ringopuppers

Facilities Good and Bad

There's a mix of good and bad here. The libraries are really nice, and there are a ton. The football stadium is currently being renovated and will supposedly look great next year. Most of the classrooms are at least clean, though the buildings themselves are all pretty old. Evans Hall is the absolute worst, which is seismically unsafe (like many buildings on campus) but rooms here are also usually windowless and dark. Many buildings are missing letters from their signs. Still, some places look better than others. The gym is decent, with enough machines that I never really have to wait for anything when I go. As a whole, the Berkeley campus is a mix of nice facilities but plenty of decrepit buildings.

Not Strict

School policies have never really impeded on my ability to do anything. People here are allowed to get on the roof of a lecture hall and protest for hours with few real consequences. Frat parties get shut down if they're too loud or overly obvious, but for the most part no one cares.

Crackerbox Dorms

My first year, I felt like I lived in a shoe box. I was in a triple room in Unit 1, and it was a little cramped. Building was constructed in, I believe, 1959, and you could tell. And yet, somehow, I was paying a lot more for my tiny room than my friends were paying for rooms of equal or greater value at other schools. You share a bathroom with 30 other people, and the showers are pretty gross. Cleaning people come once a day. Housing is a tremendous rip off but everyone does it their first year because meeting people on your floor is said to be the best way to make friends. Other dorms are better in terms of space, but the Units are in high demand for the social factor. I'd say, choose Clark Kerr if you wanted more space, but it's still overpriced and at least the Units are close to campus.

Overpriced

Maybe I'm just shell shocked coming from out of state, where apartments are both cheaper and newer, but apartment rates around here are pretty inflated considering what you get. Most properties are run-down but there are still some livable options. Stay away from anything near Telegraph Avenue unless you want homeless people living on your front steps. I live in one of the 'nicer' apartments in Berkeley, away from Telegraph, and yet my mother was still moderately appalled when she came to move me in. Still, I know it could be worse. Getting a good apartment is pretty competitive; when I tell people where I live they say they looked at it but spots were already booked up by late March. During your apartment hunt, you're bound to be competing against a bunch of other students. Still, living off campus is cheaper than the dorms and you get a lot more space.