So, here's what's happening: my lovely daughter has been accepted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and UC San Diego. The latter two were crossed off the list early on, and she's now trying to decide between the other three. Irvine has enrolled her in their honors program and they have a creative writing emphasis that is very attractive to her, but Cal & UCLA are two of the best schools that she could possibly go to, and she knows this. While's she's agonizing over which school (decision has to be made by May 1) I have another question. I want to know if anyone has some insider info on the student wards & institutes at those schools.
Daughter is Mormon and has no plans not to be at the present time, but she's very NOM. She went down to So. Cal. to tour the schools with her dad & stepmom. My ex sent me an email on the Berkeley LDS experience, part of which I'm copying here:

Good info about being LDS and attending Cal…https://www.facebook.com/berkeleyward
http://berkeleylds.com/information.php
http://mormonscholarstestify.org/624/armand-l-mauss

Daughter and dad can attend church tomorrow in Berkeley to learn more, 9:30am, 2368 LeConte Avenue Berkeley CA 94709.

Bottom line: Any RfMers out there who have gone to any of those schools/wards or have any knowledge of who the Institute directors are? It's going to be a big shock to my free-spirited and open-minded (for a Mormon) daughter to have deal with real hard-asses who push conformity and obedience at all cost, if such be the case. Just want to get a feel for the LDS vibe juxtaposed against the general campus vibe at these schools. I did some campus visiting with daughter too but my time was much more limited and any info & insights I can get on here would be much appreciated!

If she goes to UC Berkeley she'll have a lot of fun with the 'Star Trek IV' quote about Spock: "Oh, him? He's harmless. Part of the free speech movement at Berkeley in the sixties. I think he did a little too much LDS."

Seriously, I can't help much--my daughter is planning on UCB, and she's a borderline pagan; I imagine she will meet more of those at Berkelely than LDS...

LOL, I remember that movie and quote!! Well as it turns out, my daughter just called and told me she made up her mind: it's Berkeley :D
So that's out of the way. From what I understand the Mormons have a longtime presence at Cal, but of course, it presents quite a few challenges to those who want to keep their youth indoctrinated and staying inside the bubble. I think it'll be great for her personally; she already has a wide variety of friends, none of her closest personal friends are LDS and she agrees with my simple advice to her: keep an open mind and an open heart!

Congratulations to your daughter. You must be very proud of her!

A close friend of mine from high school is Mormon. Looking back (and knowing what I know now,) I'm a bit surprised that she was so open-minded in keeping her neverMo friends around. It did lead to some lively discussions, though!

Thanks Summer! And yes, I am very proud of my daughter, for many reasons. I do believe she'll go far, much farther than the boundaries and limitations of TSCC.

PS: lively discussions are always a good thing ;)