Testimonials

What I liked best about BISP is that you can actually get to live the UC Berkeley experience, just as any regular student. I didn’t feel like “the international students group”.

I saw going abroad as an invaluable experience and also an opportunity for personal growth. Furthermore, I wanted to challenge myself by going to a prestigious and well-known university. Berkeley fit these criteria perfectly...Berkeley is a transformative experience and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The great cooperation between my home university and UC Berkeley through the study program BISP (Berkeley International Study Program) made it easy for me deciding to go. I have been exposed to a different culture, developed my English skills, and acquired academic knowledge through a different system than I am used to. I have also developed myself personally in ways I did not expect before departure. I have learned a lot about what really matters in life and gotten to know a whole bunch of new people and cultural traits and differences. I am extremely grateful that I have been given this opportunity. It’s been a unique experience, and I have made friends for life.

I liked best the opportunity to become enrolled in most courses and really get the true sense of how it is to study at Cal. Before coming to Berkeley I had a worry that exchange students might be treated differently, but that was not at all the case. Berkeley is so much more than purely the academics. Getting to know the people and the mindset is as much a takeaway as the courses themselves.

Something that I know I will never forget is having the opportunity to represent the university in the most important national competition at the collegiate level. This is an experience I could have never had back in my home university because there is no triathlon team, so representing Cal and being a part of the team has been remarkable.

The culture is much more different due to the variety of people of different cities. Here people are very open-minded. Being at UC Berkeley made me have a broader perspective in life. On the other hand, I really like how it is a very diverse community. I chose Berkeley, because it is such a prestigious university and the bay area is beautiful, plus you get to have a city like San Francisco just 30 minutes away.