University of California-Berkeley Top Questions

What is the stereotype of students at your school?

Merany

There are two primary stereotypes of a UC Berkeley student. 1. The Hippie Stoner: Because of our history in the 60's, when you say "I go to Berkeley", many people think you are an active protester, smoke pot all day, and only eat tree bark. 2. The Over-Achiever: This type of student has virtually no social life and keeps their nose in a book, so they can become a Doctor/Lawyer/I-Banker.

Patricia

nerdy, hard working, studies all the time, asian

Rory

That they're strange

Ryan

That Berkeley is full of crazy, hippies who want to sit in trees or get high. Or that all the students are so stressed out that they cannot handle the pressure.

James

Liberal hippies

Robin

Adam MacLennan, senior and frat member, discusses Cal’s reputation as a base of liberal protests

Jordan

-extremely liberal -nerds -outspoken activists -intelligent -crazy/eccentric

Jessica

UC Berkeley students are smart; exams are tough; very competitive, etc.

Chris

Most people tend to think of UC Berkeley and the students here as crazy, ultra liberal, outspoken hippies who rant and rave about everything.

Dan

Everyone is insane, liberal, or radically environmental.

sara

most believe that we are either hippies, tree-huggers, radical protesters who are constantly getting high. or there is the other stereotypical student who is the nerd who is always in the library, being a know it all with pocket protectors and tape holding their glasses together.

Jerry

UC Berkeley: Hippies abound, hobos everywhere, weed for all Students: pretty smart, not much to look at

Felicia

Students do not have a life outside of classes. They overstress about grades. UC Berkeley is primarily White and Asian.

Dylan

That all students are geniuses, liberal, and there is a large hippie population among students. Professors are all liberal and those views are obvious in classrooms, specifically the social sciences where many faculty are pro-marxist lefties. Also, that the UC Berkeley student population is "real diverse."

Shawn

That it is a cold, competitive environment.

Alex

Students are ultra-competitive and the girls aren't hot.

Devin

"hippies" "nerdy" no life outside of academics

Rosette

hippietown, asians

Alice

Berkeley is liberal, anti-God, full of hippies and druggies. Berkeley students are very smart and super competitive and will eat each other just to get an A. Berkeley is one of the dream schools for many Asian parents.

Ryan

that they are hard-core nerds, many gay/lesbian/bi-sexual students, green and earth-conserving people, competitive

Kendall

People are constantly telling me that I go to "that liberal school with all the hippies," and I can't stand this ignorant comment. Occasionally, I also hear that my school is "full of Asians, just like every other UC" or that "all the students at Berkeley are really smart."

Jesse

Liberal, protest a lot...

Mary

lots of conservative asians and everyone else is a hippie liberal

Summer

I think a lot of people assume Berkeley is filled with A) Revolutionary Communist Hippies, and B) Genius Nerds.

david

Some stereotypes about UC Berkeley students are that they are all obsessed with school to the point of sabotaging their social lives, that they are all ugly, and that they are all liberal.

arie

there are three main stereotypes about berkeley: 1. its uber-leftist 2. its uber-competitive 3. its uber-Asian.

Tara

A lot of people think that everyone at Cal is a hippie and a revolutionary, which is definitely not true.

Stephanie

The prevalent stereotype is that everyone is Asian and intensely studious.

Jordan

It's crazy liberal and hippie. Lots of people do drugs. There are also a lot of ultra-nerdy Asian science majors.

Julia

I come from a more conservative area, and a lot of people I know think Berkeley students are a bunch of pot-smoking, uber-liberals. Several people from my hometown warned me "not to get to crazy" when they found out I was going to Cal. As for me, I was afriad that the classes would be really difficult and all the students would be really smart. I was a little intimidated by the fact that UC Berkeley is basically the top-ranked public university in the nation.

Torry

-Berkeley attracts liberally minded or radical thinking students. -Students are very competitive and hard working. -People who get accepted here are smart. -There is a large Asian population. -There aren't very many attractive students.

