What is the city of Berkeley like?

I was surprised recently to hear someone describe it as “seedy”? I have never been there. Would you say it is safe for students?

It’s as safe as any large, urban university. There are many homeless people around campus, and there is some visible drug use on the streets.

It’s urban. Some parts of town (some near campus) have panhandlers, some of whom can be aggressive. It’s also got some really lovely parts of town and a lot of highly-educated citizens. It’s a very dynamic place with lots of ethnic restaurants and people from all over the world. Kids should use their street smarts like in any urban location. There are parts of town that kids should avoid if they are alone, especially late at night.

There is a large homeless population with a lot of drug use but you can avoid it for the most part. I’ve never had any incidents nor has anyone I’ve known.

There are parts of campus that are seedy at night, closer to the Greek Theatre, Unit 1, and the dining halls. I’ve known a few people who’ve gotten mugged there but not many.

There is political activity too but I’ve never felt unsafe because I don’t participate in it directly and I avoid all areas.

I’ve walked home at 2-3 AM through campus and been ok, just use street smarts. No phones and I carry pepper spray. You’ll learn quickly where it’s safe to be at night and where it isn’t.

But yeah, I probably could’ve made this post about any urban school. Since the campus is in the middle of Berkeley there’s no escaping city problems.

Depends on which part of the city you are talking about. Yes, around campus, it can be a bit “crunchy”, as probably many urban colleges are. My D was in Martinez last year (literally backs up to Peoples Park) and never had any issues (nor with the demonstrations, as she too wasn’t into that and avoided those areas). But then, she wasn’t staggering home from parties at 2:00a.m. either. There are also neighborhoods that are very family-friendly and less crunchy (north side of campus, Elmwood, for examples). During the school year, the streets around the campus are literally swarming with students during the day. Just take care to keep your electronics (especially laptops) secure when out in public. When out at night, try not to be alone (or call for a Bear Walk), and keep your electronics tucked away. The great thing about Berkeley is all of the eating options and access to stores and groceries, etc. D is experiencing life in a suburban college town across the country this summer and is really missing that.

I’d say that stating “it’s as safe as any urban University” is a bit misleading. Many urban universities are in much safer areas, like UCLA, UCSD, etc. the area felt somewhat seedy when I visited a couple of months ago.

@collegefind1234 what you say is also misleading. The “seedy” part is contained on one side of the campus pretty much on one street, maybe two streets. Westwood isn’t exactly peaches and cream either, they certainly have their share of homeless right outside too.

I would say “seedy” is accurate for the area outside UCB. I have encountered a couple homeless panhandlers within Westwood, but never felt unsafe walking alone there even at night. No comparison between Westwood village (immediately adjacent to UCLA) vs. UCB adjacent areas, the latter is absolutely “grittier” whereas Westwood village is pretty upscale. I wouldn’t let that prevent you from attending UCB though, the campus itself is very nice, and academically stellar.

As @collegefind1234 stated most urban campuses are not surrounded by seedy/grungy neighborhoods like Berkeley.

I dunno, USC, SJSU, U Chicago, Temple, Yale, Duke, Maryland, John Hopkins, they all have much worse surrounding environments. Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Penn and many other places if you go more than a mile away from campus gets seedy.

If your going to go to college in a city you need to understand what areas are relatively safe and which are not, barring that, try a rural LAC and you’ll have no problems.

As the pendulum swings, large city Universities seem to be in vogue right now.

I’m not very unfamiliar with Berkeley at all since I’m in the process of moving in from greater Sacramento area. Recently I’ve decided to go for a walk along San Pablo Ave. at around 8pm and I’ve encountered homeless people and some people smoking something that smelled funny. But none of these people seemed to pose a threat at all. Maybe if you come from a suburban place like I do, where is virtually impossible to see someone homeless in the streets, then it can be quite shocking. But I grew up in Latin America where cities are dangerous for real, so putting things into perspective, I’d say it’s safe to go out; if you’re a girl, then ask a friend/roommate to walk with you until you get to know the places around campus.

