Yea, mercy for the golden retriever…he’s definitely going there! Love it! Congrats.
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Can you define sketchy? Just want my son, who is coming from a town of 1200 with no crime, to know what he should be aware of…he’s never even had to lock a door because we don’t even own a key to the house and we always leave the car keys in the ignition, parked on the driveway…But he craves a city experience so he’s going to have to learn how to live in one!
I suggest reviewing the campus safety report. It provides detailed breakdown and since there is a federal law (Clery Act) governing data reporting, the reports are easily comparable across schools. We did this comparison for the top 2 schools. Just make sure you translate raw crime #s into per capita values.
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You can also view the Berkeley UCPD Crime Log. Note that is different than the City of Berkeley PD.
Since you mentioned locking your house and car, this might be helpful. City of Berkeley Crime Prevention Packet.
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I believe the sketchy people to refer to are the homeless. I grew up in the Bay Area and it’s quite prevalent in Oakland, San Francisco and Berkeley. It has never bothered me, but I was also brought by my family to help the homeless (sometimes directly). I have never ever felt threatened by a homeless person but I can see how they would be intimidating especially if you lived in areas where there was none.
I wouldn’t advice leaving doors unlocked and car keys in ignition in any neighborhood in California no matter how safe/affluent the neighborhood. It does seem there’s a lot more theft.
I went to a school in a very small country town/central coast and not to freak people out, as a young women I had some very disturbing run ins with non student males preying on women. I think they only way you can be absolutely safe is to live on a fully gated campus (like Pepperdine).
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Okay, now I’m kind of scared. There are that many crimes in a year!?? My son is going to have a lot to learn about staying safe and how to live in a city.
Like I said, please translate these #s into per capita basis. Berkeley is a dense urban area and frankly the crime stats are pretty good in that context. Of course, no level of crime is acceptable but the context matters. Please do the same for any other college your interested and compare the per capita #s.
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Would be interesting to compare to other campus of similar size. The rape # is alarming. 1 is unacceptable IMO.
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Please consider that quaint ivory tower campus - Harvard. The cumulative total over the last 3 reporting years:
Rape: Harvard 74 UCB 88
As a parent, I can totally understand concerns but I actually believe Berkeley is one of the most inclusive cities on the planet and to some extent the city accommodates people that other cities will get rid off ruthlessly.
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I’m sure there are troubling statistics on every campus and sadly it’s most likely the students not neighboring adults.
Second part totally agree and what I love so much about where we live!
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We were really impressed by Cal Day. There was so much going on!
The 8am welcome in the stadium was excellent (if early), especially the speech from the Dean of Admissions, Olufemi Ogundele, and the marching band playing Jimmy Eat World. We walked across campus and checked out a few tables and exhibits along the way, making our way to the welcome at the College of Natural Resources. After a few speeches from CNR deans, they had spots around the courtyard where students could talk with representatives from each of the majors within the college, to hear about their experience and their major. Our D was able to connect with another student and they really hit it off (both had seen each other on the CNR tour the day before and thought “they seem cool!”). We talked to a few CNR-related clubs that were there (I got a seedling of a Giant Sequoia from the Forestry Club) and ate sno-cones. CNR was a delight, and everything we saw in person reinforced what we’ve seen online over the last year.
We then walked up to the engineering school out of curiosity, and checked out the makerspace and got a live demo from two researchers in a lab doing volumetric 3D printing. We looked for the “fire tornado” and couldn’t find it, though we did see a Berkeley fire department truck with lights on and can only assume that something got out of hand and somebody learned a valuable lesson.
We kept walking around campus and made our way over to Sproul Plaza, where there were tons of tables from different campus organizations and institutes. We talked to several, and picked up some brochures. We headed over to a ceramics studio and played a variation of beer pong (no beer) and won a ceramic pot made by a student. We went to an “instrument petting zoo” in the music building. We went to a print sale in the art building. We bought an ancient cloth map from a fundraiser run by really sweetly passionate Geography majors. We saw students playing a wild combat sport (rugby with comically large foam swords) called Jugger. We toured dorms. We saw a cappella bands and a Chinese dragon dance team. D apparently signed up to play cymbals with the marching band (she’s never touched a cymbal in her life, so who knows how this’ll go).
It was a really terrific day, and I was impressed by how much was happening. D has been positively beaming all weekend, and can’t wait for the fall.
