The Grizzlies' Roar

University of California Berkeley

By: Preston Reguebrink

The University of California was created in 1868 and its premier campus, envisioned to be a “city of learning,” was established at Berkeley, on the San Francisco Bay. Today the flagship public university, UC Berkeley, occupies a 1,232 acre campus with a beautiful 178 acre core. From this area the academic community makes key contributions to the economic and social well being of the Bay Area, California, and the nation.

The total number students as of fall 2010 attending UC Berkeley was 35,838 including 25,540 undergraduates and 10,298 pursuing graduate degrees. The undergraduate gender percentage is 53% female and 47% male. The graduate gender percentage is 55% male and 45% female.

There are 1,582 full-time and 500 part-time faculty members in more than 130 academic departments and more than 80 interdisciplinary research units. The student-to-faculty ratio is 15.1 to 1 as of fall 2009. Some 74% of undergraduate classes have fewer than 30 students.

The number of applicants for fall 2010 was 50,312, with 4,109 students enrolled in fall 2010, representing 25.6% of the applicants admitted for either fall 2010 or spring 2011. On a 4.0 scale the median high-school grade point for admitted freshman was 4.19. The average SAT composite score for admitted freshman in fall 2010 was a score of 2031; of the applicants 73% are from California and 63% were from California public high schools. More than 25.1% are first generation college students with neither of their parents having a four-year college degree and 66% of students have at least one parent born outside the U.S.

UC Berkeley has 130 academic departments and more than 80 interdisciplinary research units. Berkeley is divided into 14 colleges and schools, most of which are subdivided into departments. The most popular majors are electrical engineering and computer science with 1500 students; political science with 916 students; molecular and cell biology with 1020 students; environmental science, policy and management with 886 students; and economics with 828 students. There are more than 7,000 courses in some 350 degree programs. The campus produces more Ph.D.s than any other U.S. university.

UC Berkeley has the largest number of highly ranked graduate programs in the country, with 48 of the 52 Berkeley programs ranked with the top 10 nationally. Over the past decade the National Science Foundation awarded more graduate research fellowships to Berkeley students than any other university.

Of all undergraduates 64% receive some form of financial aid. The average budget for undergraduate students living on campus is $31,534. For living off campus the budget is $27,062 and for living at home it is $25,110. The average graduate academic student budget for a California resident is $34,286. For a nonresident the budget is $49,526.

In 2008, the Association of Research Libraries ranked the UC Berkeley’s University Library as the number one public research library in North America. There are three main libraries, 18 subject specialty libraries, and 11 affiliated libraries.

For athletics UC Berkeley has 27 men’s and women’s intercollegiate squads, with 79 national championships won by Cal teams. Nearly 300 Cal students and alumni have participated in the modern Olympic games as athletes and coaches.