Sherry

Most people recognize Berkeley for its stellar academics and its reputation as the starting ground for student movements. At the same time, Berkeley students are often believed to be very eccentric, albeit brilliant, misfits. Recently however, Berkeley has been known for its predominantly Asian student population, and the academic competition which has increased with this flux in ethnic representation.

Kendall

Some students are ingnorant to issues that affect them everyday. Students don't know how to use their student power to effect change.

Andy

We're definitely considered to be big dorks. Obviously the Engineers in particular, but the campus as a whole is theoretically packed with nerds.

Ben

That they are liberal and well read. Or that they are Asian and incredibly studious.

Evan

The thing about stereotypes is that I only really hear about them from other Berkeley students. Like it is supposedly populated by smart but relatively unattractive people. That is about it... there are Stanford comparisons, I hear.

Bob

There are, of course, the historical stereotypes that portray Berkeley as a politically charged campus: protesting, hippiedom, togetherness, liberalism, nature, drugs, the whole shebang. In addition, there are two other stereotypes that I find important. 2a.) Everyone who goes to Berkeley is Asian. 2b.) Everyone at Berkeley is smart.

James

The campus is filled with really smart and God-less hippies.

Anton

We are supposedly hippies. We are vegan environmentalist nuts who hate the establishment.

christopher

liberal. infested with homeless (hobo's). drug town. intellectual. ugly people. impossible to keep the faith.

Aileen

they are all hippies, hipsters, politically extremists, potheads, vegans on bikes, or extremely nerdy and socially awkward science freaks. the academics are cutthroat and the campus is overcrowded. also, crazies and homeless people abound.

Josiah

1 UC Berkeley students are smart. 2 UC Berkeley students are uglier than other students. 3 UC Berkeley students hate stanford students. 4 UC Berkeley students are pot-growing hemp-wearing hippies. 5 UC Berkeley students are asian. 6 UC Berkeley is one of the top schools in the world.

Lisa

I think that many people still believe that UC Berkeley is full of hippies or that it's still as radical as it once was. While there are probably more "free-spirited" people here than I have encountered anywhere else, overall Berkeley is pretty tame. I would say there is a good mix of differently minded individuals, and that nearly everyone could find a group here to identify with. In terms of UC Berkeley students, there are a lot of ethnic and racial stereotypes, as well as stereotypes concerning athletes, fraternity/sorority types, hipsters, and co-opers.

Allison

Went I was applying to Berkeley, I thought all students would be hippies, liberals and nerds.

dwight

UC Berkeley is thought of as a chrysalis point and haven for liberal thought and activity. Also, most Berkeleyites are not as charismatic as their UCLA or UCSB counterparts. It is possibly the most prestigious public universtiy degree obtainable within the United States and the University is structured to discover more than edify.

Van

UC Berkeley is ultra liberal, and UC Berkeley students are either nerds, potheads, or ugly.

Ryan

Asians are studious and antisocial. MCB majors suck. English majors are egoists. History majors wear glasses. If you're in a band called TNT, you're probably a douchebag. UC Berkeley is full of hippies.

Royce

UC Berkeley has always been associated with the 1960s and the student activism of that era. The typical image of the Berkeley student is a glasses-wearing, studious, and socially inept Asian student.

Devin

Berkeley has, in the eyes of most, retained its image from the Free Speech Movement of the 60s as a hotbed of political dissent and extreme social liberalism, populated by those who define themselves by in what manner they defy the norm. Balancing out these perceived eccentricities, however, is a respect for the academic excellence that Berkeley, as the best public school in the nation and the second (or fourth, depending on who you ask) best school in the world, is said to have. Berkeley students are either very smart or very crazy-- or both.

Mary Claire

UC Berkeley is often thought of as a liberal school with lots of hippies. Stereotypically, the students are nerdy and unattractive. People also say there are a lot of asian students.