University Of California-Berkeley

Location and Contact Information

The campus is in a medium-sized city.

Overview

The University of California Berkeley was established in 1868 in the years following the California gold rush by the leaders of the newly founded state. It is the oldest campus affiliated with the University of California.

UC Berkeley is a highly regarded institution -- the university has been ranked by a National Research Council study as as being first in the US for the number of graduate programs that place in the top ten in their respective fields. The school's past and present faculty have won 20 Nobel prizes. The school reports that its current faculty includes 28 MacArthur Fellows, and 4 Pulitzer Prize winners. The school's history is full of innovation and discovery -- for example UC Berkeley was where vitamin E was discovered, the flu virus isolated, and the US's first no-fault divorce law was drafted. The school's library system is one of the US's largest -- it has been ranked as the top public and third overall university library in North America.

The campus includes more than 1,200 acres of land in Berkeley, California, which is across San Francisco Bay from San Francisco and is adjacent to Oakland.

UC Berkeley's various academic units offer more than 350 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. These units include:

• Boalt School of Law
• College of Chemistry
• College of Engineering
• College of Environmental Design
• College of Letters and Science
• College of Natural Resources
• Goldman School of Public Policy
• Graduate School of Education
• Graduate School of Journalism
• Haas School of Business
• School of Information
• School of Optometry
• School of Public Health
• School of Social Welfare

UC Berkeley has a rich sports tradition. Its athletic teams compete as the California Golden Bears. Over the years the Golden Bears have won national collegiate titles in football, basketball, baseball, softball, water polo, rugby and crew. Its students have also won over 100 Olympic medals.

There are more than 40 fraternities and a large number of sororities at the University of California Berkeley. These fraternities and sororities are governed by the Inter-Fraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council, the Multicultural Greek Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Conference.

Highlights (vs. Other Schools)

• Many students concentrating in science, mathematics, liberal arts, engineering, religion and philosophy, architecture and planning, conservation and resource management, and law.
• Large number of programs of study offered.
• Large number of students.
• High faculty salary.
• Selective admissions.
• High SAT scores (combined Verbal and Math).
• High male/female ratio.
• Racially diverse student body.

School characteristics:

• The school is public.
• Academic calender: Semester.
• Carnegie classification: Doctoral/Research Universities, Extensive.

Features of note:

• The school offers a faculty tenure system.
• There are one or more libraries on-campus.
• Campus housing is available.
• Students may study abroad.
• Part-time classes are available.
• ROTC.
• Athlete financial aid is awarded.

Similar Schools

Based on proprietary BrainTrack computer comparisons against all other US colleges, these schools appear to be most similar to Cal Berkeley:

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Degrees Awarded (in 2009-2010)

Faculty

Tenure (2009-2010):

Students

Student enrollment was 35,396 in 2009-2010 (36,188 full-time equivalent).

About 46% of the freshmen class in 2009-2010 was male and women were 54% of the class.

Undergrads are 72% of enrolled students, graduate students are 25%, and those seeking first-professional graduate degrees represent 3%.

Students under 25 years old represent 73% of the student body. About 2% of the school is at least 40 years of age.

Among freshmen students, 99% are full-time and 1% are part-time.

Admissions Summary (2009-2010)

SAT Test Scores:

Room and Board

Cal Berkeley provides on-campus housing for 7,487 of its 36,188 (full-time) students (as of 2009-2010).

Athletics

School sports include football, basketball, baseball, and track. The school is in the Pacific-10 Conference for major sports.

The school offers financial aid for athletes. Of students receiving athletic financial aid, 267 male students received the aid (men were 50% of those receiving aid) and 267 women were awarded financial aid based on athletics (representing 50% of students receiving such aid) .

Graduate School Focus

Cal Berkeley offers graduate (post-Bachelor) studies. The highest degree offered is the Doctorate (Research/Scholarship & Professional Practice).

The school's Graduate School Carnegie Classification is Comprehensive Doctoral (No Medical/Veterinary).

