University of California Berkeley - UC Berkeley (reviews)

Academics at University of California Berkeley

Berkeley offers its multiple opportunities for educational development with over 350 degree programs. Out of more than 35,000 students from around the world, 21% are transfer students, which contributes to the creation of an international environment on campus. The University is famous for its RRR (Reading, Review, and Recitation) week, which takes place a week before exams. It enables students to focus on revising and preparing for their exams by not scheduling any quizzes, projects, and activities during this week.

Berkeley allows its students to explore different experiences by taking advantage of different exchange programs. The Stanford-Berkeley Exchange Program is one of these programs. It enables graduates with superior academic records to take a limited number of courses, which are not offered at Berkeley but can be done at Stanford. The Exchange Scholar Program is another exchange program for doctoral students with an outstanding academic record. It enables them to explore educational opportunities, which are not provided by Berkeley by going to study at one of the following institutions: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale. This opportunity is available to students who have completed one year in a Berkley graduate degree program.

Campus & Student Life

Berkeley’s location overlooks the San Francisco Bay. The campus is equipped with a library containing 12 million book volumes. The University has created the so-called Golden Bear Orientation, which is a mandatory weeklong program. Its purpose is to support new students by helping them make connections, find resources and experience the campus. Berkley has many traditions some of which are older, other much more recent. Rubbing the 4.0 ball in front of the Campanile before exams is one of these relatively newly-emerged traditions, which is rarely missed by students because it is believed to bring good luck.

On campus there are various student organizations, including the Berkeley Art Studio, Cal Spirit Group (consisting of dance teams, cheerleading, and others), the Daily Californian (student-run newspaper) as well as many musical performances and volunteering opportunities. Students cannot possibly miss out on the Greek life with the presence of dozens of fraternities and sororities on campus.

Berkeley has made sure that the university life is meeting the needs of all the sportspeople out there, whether it be for recreational or competitive purposes. There are various recreational sports opportunities, such as intramural sports, fitness classes and workout facilities around campus. The more competitive sportspeople can join the athletics teams of the university known as the California Golden Bears, which compete in numerous sports, such as basketball, baseball, football, cross country, soccer, volleyball, water polo, field hockey, and others.

Career & Alumni

Berkeley has a 4-year graduation rate of roughly 75%. The successes achieved by the University’s alumni and students cover a wide range of fields. Berkeley is well-renowned for having 31 Nobel prize winners among its alumni. Alumni and students together have also won 117 gold, 51 silver and 39 bronze Olympic medals over the years. Among the notable alumni of the University stand out names like Jonny Moseley (gold medalist), John Cho (actor) and the former US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. Berkeley tries to preserve the connections with its alumni and between alumni themselves through Cal Alumni Association student programs.