University of California--Berkeley

“The world's premier public research university, where brilliance meets purpose on the edge of San Francisco Bay.”

UC Berkeley is the flagship campus of the University of California system and widely regarded as the world's top public university. Founded in 1868, Berkeley has produced more than 107 Nobel laureates, 25 Turing Award winners, and 14 Fields Medalists affiliated with the university — a record unmatched by any other public institution. Positioned on a hillside overlooking San Francisco Bay, the campus combines breathtaking natural beauty with an electrifying intellectual atmosphere. Berkeley's colleges and schools span every major discipline, and its faculty include some of the most cited researchers in the world. The Haas School of Business, College of Engineering (home to EECS — one of the most coveted programs in tech), and the College of Letters and Science collectively offer more than 300 academic programs, and the university is ranked #1 among all public universities in the United States by US News 2026 and #5 globally by ARWU. The student experience at Berkeley is defined by intellectual intensity, civic engagement, and radical diversity of thought. With over 1,500 student organizations, a storied tradition of social activism stretching back to the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s, and a campus culture that prizes both academic rigor and personal expression, Berkeley attracts students who want to change the world. The university sits at the crossroads of the Bay Area innovation ecosystem: Silicon Valley is 30 miles south, and the broader Bay Area is home to virtually every major technology and biotechnology company. Students have unparalleled access to internships, research collaborations, and employment at firms like Apple, Google, Meta, and Salesforce, while Berkeley's SkyDeck accelerator launches dozens of student startups each year. For international students, Berkeley offers a genuinely global community. The Berkeley International Office (BIO) supports thousands of F-1 and J-1 students with visa advising, CPT and OPT authorization, the Global Bear Mentoring Program, and rich cultural programming. Fall 2025 saw 7,158 international students enrolled — a 29% increase year-over-year. Berkeley's STEM-rich curriculum means a large proportion of international students in engineering, CS, data science, and life sciences are eligible for the 24-month STEM OPT extension. While need-based institutional aid for international undergraduates is limited, the Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship program and affiliated regional scholars programs provide merit and need-based awards to exceptional international admits.