Berkeley City College

BCC will give you the resources you need as long as you try to find them. You can’t rely on others to get things done for you like most of these negative reviews are about. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and be polite and you will be treated with respect. I transferred from another community college and was nervous about getting my classes and financial aid set up. I did not have a problem at all just do your own research and follow directions. Overall with teachers it’s alot of independent self teaching. I have taken Calc 3C, physics 4A and currently taking Math 3E, 3 °F and physics 4B.
It’s because of this college I got research at UC Berkeley… just saying.

The most poorly run admissions process in the world. I can’t believe how inept Berkeley City College is at scheduling entrance exams and allowing students to schedule classes and absolutely everything else. I couldn’t be more disappointed.

Very rude and helpless staff. These two were just chatting while I was in line, saw them glance at me knowing I was in line for some help didn’t even hesitate to ask. Weak sauce!

It nearly took me till my last semester to realize the horrors of how awful this school is. The counselor I had in the beginning who made my Educational Plan had no idea what they were doing and it wasn’t until after 4 semesters in that I realized it was completely wrong. Now i’m scrambling around during my last 3 semesters to squeeze in the classes I actually needed for my major and to transfer to different UC’s. She must have just wanted me in and out of her office as fast as possible so she didn’t actually pay attention to what she was doing. I went to a counselor recently to see if they could OK my TAG, and all the person did was tally up how many units I completed and told me my GPA, which was actually wrong, and most of the time I had to tell him which classes fulfilled different IGETC sections. The guy had no idea what he was doing and for the entire time I mostly told him what to write down.
This school has been absolutely USELESS and actually screwed up my 2 years at community college. I’ve had to salvage everything myself and do all the research online and found out exactly what I needed to do. It’s sad that the school does very little to help you. There’s so many students at the school that none of the counselors have time to actually care or listen to what you have to say. I have a semester and a half left and i’m moving everything over to CCSF as they have been the most helpful and I don’t want to graduate from BCC. I don’t want my name associated with such a useless school like BCC. Do yourself a favor, if you HAVE to go to this college, research everything on ASSIST, use CollegeConfidential if you have questions or are unsure about anything (or message me), google EVERYTHING, and communicate to the UC or CSU you want to transfer to. Don’t use the worthless counselors at BCC, they won’t actually help you. I had one good counselor that I met with once last semester, she was young and had long hair, but I don’t see her at the school anymore. Find out what classes you need for your major, what classes you need to complete your AA or AA-​Transfer certificate, and IGETC. All information is ONLINE, you just have to search for it. Don’t make the same stupid mistake I did and rely on counselors at this school to help you, they won’t. If you can, go to CCSF or De Anza or literally anywhere else.

Excellent education in an even better Layout, this school gives it’s student as many options as they could ever need. Plus a great campus if you plan on Transferring locally after a few years. Don’t expect classes to be empty during the second week of the semester, but if you do register within the first week you should be pretty safe. Many of the teachers get bad reviews and I don’t get why… They have to deal with large classes and a lot of them. They are always attentive (to a reasonable extent) and if you put in the effort you will pass. The only reason I gave it a 4 instead of 5 is because theres no bathroom on street level. Nah nah, jk. It’s because of their limited resources. They are an excellent welter weight school, but it’s not going to cater to every who ha who walks in the door. Plus its practically on top of Chase, UCB, THE BART, downtown Berkeley.

The fact that this college employs the supposed educators it does tells me all I needed to know about this horrible college. CARLOS CORTEZ whom is supposedly In charge, is just about the most evil, money hungry liar I’ve ever met. Watch out if you expect integrity because if you make him angry by not doing what he wants, he will
Make you pay somehow. It’s horrific that this man is in education, especially in a position of trust. Berkeley City College should be closely evaluated before you choose to attend this school. Please just don’t experience what I’ve had to because I didn’t do what this man wanted.

I’m not sure why this has such a low review. I loved coming here as a student and I loved it more working here as a TA. The school offers great classes and the staff is amazing here. I went to UC Berkeley for my undergrad and I honestly think BCC contribute a great part of my education. The experience I encountered here is one of a kind. Professors are more interested in your well being than their own research. The staff want you to be successful in life. I have recommend this CC to all incoming students including my sister.

I went here for about two years and its okay place. The best thing about going here is the varied of fast food and stores. I had a really mean teacher here, though that failed me on purpose.

I legit enjoy going to this school, while it can present some of the normal difficulties that come with signing up for/​attending college it seems to be fairly manageable without toooo much difficulty…
The honest downside/​warning? The Internet here is total shit. Don’t plan on doing any of your homework that requires the Internet on campus. Other than that the facilities are actually pretty decent.

