If anyone could tell me about personal experiences they’ve had at any of these colleges, such as likes and dislikes, majors with good professors, overall experiences, social and city atmospheres, etc, I would really appreciate the help.

I consider UC Berkeley a public ivy. Its super competitive, but help is always available; you couldn’t get a better education anywhere else in California for about 23 grand a year (unless your an out of state resident). Depending on your major, you can get prof. that are willing to go above and beyond to help you out. Natural sciences tend to be very large and so prof. are quite busy teaching and doing their own research (but all prof. have office hours which you should take advantage of!). I’m not in sciences, but in the Near Eastern Studies department doing Arabic and Mesopotamian Art/Archaeolgy. Since its a small department, I get to know my prof. well (i.e. casual conversations, office hours, etc) and many of them are amazing in their field. I can tell you this, overall, in any department, if someone is teaching at Berkeley they’re good.

In terms of social outings, there are good restaurants, cafes, etc to go to in Berkeley. If you like clubs and bars, SF is the place to go which is just a Bart ride away. During the school year, the campus is lively with music performances and clubs out on any given day. Many times you’ll find students out in the plaza debating/arguing over whatever issues (Iraq, animal rights, immigration, etc). If you want to go to a UC, I highly reccomend Berkeley as opposed to LA, SD, Davis, and Irvine. I don’t know much about Boston college. You should try your best to narrow it down to 2-3 colleges and then visit them. Hope that helps!