I live in Kensington (Berkeley Hills, 12 mins drive from Cal) and the whole neighborhood has a “small town feel.” Crime seems to be really low in this area, so if you decide to go for a hike, come visit the UC Regents Botanical Garden and go to the zone around Tilden Park for a picnic!

My D has been at UCB for 6 years now without any incident. She lives in the North side, but frequently walks to the South side (e.g. for shopping or dinner). She walks and bikes a lot as daily exercise.

There are some areas that she would not walk alone at night, but in general, if one is aware of the surroundings and doesn’t do anything stupid, no one will bother him/her.

We visited last summer and found it to be seedy and unfriendly. A lot of homeless and odd looking characters everywhere, and we are from New York, so we have our share interesting people. Manhattan feels safer to us. We walked away with zero interest in the school. It may be a great place to go to school, but you have to want the scene that you get with it.

When we drove away after helping move my D into Unit 3, I was in tears with sadness and fear. My D has never been away from us for longer than a week and we live in a prominent area in O.C. For a few weeks, I made her text me every evening so I can go to bed with peace of mind. When I visited in October for parents weekend, she walked me around and homeless people were waving with her. I was so surprised! She told me later that sometimes she would give them food and just say Hi without chatting, smile when she walks by and sure enough she grew up before I knew it.

All situations are based on how you receive it and react to it. It may seem seedy and unsafe, but if you are street smart and stay away from certain areas and always in a group at night you will be fine.

To be more specific: I avoid People’s Park all the time. I avoid going more than two blocks on Telegraph at night, and Downtown, in general, at night (bring friends for that if you’re spending more than 20 minutes walking around).

That’s it within walking distance. Downtown might have more specific areas but I haven’t spent that much time there. Homeless people mostly stay in People’s Park, downtown Berkeley, and on Telegraph. But then again, at night, a good amount of them stay in shelters, so Telegraph isn’t that bad. I don’t know. It’s not something that you mind after a bit. I like how idealistic Berkeley is. We take care of people. My suburban city kicks out all panhandlers within a few hours. It’s good to get out of my bubble.
I like walking on frat row at night. There’s a lot of people at all hours.

On streets that are not well lit at night like Hillegass Ave., Dwight Way, Haste St…, etc., it is best not to walk alone at night, especially after 10 or 11, and especially if you are a female. Same for the Northside of campus. The West side is better lit, but as someone already mentioned, there are more homeless and drifters there. Always be aware of your surroundings and be vigilant when walking at night around the campus area.

I don’t spend a lot of time in either NYC or the Bay Area, but I do visit both periodically, and have done so for many years.

My impression, admittedly just as a visitor, is that over the long term (past few decades), NYC has become significantly cleaner, safer, and generally more pleasant.

Unfortunately, I don’t have that same feeling about the Bay Area. As a native Californian, I hate to admit it, but I’m not alone here.

Granted, that's SF, not Berkeley. But Berkeley residents know what he's talking about.

UCLA has been getting more freshman applications than Berkeley for many years, since at least the 1990s. Well, OK, Greater LA is huge, even bigger than the Bay Area.

Then for Fall 2013, UC San Diego got more freshman applications than Berkeley.
For Fall 2017, UC Irvine got more freshman applications than Berkeley.
The latest numbers, for Fall 2018, show that UC Santa Barbara got more freshman applications than Berkeley.

So over the past few years, Berkeley has fallen to #5, out of 9 undergraduate UCs, in terms of freshman application volume. Something is going on here. Now, I can’t say for sure what it is, and maybe nobody else can either. But it wouldn’t surprise me if the perceived grunginess of Berkeley, relative to those other UC campus locations, is a turnoff to some prospective students.

To @Corbett’s query about why Cal is getting fewer applications in recent years, I can answer for my S18 and others in his graduating class: housing. There is such a shortage of housing at Cal that we hear about freshmen being housed at St Mary’s and in San Francisco, as well as students taking classes at office buildings in SF instead of on the college campus. Housing is uber expensive in Berkeley, hard to find, and not well maintained. In contrast, UCLA guarantees on-campus housing for 3 years. This issue was huge for us and basically put Berkeley out of the running.