Shilpa and I have toured around the country to spread the word about the MSL program. The last application deadline for the 2018-2019 cohort is June 1, so our travels are coming to an end. To read about the first legs of our journey, click here (Indiana & Illinois), here (Michigan & Wisconsin), and here (Oklahoma).

As a California native, I was excited to return to my home state. Once again, this trip was a solo adventure, but I’m considering it part of the overall excellent adventure category.

University of California, Berkeley 

I have never visited the Berkeley campus, but have been interested to visit for quite a while. The campus did not disappoint! Maybe I visited on a particularly lovely day, but I could certainly see the appeal. There were plenty of outdoor and indoor study areas, and pockets of nice, tranquil spots to relax. At my first stop, the VLSB Building, I was greeted by this friendly face:

In addition to the dinosaur, I met with the following great humans:

• Carina Galicia, Assistant Director of Student Services with Molecular & Cell Biology
• Mark Jenkinson, Director of Student Services with Molecular & Cell Biology
• Kathleen Barrett, Engineering Student Services
• Katie Crawford, Career Counselor for College of Engineering, College of Chemistry, and Physical Sciences in L&S

University of California, San Diego

UCSD is another school that I was interested to visit, but never made the trip—which is especially silly, considering I grew up about an hour north of the campus. It was a beautiful, winding campus; though, the beauty was slightly covered in the morning by a downpour. It’s not supposed to rain in California! (Though, for the sake of the drought, I’m glad it did.) Luckily, the rain slowed down quite early on in the day, and I was able to see the sunny campus in all its glory.

I also had the opportunity to meet with the following individuals:

• Antoinette Moore, Undergraduate Program Coordinator & Advisor for the Department of Physics
• Jeffrey Saikali, Undergraduate/ Graduate Advisor for the Department of Mathematics
• Tina Gov, Career Advisor at the Career Center

In addition to my meetings, I had the opportunity to tour some of the excellent art installations of the campus, thanks to the recommendations of Jeffrey Saikali! I only had the chance to visit 3 of the 19 pieces of the Stuart Collection, but I fully intend to revisit campus to see the other 16.

Have you visited any of these fascinating works? Comment below!