As someone plagued by chronic and irrational indecisiveness, I’ve found that my best decisions are often the ones I put the least thought into. I decided to apply to the UCDC program just a week before the deadline, and it ended up being one of my best and most impactful choices to date. Now, several months after completing the program, I remain grateful for the love and growth my semester away from Berkeley afforded me. It is where I saw snow fall for the first time, worked down the hall from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (who I occasionally ran into while getting coffee), and made lifelong friends across the UC system, but also where I grew more confident in what I could contribute professionally and developed a much clearer vision of the purpose I want my career to serve.
The UC Washington Program, or UCDC, is a UC-wide program where students spend a quarter or semester living in our capital and engaging in internships and courses relevant to DC’s unique political atmosphere and culture. While I attended an information session my freshman year, I initially leaned toward a more traditional study abroad experience. I attended another session during the fall of my junior year, however, and realized UCDC could be a valuable opportunity to better understand the type of work or graduate school I want to pursue after college.
At the heart of my experience was the UCDC Center itself, home to both our apartment-style dorms and classrooms. While I wasn’t initially thrilled to return to dorm-style living, it ended up being where some of my best memories were made and where I really got to know the rest of my cohort. One of the best parts of UCDC is getting to live and take courses with students from across the UC system. With everyone concentrated in the same building, it was easy to become acquainted and grow close. From night one, we were hosting Heated Rivalry watch parties, and other traditions quickly followed, including baking nights, Friday dinners, and movie screenings in empty classrooms. I knew only one other person going into the program and walked away with connections across the UC campuses and best friends to return to at Berkeley.
Every UCDC student is expected to have some type of internship, but what that opportunity looks like varies depending on your interests. You could intern in curation for the Smithsonian, work at an environmental nonprofit, or do policy research for a biotech startup. I personally interned for a Congressman on the Hill, as did many of my cohort members. Being on the Hill, you really do feel like you’re “in the room where it happens.” While it was certainly an interesting time to be in D.C., especially as an environmental policy student, it still remained exhilarating to be right in the thick of national policymaking.
I was a press intern, which meant I mainly assisted with constituent communications. One of my primary responsibilities was drafting tweets for my Congressman, which allowed me to finally put my abhorrent screen time to good use. I also got to draft policy memos on tech issues, write our weekly newsletter, and put my Campus Ambassador skills to use by giving Capitol tours and answering very impassioned constituent phone calls. While I’ve taken political science and policy courses, there is a certain understanding of the mechanisms of policymaking and political influence that can only come from being immersed in such a frenzied and fast-paced environment. Consequently, that semester was also the most engaged I’ve ever been with the news, and I enjoyed giving my family a hard time for not keeping up with political names and issues that I undoubtedly wouldn’t have recognized before my internship started.
Beyond an internship, students are also expected to take one or two seminar courses at the UCDC Center. I took one class on AI Policy and another on Media and Democracy. It was nice to return to a smaller classroom environment, and I appreciated that our professors gave us a lot of autonomy over the topics of our papers and projects, encouraging us to connect what we were learning in class to our internships. My Media and Democracy course in particular was a standout. Professor Marc Sandalow was one of the most engaging professors I’ve had throughout college and put so much intentionality into his syllabus and assignments. One week, he transformed our classroom into a mock TV studio, where we practiced being interviewed on live air with cameras and bright lights shining on us as we answered questions about our research projects. Beyond our courses, we also had weekly guest speakers visit the center. My favorite was Congressman Ted Lieu, who spoke to us about how Trump’s presidency has changed the workflow of Congress and what to expect if Democrats regain control of the House this November.
While the efforts of the UCDC program made much of the experience so memorable, D.C. itself is also just an endlessly interesting city. While I personally am overwhelmed by the vastness of metropolitan giants like Los Angeles and New York, I found DC to be the perfect middle ground. It was large enough that I could never grow bored, but still small enough that I could develop a real sense of familiarity and comfort.
Coming from a Southern California suburb with very little public transit, I am impressed by and adore the BART system. However, I fear BART cannot hold a candle to the champion of convenient and reliable transportation that is the glorious D.C. Metro system. As UCDC students, we also received Metro passes that made all of our rides free, which made exploring the city even easier.
Between the 21 free (!) Smithsonian museums, Nationals games, cherry blossom festivals, and countless other landmarks and activities, there was never a shortage of new sights and experiences to enjoy with my friends. I had never visited D.C. before, not even on the quintessential middle school trip, so walking around the National Mall was always thrilling for me. D.C. also rewards you for enduring a harsh winter with a beautiful and calm spring, when cherry blossoms bloom, and patches of tulips seem to spring up wherever grass permits. Toward the end of the semester, I tried to spend as much time as possible simply walking around our neighborhood, taking in the historic homes and flowers.
D.C. will always occupy a special place in my heart, and I’d love to return after I graduate. At the same time, being away from Berkeley made me grow even fonder of everything our campus has to offer. I missed lying on the Glade, studying in Doe (where I write this now), and hearing the daily chimes of the Campanile. I think that appreciation will make my senior year all the more special, and I’m excited to take on my final year at Berkeley with a greater sense of gratitude for this campus, along with all the growth and friendships I’m bringing back with me.