Dear Berkeley undergraduate student,
We invite you to take the second Student Pulse Survey of the spring term. These quick, confidential surveys capture your feedback so UC Berkeley can better support you. As a token of our appreciation, if you complete the survey, you will have a chance to win a $100 gift card.
The Spring 2024 Pulse Survey #2 is now open
This Pulse Survey asks for your thoughts on course availability, generative AI, resources for transfer students, mental health, and housing insecurity. A link to the Pulse Survey is below and also appears as a task in CalCentral. The survey is confidential, and results will be displayed only in the aggregate. The last day to submit your responses is Friday, March 22.
Take Spring 2024 Pulse Survey #2
Results from Spring 2024 Pulse Survey #1
The results from the Spring Pulse Survey #1 are available on the Pulse Survey website. Below are some highlights and relevant student resources:
Housing
- Ninety percent of undergraduate and graduate students (n = 1,284) considered a safe neighborhood to walk at night to be extremely important or essential. Open-response comments emphasized that safety, cost, and location were the three most important factors for choosing housing.
- Cal Rentals is a free tool to help you find off campus housing. It features a drawing tool that allows you to draw search grids around specific neighborhoods and areas.
- For undergraduates who were low income, the most commonly mentioned source of funding for housing was a grant from UC Berkeley (60%, n = 1,062). The most commonly mentioned source for undergraduates who were not low income was parents or other relatives (73%, n = 2,336)
- The Berkeley Center for Financial Wellness can help you learn more about managing your budget, regardless of the source. Upcoming sessions: Budgets Bites and Tax Workshops (separate sessions for undergrads and grads).
- Results from questions about apartment preferences in Berkeley and San Francisco are part of an ongoing conversation between the university and city leaders and will be released to students this summer.
- The annual Student Housing Fair, cosponsored by Cal Housing and the ASUC, can help you learn about housing options on and off campus. Save the date: Wednesday, April 10th, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Dwinelle and Wheeler Plazas.
Cultural Climate
- Eighty-five percent (n = 1,565) of graduate student respondents somewhat agree, agree, or strongly agree with the statement, “Overall, I am comfortable with the cultural climate in my program.”
- Fewer, but still a majority, of graduate students identifying as African American or Chicanx/Latinx agreed. Sixty-eight percent of African American (n = 50) and 77% of Chicanx/Latinx (n = 107) students somewhat agree, agree, or strongly agree with the statement.
- Find community within and outside your program: connect with your program or advisor to learn about opportunities, or seek out a program with the Office for Graduate Diversity. You can also explore Berkeley Connect, which pairs undergraduates with graduate students in their major to find community and mentorship.
- The Inclusive Excellence Hub for graduate students is now open.
- Diversity and Community Fellows (current graduate students) can meet one-on-one with you to help navigate Berkeley, and seek the community you may be looking for. A number of other peer mentorship opportunities are available to help with all the needs of grad school.
Survey Drawing Winners
Congratulations to the following recipients of $100 gift cards from the Spring Pulse Survey #1:
- Jenny Fetzer, Chemistry undergraduate student
- Casandra Song, Psychology major, Child Development minor undergraduate student
- Neil Xu, Letters & Science undeclared undergraduate student
- Anonymous, English undergraduate student
- Daniel Oliveira, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management graduate student
- Fernando Gonzalez Demaria, Business Administration graduate student
Additional information about the Pulse Survey, including results from previous surveys, is available on the Undergraduate Education website. If you have any questions or concerns with the Pulse Survey, please contact UE_DataTeam@berkeley.edu.
Thanking you in advance for your participation in the survey and wishing you every success this semester.
Fiat Lux,
Oliver M. O’Reilly (he/him)
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Lisa García Bedolla (she/her/ella)
Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division
Stephen C. Sutton (he/him)
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
This message was sent to all UC Berkeley undergraduate students.