I’ve been to each and every college in the Peralta system and this is by far the best. It gives you that legit «college» feel. It’s a tall building on center street so parking can be super hard to find. Most of it is metered parking or 2 hour parking so I would consider public transportation if you can — there’s a Bart station at the end of the street directly across from Wells Fargo. Many eateries, cafés, bookstores, etc. going on down Shattuck and University. The school has many resources: the learning resource center for tutoring, the spacious and clean library, a large student lounge on the 5^th floor and the counseling department is wonderful (shout outs to Gabe!). Overall, I love this school and would recommend it to those who are wanting to attend a community college.

OK, I’ve been in community college for over 5 years. There are many reasons why I stayed so long: I didn’t know what to major in as well as having to go straight to work after graduating high school to support myself financially. With that being said, I’m happy to say I will be graduating with honor’s from this institution. BCC made this possible.
There are unwritten rules when it comes to attending community colleges. One, you CANNOT wait until the semester begins to enroll in classes. You want classes for spring? Well, you better start looking the November prior. You are competing with the hundreds of other students who need classes as well. Also, for the love of god, don’t make an appointment with a counselor to see what classes to take. They are already understaffed and overworked! They won’t be much help unless you already have a major/​path in mind. If you’re unsure what to major in, start with general ed. classes. Follow the IGETC which is a plan available online (browse your college’s website) to get you started on the right path.
Now, for BCC? I came here after I left the administrative nightmare called «Chabot College». All you spoiled BCC students are pissed because you had to wait 15 mins to be blown off by a counselor? I had to wait 2+ MONTHS with an appointment to be blown off by a counselor at Chabot. Talk about heartbreaking. With all of it’s shortcomings, BCC still offers great resources, especially for first-​generation college students (check out EOPS and TRiO if this applies to you).
Everyone here is kind and a little eccentric. This is Berkeley after all. If you’re from a racially homogenous area, stereotypes will shatter here. The people here are individuals, often many of them have excellent life stories. Don’t be a shut-​in! Start a study group with your peers. You will make life-​long friends. I sure did!

Berkeley city college is such a piece of shit! They don’t even want anybody to get a degree. I waited 15mins to see a counselor who was completely retarded. Didn’t answer any of my real questions then told me he couldn’t help me make an education plan. Then I asked him when I could schedule one and he said I’d have to wait until March to make a plan! Unbelievable! This college is such garbage. 5 years of this crap. No wonder I can’t get a degree.

Went here for a semester and had to go through the longest process to register to this school in my LIFE!
Waiting in the lines for financial aid, admissions and records, and counseling are horrific. If you need to see either one of them, prepare yourself to wait in a line for at least 1 hour. MAKE SURE! that you have all the questions either written or in mind and ALL of the paperwork you need or else you’ll find yourself waiting for so long only to be spoken to for a couple minutes with rude service and be told to come back again because you forgot to bring one small document and/​or paperwork.
I feel like they are understaffed and overwhelmed with all the students who have questions and need assistance. Sometimes I feel like some of staff members don’t care which is sad because students are coming here to get an education.
The programs seem like the usual but I wish they had more options but I like how they have an Animation Program which is different and would probably be a lot cheaper compared to those big name Art school in the Bay Area.
Overall, I feel like it’s the amount of care and service that got me on this one. The location is great! It’s right next to Downtown Berkeley Bart and is near UC Berkeley. The classes are what you expect from a community college, very similar to high school.

