Dorms @ Berkeley: A Crash Course
May is right around the corner, which means UC Berkeley housing applications are due soon! Although it’s too soon to know how much the current pandemic will affect housing availability, we’ve got you covered if you’re still scratching your head even about preferences. And if you’re among students considering staying home, don’t feel FOMO, there’s still plenty of ways to get grounded as you find your footing! Here’s our handy guide to each and every dormitory option available.
SOUTH SIDE
Unit 1
Being so close to campus means you can roll out of bed at 8AM and still make it on time to your 8AM lecture.
There’s bamboo and evergreen trees and other assorted flora and fauna in the courtyard. Are we in the Chinese wilderness? The Montana plains? We will never know.
Things are lil squished, room-size-wise, unless you’re in a suite or mini-suite.
Singer gender floors are an option, if that’s your scene.
Unit 2
Bear Market for all your midnight snacking needs.
Cafe 3 to accommodate every kind of diet under the sun.
Yeah, the only pros have to do with food.
(JK, you’re close to campus and close to downtown, which are definitely wins.)
Buildings are pretty dang old.
Blackwell
Is this some swanky hotel?
You’ve basically joined the ranks of Berkeley’s Burgeoning Bourgeois.
Please try to contain your joy.
Please invite your friends over so they can gawk and use your fitness rooms and play pool and such.
NORTH SIDE
Foothill
Everyone is in engineering. Or is about to switch into engineering.
Wow, there is Actual Peace and QuietTM here.
CAUTION: Not for people who can’t walk up steep hills. Or people who aren’t up for walking a lot in general.
Stern:
You get to hear music from concerts at the Greek Theatre, which is gr8.
You get to hear music from concerts at the Greek Theatre, which may or may not interrupt your nighttime exam studying.
OTHER SIDES
Clark Kerr:
~Country club vibes~ if you’re into that for your dormitory.
~Harry Potter vibes~ if you’re into that for your dining hall.
Spacious rooms.
A+ workout facilities, but why work out when the 30-minute trek to campus is sufficiently invigorating?
Yep, so those are your picks! Now it’s time to submit your housing application and keep your fingers crossed. You’ll know where you’ll be living mid to late May, so hang tight!
—Lillian Ji
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Lillian’s a senior studying English Literature, which means she’s often writing papers in Doe Library and reading novels at Cafe Zeb. Otherwise, you can find her picnicking on Memorial Glade or baking mochi muffins at her apartment. “I guess this is the part where I’m supposed to say, ‘Go Bears’?”