I’m trying to decide between a few universities, one of which is UC Berkeley. Why would you choose Berkeley?
I chose Berkeley because it is an incredibly unique and formative place. The students are smart and driven, the faculty are fascinating and renowned, sure. But what gave Cal the edge for me was partly location (there is so much happening in terms of art, activism, music etc) and the passion of the people. It is a huge place with so much diversity and people who have amazing visions for this world. Berkeley is hard in many ways - it can be isolating, rigorous, stressful, and lonely. It requires a lot of initiative and internal drive to succeed. But it is completely unbridled in what it offers! Best of luck in your choice.
My son is a sophomore at Berkeley. I like that they have a football team. I feel like as an alumni is gives you something to go back for. What I like about Berkeley is the school spirit. Everywhere I go, when I am wearing my Cal Bears hat, people say “Go Bears”. I also like that the football stadium is right on campus, which makes Game Days very fun. Since it is the oldest UC there is a lot of tradition. The public transportation is the Bay Area is good, making it easy to go to SF, the airport, etc… It is the #1 public university and it seems every program is high quality.I like that it is on the semester system (vs the other UC’s which are on the quarter system).
Location.
This is something that is not emphasized enough, or if at all, for high school seniors. Although everyone says you shouldn’t look too much ahead, there is another chapter of life after college, and that chapter depends on where the college is at. Even though you can apply to any jobs or any schools in the nation (or in the world), there is a noticeable advantage and convenience by applying somewhere close to your school. The employers will be more familiar with the school and can be easily reached.
Berkeley graduate will certainly have an advantage for the jobs in bay area so it comes down to if you like the location of the area and the industries in the area. That is my interpretation of ‘why’ Berkeley.
You can certainly choose to move somewhere far away for the job like I did myself, but it takes extra effort compared to the students who graduated from nearby universities and you can only hope that the employer is willing to recruit despite the distance.
E.g. If you’re really into aerospace engineering and your job is to work at Boeing in Seattle afterwards, go to University of Washington or Washington State, not Berkeley where it doesn’t have an aerospace engineering program, although Boeing does love to recruit from Berkeley. The UW students would still have more advantage though.