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About Us

New Student Services (NSS) empowers undergraduate students to succeed and facilitates their transition to UC Berkeley. This process is known as the Golden Bear Experience, which consists of two parts: Before Students Arrive (advising and prep, online) and After Students Arrive (Golden Bear Orientation, and Getting Your Bearings, on campus).

Our Mission

The overarching goals of the Golden Bear Experience are to:

  • welcome new students into UC Berkeley’s scholarly community and lay the foundation for fostering their intellectual identity
  • create opportunities for participants to gain an understanding of academic requirements
  • create opportunities for participants to connect with university and college resources, services, and support structures
  • create opportunities for participants to engage with campus traditions and the range of UC Berkeley’s unique cultural communities
  • create opportunities for participants to engage with their peers and the broader campus community
  • set the path for a lifelong relationship with the campus

The Golden Bear Experience for many years was fondly known as Cal Student Orientation or CalSO.

Contact Us

By mail:
New Student Services
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720

By phone: 510.642.7733

By email: nss@berkeley.edu

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