Programs of Study

(Number of degrees in 2009-2010 in parentheses)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT (10 awarded)

• Agricultural Economics
• Agriculture, Agriculture Operations, and Related Sciences

ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING (322 awarded)

• Architecture (BArch, BA/BS, MArch, MA/MS, PhD)
• City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning
• Environmental Design/Architecture
• Landscape Architecture (BS, BSLA, BLA, MSLA, MLA, PhD)

ART STUDIES (93 awarded)

• Art/Art Studies

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT (956 awarded)

• Business Administration and Management
• Business Administration, Management and Operations

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (164 awarded)

• Computer Science
• Information Science/Studies

CONSERVATION AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (300 awarded)

• Environmental Science
• Environmental Studies
• Forest Management/Forest Resources Management
• Forestry
• Natural Resources/Conservation

DRAMA AND PERFORMING ARTS (30 awarded)

• Dance
• Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts

EDUCATION AND TEACHING (246 awarded)

• Education
• Educational Leadership and Administration
• Special Education and Teaching

ENGINEERING (1,368 awarded)

• Agricultural/Biological Engineering and Bioengineering
• Biomedical/Medical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Engineering Physics
• Engineering Science
• Engineering
• Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Nuclear Engineering
• Operations Research

FAMILY AND SOCIAL WORK (270 awarded)

• Public Policy Analysis
• Social Work

FINE ARTS (72 awarded)

• Art History, Criticism and Conservation

LAW (534 awarded)

• Advanced Legal Research/Studies, Gen (LLM, MCL, MLI, MSL, JSD/SJD)
• Law (LLB, JD)
• Legal Professions and Studies
• Legal Studies

LIBERAL ARTS (3,251 awarded)

• African-American/Black Studies
• American Indian/Native American Studies
• American/United States Studies/Civilization
• Anthropology
• Asian Studies/Civilization
• Asian-American Studies
• Celtic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Chinese Language and Literature
• Classical/Ancient Mediterranean/Near Eastern Studies & Archaeology
• Classics/Classical Languages, Lit & Linguistics
• Comparative Literature
• Demography and Population Studies
• Economics
• English Language and Literature
• Ethnic, Cultural Minority, and Gender Studies
• Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• French Language and Literature
• Geography
• German Language and Literature
• Hispanic-American,Puerto Rican & Mexican-American/Chicano Studies
• History
• International/Global Studies
• Italian Language and Literature
• Japanese Language and Literature
• Latin American Studies
• Latin Language and Literature
• Linguistics
• Middle/Near Eastern/Semitic Languages, Lit & Linguistics
• Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies
• Near and Middle Eastern Studies
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Political Science and Government
• Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Scandinavian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
• Social Sciences
• Sociology
• Spanish Language and Literature
• Speech and Rhetorical Studies
• Urban Studies/Affairs
• Women's Studies

MATHEMATICS (259 awarded)

• Applied Mathematics
• Mathematics
• Statistics

MEDIA (253 awarded)

• Journalism
• Mass Communication/Media Studies

MEDICAL ADMINISTRATION (13 awarded)

• Environmental Health
• Health/Health Care Administration/Management

MEDICINE (315 awarded)

• Neuroscience
• Optometry (OD)
• Public Health, General (MPH, DPH)

MUSIC (34 awarded)

• Music

NUTRITION AND EXERCISE THERAPY (65 awarded)

• Nutrition Sciences

PHOTOGRAPHY AND COMMERCIAL ART (44 awarded)

• Film/Cinema Studies

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY (116 awarded)

• Jewish/Judaic Studies
• Logic
• Philosophy
• Religion/Religious Studies

SCIENCE (1,455 awarded)

• Astrophysics
• Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
• Biochemistry
• Biology/Biological Sciences
• Biophysics
• Biostatistics
• Botany/Plant Biology
• Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology
• Chemistry
• Endocrinology
• Epidemiology
• Geology/Earth Science
• Geophysics and Seismology
• Microbiology
• Oceanography, Chemical and Physical
• Physical Sciences
• Physics
• Toxicology
• Vision Science/Physiological Optics

THERAPY AND COUNSELING (441 awarded)

• Cognitive Science
• Psychology