My seventh review of Berkeley City College («BCC») located in the People’s Republic of Berkeley. A retrospective review of 3.5 Stars.
I attended BCC from August 2008 through December 2013. Why so long at BCC? My original intent was to upgrade my administrative assistant work skills and get back into the workforce. Along the way, I decided to not only to upgrade my AA workskills, I decided to transfer to UC Berkeley in order to be even more competitive in the job market. It took an additional three years at BCC but all the hard work, sweat, and stress paid off with much gratitude and thanks to much of the faculty and staff at Berkeley City College.
Thanks to BCC I discovered I could major in Film and Media Studies at Cal. I was able to get a lower division film course at Cal waived since I took an equivalent at BCC. I took more film history and some art history courses that helped in describing miss-​en-​scene elements in film and media.
However, no gratitude and no thanks to the chatty students at BCC, many of them who feel they are still in high school Version 2.0 or back in high school. As I have said before, «There is no respect for the instructors who are here to teach and the other students who are here to learn, not to socialize, in the classroom. I do not mind them talking when the instructor is not lecturing or they are assigned group work. I do give a *deleted expletive* when they are talking at the same time as the instructor.» By the time I left, many of the instructors and professors have been shutting down the chatty students in class. I do not miss the chatty students at all – I am so glad they are history as far as I am concerned!
As for the committed, serious, and studious students: «Community college is the first step to getting either professional training or transferring to a 4-​year institution if one was not able to get in after high school, among other reasons. Well, training and transferring costs and right here is where one starts paying through sweat and hard earned work!»
Other things I do not miss at all are dealing with Financial Aid and the Record and Admissions (R&A) offices on the first floor. I am not surprised the comments have not been favorable regarding these departments. There are some people in those departments that leave much to be desired, to say the least. I concur the Financial Aid office appears to be short-​staffed. I do not miss the long wait in line to talk with a financial aid staff member, there is usually either one or two windows open when there are at least three windows in total that could be utilized. There was really only one staff member in Financial Aid I enjoyed talking with. There was a staff member on R&A whose grasp of the English language leaves much to be desired. I did my best not having to deal with them as much as possible, I preferred talking to the R&A supervisor and would ask to speak with them.
I would have to go the Counselors’ Offices at least three to four times a semester since I was on financial aid and would have to submit an education plan every semester. The wait to see a counselor leaves much to be desired. There is a period of appointments that starts about two-​three weeks after the semester begins and ends about the same period of weeks before the end of the semester. I remember waiting for specific counselors for about three hours’ time/​most of the afternoon just to get updated paperwork and get it signed off if they were on duty counseling drop-​ins. During my time there, there were only three full-​time counselors and the other counselors were part-​timers.
The BCC Transfer and Career Center. I was quite fortunate to have this invaluable resource at BCC. I was there more than two times a week, and participated in transfer seminars and college fairs every semester. I have heard BCC has the best transfer center in the Peralta Community College District out of all the four colleges.
I transferred to Cal Berkeley with three liberal arts degrees, three associates degrees, and two certificates from Berkeley City College. And a member of the BCC administrative staff gave me a compliment in letting me know that I am one of their success stories. Thank you BCC for opening my mind to possibilities and helping me transfer to UC Berkeley. Here’s to another 40 years to BCC in transforming lives and helping students succeed! Cheers!

I enjoy the campus environment and I have met some very talented people who make me really appreciate the community college way of being. Yes it’s a bureaucracy nightmare, but then again what establishment isn’t? I hear that it is an absolute nightmare trying to get financial aid funding together and that must be extremely stressful. Staff are very forthcoming and generally willing to work with people’s needs.
Some positive personal experiences I have had with professors have been with Dr. Freeman in Poly Sci (phenomenal), Dr. Kies in Anthropology (Equally incredible), Ms. Hardy in English (One of the most driven teachers I’ve ever met), Ms. Chemouni in Math, Mr. Simon in Economics (Dude wears a new suit every single class) and others.
I will say you should be careful as to what classes you take so as to not be wasting your time, energy and money but overall this school has a wonderful wealth of resources and is an absolute steal for the price. If you stay focused and plan your escape, you will enjoy the ride along the way (hopefully…)
BIG shout-​out to Paula Coil in the Transfer Center whom i saw was mentioned before, she really is a spectacular human being and deserves some sort of award for providing consistently kind and supportive help. Also Heather Dodge in the library is wonderful in many ways and deserves much praise. May not be perfect but it’s a well oiled machine to say the least.
OH and they are planning to expand their campus in the next few years so definitely something to look for. Also their acceptance rate to UC Berkeley is the second highest in the country if you didn’t know. Not too shabby BCC, not too shabby…

I was not pleased with the two classes in which I was enrolled: web design and scriptwriting and storyboarding. I just dropped them today. I found the classes disorganized and lackluster. I’d expected better and was disappointed. Two stars for nice, new facilities.

I really dislike this school.
Negatives:
1. Many of the staff are rude/won’t make eye contact/won’t give a friendly smile.
2. Many students are disrespectful.
3. I considered making this a positive: I can’t pay them. The website always tells me there is a tuition error. I once got this resolved, but wasn’t ready at that moment to pay. When I attempted it a few hours later, the original issue came back. Even though I was able to get the issue originally resolved by talking to someone in the Bursars office, the second time I called back, I got, «I CAN’T FIX. I TRANSFER YOU.» *click*. Which didn’t work either. No one picked up. Speaking of phones…
4. Good luck getting anyone on them. I have been endlessly transferred and serenaded by the ringing of the phone. I have also had similar luck when attempting to communicate via email.
5. No cafeteria. Just a vending machine (which is cheaper than most!).
6. The website… is awful. I know it’s one many schools use, but I’m glad my usual school does not.
7. The library has some ridiculous rules for the computers and you need to purchase a separate card to print. Sure, it’s only 50cents, but the week I had to get it was one of those, «I hope I can make it till Friday» weeks.
Positives:
1. They have nice, albeit, poorly designed labs.
2. I did appreciate that they had study rooms in the library.
3. It made me appreciate my school (USF) even more.
If I need any more supplemental classes in the future, I will be going elsewhere.

