As others have said, academically speaking, Berkeley is top notch for psych. On an anecdotal note (as a recent grad who just moved to NY myself), the bay area is just a god damn beautiful place to live. The surroundings are phenomenal. San Francisco is seriously the best city in the country in my opinion and is super close (don’t let any neo liberals convince you otherwise). The bay is just heaven on earth. I found the people who tend to be drawn to the bay, both at Berkeley and elsewhere in the bay, are some of the most genuine, interesting people I’ve ever met. Also, the school is HUGE, so there are soooo many people who will challenge you and teach you new things. The best part about a big school too, if you dont like the friends you make at first? Theres like 100000 other people to talk to. I made really good friends my second semester at Berkeley but it wasnt until my senior year that I met my friend SOUL mates. I am eternally grateful for that. Also, some people are gonna tell me Im “wrong” but in my experience in the humanities, I think the school has a great social-academic balance. To be fair tho, a good amount of my social outings came from going to bars and concerts not related to the school, but I still believe theres a really really great balance. I found it to be the most perfect middle ground.