The college and career center hosted a visit to UC Berkeley for interested students on April 13.

The local university has been ranked among the top 20 National Universities according to the Best Colleges US News Rankings.

The tour also include a visit to Berkeley City College, though that campus was unexpectedly closed.

“We went to Berkeley City College first, and stopped by there briefly, but it was their Spring Break, so they weren’t allowed to check it out thoroughly because the security guards were like ‘Its spring break and they can’t be here’,” said Joan Batcheller, Campolindo’s college and career coordinator. She added that since the community college was one building, it was still “easy for them [the tour students] to get a concept of what the school was like.”

Of the participants, 4 were seniors who have been accepted to UC Berkeley, while 9 others were sophomores and juniors who wanted to learn more about the school before deciding whether or not to apply. The Berkeley tour was led by current university students, including some Campolindo alumni.

“One was Rachel Kim, who is a sophomore at Cal who went to Campo, and she’s a molecular biology major. So she showed us her lab, she talked to the kids – because some of them are pre-med – about the research she does,” said Batcheller.

“They asked her about the rigor and how hard it was and she said ‘yes’ it was competitive because she’s looking at medical schools too. She was telling them that they understand that at an elite public school like Cal, they understand that A’s are harder to come by than other schools that may not be as competitive, so a B at Cal could equal an A at somewhere else because they know the environment that you are in,” Batcheller explained.

This year’s tour was more helpful than those of the past. “Last year we had a tour guide that barely spoke and she whispered and she wasn’t very articulate so we learned more from these guys for sure,” Batcheller said.

Junior Emma de la Torre, who also went to last year’s tour of Cal, agreed with Batcheller’s assessment. “She [Kim] explained things from a Campo student’s perspective when it came to applying and getting in and kinda like how it worked from a student perspective, rather than last year when it was more factual things about the school,” said de la Torre. 

Christopher Wright, Campolindo’s senior class president, said, “It was helpful. I got a better understanding what Cal’s about and what kinds of programs they offer.”