[bugsy]

I'll speak from the perspective of an occasional visitor there with relatives and friends who live there.

Yes, it's a great city, the absolute best one of its size in the US. One of the few with good public transportation. There are fantastic places to go nearby like the Redwoods to the north and vineyards to the east.

Watch out though, if looking to party, most parts of the city has no nightlife except on weekends.

If you are doing engineering and can get into Stanford you should go there rather than Berkeley.

There are hostels that run $20 a night or less if you want to go on the cheap. Or you can couch surf if you have friends there already. Or since you are Australian you can probably find a girlfriend on okcupid to move in with for 2 weeks, they like the accent and most unattached men are gay, but it might be more trouble than it's worth.

Then again, since you are considering paying out of state tuition at a couple very expensive colleges, you must be fabulously wealthy and can just check into a suite at The Palace or Hotel Palomar.

[gojomo]

Upvoted for the suggestion of OKCupid as a short-term housing solution, I'd never heard that before and it made me chuckle. For more formal but still person-to-person accomodations, try AirBNB or Craigslist. :)