So you’re thinking about coming to UC Berkeley.
I’ll start by answering the two questions that are probably in your head after reading the title of this article: Yes, I’m glad I came to UC Berkeley, and yes, you should come here too.
As a fourth-year in their last semester, I’ve been reflecting a lot on how I ended up at Berkeley. Sophomore year of high school, my family took an impromptu weekend trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, and it just so happened that the day we decided to visit Berkeley, an acquaintance of my sister had the time to show us around campus. I fell in love with the school then and there. It was a living, breathing entity, lush with greenery and bustling with people who looked like me, and I knew I could belong.
With that being said, I didn’t actually know much about UC Berkeley before I set foot on campus as an enrolled student. I was born and raised in Oregon, and despite being right above California, the general cultural knowledge of UC schools hasn’t permeated across the state boundary as much as you might expect. My parents, too, aren’t from the West Coast; one of them isn’t from America at all. We did a lot of learning from scratch.
This article is a compilation of things I wish I’d known before starting at UC Berkeley. Some of them I probably could’ve learned by doing more research, but some of them are things you have to experience to understand.
Yes, you can take classes outside your focus area — and it’s best if they count toward your requirements.
Four years might seem like a long time, but trust me: in one sneeze, you’ll be halfway through your third year. Take care when choosing your classes. There’s a lot less wiggle room in those eight semesters if you’re doubling up on majors or minors, or studying abroad. Yes, explore different fields and take “fun” classes, but my advice is to make sure that every class you take fulfills one of your graduation requirements.
For example, in my second semester at Cal, I enrolled in “International Perspectives on Elementary Forms of Racial Dominations.” I chose it because it interested me more than any other course that could’ve fulfilled my College of Letters & Science Social and Behavioral Science requirement. The class ended up being one of the most difficult and fascinating classes I’ve taken. I was the only underclassman and the only non-sociology major, but I did just fine, and I learned an incredible amount about a topic I was passionate about.
Your specific program will also impact the amount of flexibility you have during your four years. Some majors require more courses than others, or require courses that are harder to get into. If you’re in the Fall Program for First Semester (FPFS) the way I was, the course selection is very limited compared to those on main campus, meaning that you might essentially lose a semester of taking classes towards your major or minor. Completing my Japanese minor took longer than I expected it to because of this.
Yes, you can study abroad — and you’re going to have to plan for it.
Students at universities across the country often hear that they won’t have enough time to study abroad. The truth is that it’s less about time and more about planning and proactivity. I knew from age 13 that I wanted to study abroad in Japan for an entire year, and that’s why I’m able to graduate on time with a major and two minors that my courses abroad didn’t even count toward.
If you think you might want to study abroad, meet with your major and minor advisors as soon as possible. This means quite literally booking an appointment with them the day you start considering study abroad programs; appointments fill up quickly. Also, while it’s true that some major and minor requirements can be fulfilled abroad, my advice is to plan out your four years at Cal as if you won’t fulfill any requirements abroad. That way, if you do, it’s a pleasant surprise, and if you don’t, it isn’t a devastating loss that sets back your graduation date.
To learn more about the logistics and value of studying abroad, you can read my article Hi, I Studied Abroad in Tokyo.
I studied abroad in Japan for one year and took these photos. I’ve been visiting the country since I was a kid, but never for more than a few weeks at a time.
Yes, this university might have your dream major — and you should keep your horizons open anyway.
Though I came in undeclared by virtue of being in the College of Letters & Science, from day one, I told everyone I met that I wanted to study film, Japanese, and creative writing. This is precisely what I ended up doing, but my intended majors and minors swapped places quite often. There were a solid six months where I was confident that I wanted to switch my Japanese minor to be my sole major, and then there were three months where I was convinced I should drop my Japanese minor entirely. I include this to say it’s normal for your feelings and future to fluctuate. Many students change their major or add majors and minors when they discover disciplines that they’re interested in.
There’s no guaranteed way to determine that the majors and minors you choose when you apply to UC Berkeley will be the best possible majors and minors for you, but doing research before applying so that you know what you’re getting into (or trying to get into) is helpful. I originally wanted to pursue English. After I saw how much literary analysis I would have to do for that and thought about how burnt out I was from IB HL Literature in high school, I pivoted my intended major to film.
