I was at Cal in the 90s, there was a guy (possibly homeless. I was never sure)nicknamed ‘Rare’ who would literally run around the city yelling “RAAAAARRRRREEE!!!”. He was intimidatingly very buff and had wild hair. But he was a sweet guy and always had sports trivia questions for you if you said hi to him. I just assumed he faded away at some point.
Fast forward 30 years, I was standing outside IB Hoagies 3 weeks ago, and this heavyset guy walks by and stops right in front of me and asks: “who is the only major leaguer to have 10 consecutive seasons with 200 or more base hits?” (surprisingly I knew the answer right away and replied with ‘Ichiro’) Then he says “that’s right. Pete Rose has more than 10 seasons with 200+ hits but they weren’t consecutive”
I’m looking at the guy, and there’s no way it’s Rare. But I asked him if he was Rare, and he says “Yeah buddy, but now it’s 'HELLLLLL YEAHHHH!!”
So yeah, it was him. He goes by Hell Yeah now. I know not all interactions with the characters around Berkeley go like this, but this was a fun, nostalgic interaction for me.
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That is such a Berkeley story - I love it.
My favorite odd campus character was the Happy, Happy, Happy guy who would stand on Sproul Plaza and repeatedly say “Happy, happy, happy,” with intermittent “Sad, sad, sad.” I haven’t seen him since before Covid and hope he’s OK.
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In a few days visit your daughter would have ample opportunity to learn whether she is comfortable in that environment or not. There isn’t some hidden danger lurking that was not showing up in the Cleary stats or a visit. My kids knew within a very brief visit whether they felt comfortable.
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When I was in college (back when crime generally was much higher than it is now), it was common for students who grew up in lower crime areas to have poor security awareness – meaning that they left doors unlocked or propped open, and left stuff unattended. It was no surprise that theft was common…
My kid left a visible backpack in a car one day, for an hour. Car windows smashed, backpack gone. He learned…
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Leaving valuables in a car/parking lot I think is known as taking a chance worldwide…I was more concerned with person to person type crimes obviously. I mean i live in a safe neighborhood…but I don’t leave valuables in any car.
I went to Cal in the mid-80s and remember Rare very well. He was indeed intimidating at first, but I ended up having a genuinely interesting convo about music with him at that yakitori place in the Asian food court. Very Berkeley.
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Your mileage will vary depending on what you’re accustomed to. My daughter is a second year. She lived in Unit 3 last year and has an apartment with friends this year. We’re from San Francisco. She had a bunch of friends over at our apartment for brunch last weekend in the City. Wide ranging conversation. I think everyone there was from urban areas (SF, East Bay, LA). Safety did not come up. I’ve asked if she feels safe and she says yes - except walking alone at night. They are careful to walk each other home in groups always, and I fixed her up a bike with lit helmet for the occasional night trip alone (firmly believe riding briskly is safer than walking). Situational awareness is key. In time, you also develop a sense of which addicted or unbounded people are unsafe, and take care to maintain distance. I’m not saying the level of chaos in Berkeley, SF or other places is okay or that I support the approx he’s currently in use to manage addiction and housing insecurity. Rather, that some of the risks are overblown. Very bad things happen, but rarely, and frankly everywhere. It can seem like there’s a critical mass of chaos in cities, but having spent time visiting family in rural counties, I know how bad poverty and drug use is there too. It bursts out from behind closed doors too. I would visit, with the understanding that first impressions matter but comfort zones also increase.
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We are going for a visit. My gut feel was about what everyone said. I have been to SF many times and encountered homeless here and there. Now…it we go …and every 5 feet there is some guy laying on the sidewalk we have to step over in the downtown area next to Berkeley. I definitely will take that into consideration as we are getting ZERO financial aid…I won’t pay for that. But I don’t expect that either…we’ll see.
So we were in Berkeley this weekend for a tour…Graduate Berkeley hotel which is in the area…btw my daughter told us she is choosing Berkeley yesterday but she was leaning to that before…as far as homeless. Well…saw a few guys roaming around the campus talking to themselves during the tour. Once guy seem to set up a sprawling little littered camp right in front of the student union…don’t know how long he has been there.
As far as walking around the town(for lunch, shopping etc)…I would estimate there is a homeless person about every 500 feet or so…mostly walking somewhere…when I asked my daughter if she noticed all the homeless she said yes…like i had said before…she has seen homeless before…just really does not pay attention…but she is a kid.
Me…while I have sympathy, honestly if i was running things there would be no guy camping out in front of the student union. IMO they just want to take advantage of kids who maybe have not learned to say no. Who knows.
So while I don’t think having all the homeless around is in any way a good thing it not enough to give up this chance to go to Berkeley. Heck if we let homeless control the dreams and goals we have for ourselves…well…that is not something we are willing to do.
Oh yes…down the street from Berkeley there is some church that gives free hot meals every day or maybe just on the weekend…so that could be part of the reason they hang around a lot…
Thanks for the update. Always nice to know where posters end up