Every year, UC Berkeley throws its campus open to all-comers to showcase what the university has to offer. On Saturday April 20, an estimated 45,000 current and prospective students and their families attended Cal Day 2013, the school’s official open house.
The event, which sees hundreds of Cal organizations set up around 300 booths, is an important recruitment time for the school. The spillover from the event reached all the way to Telegraph and Haste, according to a vendor there, and local hotels enjoyed good business.
The student financial aid office in Sproul Hall opened at 8 a.m. and interviewed a steady stream of parents during Cal Day, according to student staffers.
Many events were aimed at small children. The Valley Life Sciences facility sponsored graduate students who explained the intricacies of bones and fur to kids. Stephens Hall hosted a science experiments NerdsPalooza. The Cal Music School String Quartet performed Schumann in Faculty Grove, while a Cal Band Ensemble performed in Memorial Glade.
[Ted Friedman contributed reporting to this story.]
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