This review is solely and specifically in honor of a fabulous lady named Paula Coil, who works at the Transfer Center at BCC and pretty much saved my life today. I had left her a voice message this morning after reviewing transfer requirements from
and ending up thoroughly confused. My mind started going where it always goes when I can’t figure out stuff regarding my education: I envision myself in my late 30s, turning a Vanagon or Astrovan Camper into an illegitimate and dubious ice cream truck with spray painted images of the sub par treats I offer.
A few minutes after I called, Paula called me back and started telling me she was pretty sure the classes I had mentioned in my message were actually to be taken at CSUEB, not the Peralta Community Colleges. Like a fool, I doubted Paula. She informed me that her computer wasn’t working and the cord attached to the telephone she was on couldn’t stretch to another computer. Frustrated with myself and slightly embarrassed that I was probably frustrating her too, I told Paula I wasn’t sure but that I would figure it out myself. There was a certain sadness in my voice that is definitely not suitable for operating an ice cream truck, ever. When we got off the line, I was convinced I was engulfed in an educational system that had no desire to see me succeed.
And then… Paula called back! And had found out the information I needed to know and even discussed my options in another area that I hadn’t mentioned to her. It was seriously amazing and by the end I was thanking her profusely and really grateful for professionals like her, that make the college experience that much more productive and personable.

Just recently moved to Berkeley and its been taking me 2 months and counting to get my enrollment and financial aid finished. Other than the one counselor that has been very helpful, all of the other staff members I have encountered here have been snappy and rude.
I’ve been having a lot of trouble communicating with the staff here trying to transfer transcripts, signing up for classes, and getting financial aid. I’ve had to come into the school at least 5 times now waiting hours on end just to speak to a rude staff member for about 5 minutes. With that said, I understand that the wait should be expected but its nervous racking when I’m forced to come in because they could not understand my question via email.
Just now I came to the counseling office an hour early so I decide to check on my financial aid making sure I wasn’t missing anything. There was no line has just opened. I ask «I want to check on my status on my fasfa just to make sure I’m not missing anything». Her reply was «Do you think we can file paperwork within a week? It’s going to take 4 – 6 weeks and we will email you if we need you to come in.» I asked a simple question because I’ve had to come in multiple times when it could have been resolved in one meeting.
I’ve never had this much trouble with school enrollment before and cannot comprehend why the staff here is so bitter. The students workers here are more helpful and nice than the staff themselves. Bothered me so much that I created a Unilocal account just to post this.

I can’t speak to the quality of the classes or teachers yet, but I have *never* had worse service at a college. The following is a nonexhaustive list of reasons why.
Directly in the middle of the enrollment period they decided to close and upgrade Passport, which enables students to view course availability and enroll in classes. It’s been closed for about 5 days.
The notice said it would be back functioning at 3am, so I set an alarm to wake up in the middle of the night to sign up for classes. It’s still not up, and it’s now 4am.
The counseling office is also rude and understaffed. If it’s your first time enrolling and trying to sign up for classes at BCC, I recommend not doing so for the summer session.
I had to take off work to go to a counselor so she could remove a block on the classes I am able to enroll in based on my assessment scores. Why couldn’t this be done automatically? When I tried to see the counselor, she was in a staff meeting and no one was allowed to sign up to see her until an hour and a half later. I inquired if there was a waiting list I could sign and the boy behind the desk informed me: «no, you have to wait in line just like everybody else.»
When time finally came to sign up, the list was only open to people who’d sat in the counseling office waiting for an hour. Another girl who’d taken off work, driven up from Santa Cruz, and arrived early in the morning was turned away because she’d left the counseling office to actually do something productive in her 3 hrs of waiting time.
This is the first for-​profit business I’ve seen in the U.S. that can treat their customers like an inefficient government bureaucracy does and still stay in business.
Don’t try to do drop-​in counseling on a Friday; there’s usually only one counselor there.
They cram the mandatory orientation that tells you a lot about how to navigate the school systems into about 15 minutes before the placement test when all you’re thinking about is how nervous you are. Ostensibly they were open to questions. However, when I asked one, I was given a hasty answer that was unhelpful in the same way as a dictionary that uses the word you’re searching for as that word’s definition.