The University of California, Berkeley is an iconic public university and part of the impressive University of California system. It’s regularly cited as the #1 public university in the world. They can also boast over 100 Nobel laureates, 19 Pulitzer Prizes, and over 200 Olympic medals.
The university holds nearly mythical status culturally as being progressive, cutting-edge, and often socially transgressive. Berkeley has embraced new ideas routinely over the years, encouraging students to push boundaries and try new things. It’s not a surprise Berkeley is the #1 all-time producer of Peace Corps volunteers, and over 6,000 Berkeley undergraduates engage in public service projects annually.
There are 184 academic departments and programs at Berkeley, and the undergraduate student population is over 33,000. Which is to say, Berkeley is big. Despite the size of the university, over 70% of undergraduate classes have fewer than 30 students. The acceptance rate is about 11%, but this is skewed by the fact that they give preference to in-state students. So, the acceptance rate is likely significantly higher for applicants living in California and also much lower for students from outside of California.
In this post, we’ll share our top five majors at Berkeley and why you should seriously consider them to launch your future.
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What do we mean by best major?
Berkeley has seven schools that offer undergraduate degrees: The College of Letters and Science; The College of Computing, Data Science, and Society; The College of Chemistry; The College of Engineering; The College of Environmental Design; The Rausser College of Natural Resources; and The Haas School of Business. Across the schools, there are many, many, many outstanding majors, but we’ve tasked ourselves with the challenge of picking just five. To narrow down our options, we gave ourselves some points that a top major at Berkeley needs to hit. There must be deep resources available to students, but also the program must be focused, providing direction and clarity of path. We also like to see a faculty with a diversity of experiences and backgrounds, as well as impressive pre-professional, career, and post-graduation resources.
And, with that in mind, these are our top five majors at Berkeley.
Environmental Engineering Science
The Environmental Engineering Science program is an interdisciplinary major that brings together engineering and courses in the natural and environmental sciences. The major offers students access to broad opportunities for exploration and creativity by opening the door to courses related to the environment outside of the engineering program. Students are immersed in innovation through lectures, labs, and research opportunities as they seek the creation of real-world solutions to issues like growing access to safe drinking water and scaling green energy options to meet global demand. When you apply to the College of Engineering, you will be required to specify a major — and it’s locked in if you are admitted. So, if you are interested in this program, you would need to select it as part of your application to Berkeley. Students who graduate from the program go into industry, energy and resources, environmental law and public policy, and more.
American Studies
If you’re going to study American Studies anywhere, Berkeley is the place to do it. Not only does Berkeley have an outstanding history program, but they have also been at the heart of American culture for decades. The depth of scholarship taking place on Berkeley’s campus is astonishing, and students in the American Studies program have access to all of this expertise whether in a classroom, as a research assistant, or to tap into for original scholarship. The American Studies program at Berkeley is very much a major of the present as much as it is one of the past, and it pulls on technology, economics, literature, politics, the arts, ecology, and more.
Recent courses include “Learning from Disney,” “Dust and Chrome: America and the 1930s,” and “Constructing a Settler Colonial History of Architecture.” All of them sound fabulous, and the faculty is spectacular.
Materials Science & Engineering and Business Administration
One of the things Berkeley excels at is mashing subjects together to create outstanding interdisciplinary majors that lead to clear (and lucrative) career paths. The Materials Science & Engineering and Business Administration degree results in two Bachelor of Science degrees, one in Materials Science and Engineering, and another through the Haas School of Business. And, despite being two degrees, you still finish the program in four years with internships, career coaching, and research opportunities. The M.E.T. program is small, and super competitive. They seek out astonishingly talented and self-motivated students who are passionate about solving big problems. And the annual freshman cohort is limited to a maximum of 50 students. Students are also encouraged to spend a summer in the Entrepreneurial Fellows Program, through which students in the M.E.T. major receive $2,000/month over a period of three months for a 10-12 week-long internship with an approved startup company. This can lead to a focused academic direction and even potential career opportunities.
Conservation and Resource Studies
This Bachelor of Science program is another interdisciplinary heavy-hitter that brings together different departments and fields of focus to create a major that has direct application to the real world. Students in the Conservation and Resources Studies program take courses in environmental issues, energy, technology, culture and society, and more. Each student in the program identifies an area of interest, and past examples include sustainable development of world populations and conservation and culture. We love the Forestry Summer Field Program, an eight-week intensive in the field focused on forest and wildland resource management, and the undergraduate research opportunities are extensive. The Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) links undergraduate students with faculty-initiated research projects, and courses include cools things like “Americans and the Global Forest” and “History of Native American Land, Colonialism, and Heritage Preservation.”
Bioengineering and Business Administration
Like the Materials Science & Engineering and Business Administration major, the Bioengineering and Business Administration major is an M.E.T. program that results in two undergraduate Bachelor of Science degrees in just four years. The major also seriously prioritizes career counseling, internships, and research opportunities, positioning you to be the in the best position possible when you enter the workforce. Admission to the M.E.T. programs is tough, but if you know what you want to major in and are serious about getting a professional head-start it’s worth it. We love the fact that you can pair classes that are at the cutting edge of bioengineering with foundational business courses that set you up to start or lead an impressive enterprise. Students in the program especially appreciate that they get a small and focused experience with lots of hands-on face-to-face mentorship within a large university with massive resources.
Berkeley is one of the best universities in the world, and we hope these majors spark your imagination and inspire you to find what major would be your perfect fit.
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