After getting here, I started to hear vague references to the film and media major being “theory-based,” which turned out to mean that a lot of the curriculum revolves around analyzing films rather than making them. Joining the Cinematic Arts & Production Studios, a filmmaking club on campus, satisfied my itch to create, so everything worked out. Still though, if I’d researched my department more thoroughly, I would’ve better understood what type of knowledge I’d acquire from my major and therefore the type of career I’d be most prepared for in my desired field.
On set for my short film.
Yes, your people are here — and you might have to search for them.
UC Berkeley is a huge school. Our student body of over 33,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 graduate students means you are very, very likely to find your niche, but you might have to do some searching. UC Berkeley Life articles about clubs and organizations are a great place to start.
At Cal, I found not only a vibrant queer community that supported my life as a gender nonconforming student, but also a sense of ethnocultural belonging. California has the largest Asian American population in the US, so UC Berkeley having a strong Asian community might not be striking to in-state students, but I didn’t grow up in this state. My hometown was 70% White when I started elementary school, and the metropolitan center I grew up outside of held the title of “Whitest large city in America” until as late as 2021. College was the first time I was consistently around people who looked like me and had families like mine.
With a fellow half Japanese friend I met through the UC Berkeley Nikkei Student Union. I later learned he was part of the staff for the film club I’d just joined.
California also has one of the two strongest Japanese American communities in the country. Many of the Japanese Americans I met at Cal had grown up playing in local Nikkei (Japanese diasporic) basketball leagues, or performing taiko with family friends, or making annual pilgrimages to former incarceration sites. I was both amazed and a little envious; where I’m from, you’d be hard-pressed to find enough Japanese Americans in one area to be on a basketball team together, let alone enough to form an entire league. Coming to this school and this city — nestled so close to San Francisco’s historic Japantown — strengthened my connection to the Japanese American community and taught me so much history I never had access to growing up as a second-generation Japanese American.
Presenting at a Nikkei Student Union event. The club gave me a family.
Yes, you can do it all — and you should build in breathing room, too.
It is laughably easy to burn yourself out when you go to a university that has a reputation for its rigor. The solution traces back to being proactive. Building in breaks and activities to look forward to is how you will get through each week. This can look like treating yourself to a latte from one of the many cafes around campus or even just carving out dedicated time to talk with your roommate.
Games on Memorial Glade.
When I started college, I knew that I needed a break. In high school I had been a varsity athlete, a student government chair, a National Honors Society member, a racial equity advisor, a club president, and a part-time worker, and it had killed me. I wanted nothing more than to focus solely on socializing for my first year. Still though, I had to consider my finances. After not hearing back from any of the Work-Study positions I applied to, I started working at a local Japanese restaurant. Less than a week later, I was hired as a writer for Student Affairs Communications through the Work-Study Program. I hadn’t intended to work two jobs in college, but I loved both of them, and the out-of-state tuition meant I needed all the monetary help I could get. Plus, the food service job meant I’d get free meals.
Some of the meals I got to eat while working at different restaurants throughout college! They were, of course, all delicious.
Because I’d been working since I was 15 and started clocking 20 hours a week as soon as I got to Cal, I never wished for a lighter schedule. I took advantage of the free food that my food service job provided me with, and I learned to balance out my busy weeks out with movie nights, sunset walks, and rounds of cards and One Night Werewolf. I made sure the clubs I joined brought me joy so that nothing felt like a waste of time. When I had a bout of poor mental health, I started counseling. Everything I did was to make sure I could be successful and sustain my success.
People have different obligations — familial, financial — so your bandwidth isn’t going to be the same as your roommate’s or your classmates’. You need to figure out what works for you. There’s no shame in not applying for that consulting club or biotech start-up, and there’s also no shame in working three jobs for 50 hours a week over summer the way I did to lessen your required hours during the school year. Your time at UC Berkeley is rare and precious. Make the most of it.
So many moments of joy.
Concluding thoughts
There are a dozen other things I wish I’d known before getting here, but even if I could rewind my life back to that sunny afternoon when I confirmed my enrollment, I wouldn’t. My time at UC Berkeley has been invaluable and incomparable. I came to this university with the sole goal of learning and I’ve learned so much — about how to be a scholar, how to be a better person, and how to shape a better world.
Memorial Glade and Doe Library at sunset.
Nina Takahashi, Class of 2026, is majoring in film & media and minoring in Japanese and creative writing. Cover photo by David Eastman.
Want more?
- Are you ready for graduation? Melissa’s Senior To-Do List will help you make sure you have all your logistical bases covered.
- Read about Berkeley Favorites from another fourth-year student.
- Learn how to find community as an out-of-state student.