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My family had a great experience yesterday, beginning with the morning welcome at Memorial Stadium, but we had pretty much settled on Berkeley before the visit. I am fairly familiar with the campus but my husband and son’s time there has been more limited, and they were both impressed. My son wants to study in a more urban environment so nothing in Berkeley gave him any pause, including People’s Park. We had a great tour guide and he was able to connect with a couple of current students.
We made the rounds of the academic and club tables, and while we were waiting for him to finish socializing we drove up to the Lawrence Hall of Science and took in the amazing view! There was a rugby match going on as we made our way up the hill. It seems like there is always something interesting one can find to do on campus. We put a lot of things on our To Do list on another visit (including visiting the Campanile and the Botanic Garden). Just have to think about housing options now…
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We visited Cal Day and it was awesome. A lot of people. My son signed up at Physics table for counseling and got information at many tables. We checked dorms from outside and took a lunch at a dorm cafeteria, which was good.
In terms of safety, here are some crime maps.
https://crimegrade.org/safest-places-in-san-francisco-ca-metro/
https://crimegrade.org/safest-places-in-los-angeles-ca-metro/
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Our experience Cal day was very similar to what it was a few years ago when our older son was accepted, except no lectures and dorm tours. But it was probably 2x more people than 3 years ago. Our current senior was much impressed. Gave him alot to consider. He thought campus was beautiful and lots of space. The brothers hiked up to the big C. He experienced a few of the restaurants down town. Said the school spirit is pretty high. More than the other schools he’s visited. Cal was pretty inviting and was happy that you were there. He like others didn’t enjoy the homeless presence and more than that the prevalent smells of Marijuana from some areas of campus. I told him those are likely on most campuses regardless if you noticed it on your tour. I was hoping to have his SIR submitted this weekend. But he’s still mulling it over.
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A place where there are no thieves (or other criminals) is an outlier compared to most places. Regardless of college he attends, he needs to get into the habit of not leaving valuable things or places unattended and unlocked.
The other crime type of problem that occurs at residential college campuses in general is frosh without alcohol experience getting drunk at parties and either becoming easy victims (for theft or sexual predation), or getting into legal trouble themselves (getting into fights, sexual activity without clear consent).
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Residential colleges (e.g. UCB, Stanford, UCLA, Claremont colleges) tend to be red spots in crime maps (USC is also red, but is in a generally red area of Los Angeles). Probably because students who grew up in low crime areas are not used to taking security precautions with their stuff which then gets stolen. Airports and business districts are also likely to be red spots in crime maps.
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I’m guessing he’s going to have to learn some things the hard way the first time, hopefully something low key like locking himself out of his room because he forgets his keys or getting his wallet stolen, so that he becomes more aware of his surroundings and to be more watchful. It’s hard when you’ve never had to be careful before. We are incredibly fortunate to live where there is no crime. But there is also not much of anything else happening so that’s why S22 cannot wait to experience a city. He’s not a partier either so hopefully will avoid the problems that arise from too much alcohol.
No doubt it will be a bit of culture shock for him coming from a small, rural area, but at the risk of repeating what I’ve probably already said somewhere above in this thread, Berkeley really isn’t “unsafe” by any stretch. I’ve lived here 20 years, raised 3 kids here, and it is by and large a safe, welcoming, wonderful place to be. I very rarely feel unsafe – occasionally I might feel uncomfortable in the presence of someone who is clearly struggling with mental health issues, but that’s about it. A lot of the crime in the crime statistics is from property crime. It’s definitely higher around college campuses everywhere. So he’ll definitely need to keep valuables close (i.e., never leave your laptop unattended at a cafe), be ready to lose a bike or bike wheels if he’s biking and parking his bike on campus, etc. Be aware of your surroundings and you are generally going to be fine. Congrats on his acceptance. I hope he’ll love it here.
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I’m sorry I was not going to scare you. The map seems to give us a little too exaggerated impression as I’m living in LA area.
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I went to Harvard and we live outside of Boston. I actually said this weekend that Berkeley reminds me a lot of Cambridge - the general feel, the presence of homeless people, and the need to stay alert. My daughter is definitely not ‘worldly’ (we live in a town of 25k) - but she likes to go to Harvard Square with her friends on the weekend and we have no issues with her safety there, or at Berkeley. If the kids are smart and aware, I don’t think there is a significant safety risk in Berkeley.
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