SLC | About

Community
The Student Learning Center (SLC) is a community of 4000 undergraduates, over 250 tutors and instructors, and 20 professional staff. We are dedicated to fostering academic excellence and are driven by the philosophy that students working with students promotes academic and personal success.

Academics
As the primary academic support service for students at the University of California at Berkeley, the SLC assists students in transitioning to Cal;navigating the academic terrain; creating networks of resources; and achieving academic, personal and professional goals.Through various services including tutoring, study groups, workshops and courses, we support students in Biological and Physical Sciences, Business Administration, Computer Science, Economics, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Statistics, Study Strategies and Writing

Leadership
In preparing for future careers or graduate/professional school, students hone their leadership skills by joining the SLC. Tutors, mentors, and instructors participate in intensive weekly training, network with staff and faculty across campus, and gain pre-professional teaching experience. In this way, the SLC has cultivated leaders and served the campus for 30 years.

What Students Say About the SLC:

"The Student Learning Center offers a number of resources free to the campus community. The SLC offers tutoring in all disciplines from the sciences to writing to the humanities. Classes here at Cal are very different from classes in high school. The rigor of classes and the expectations here at Cal are very difficult and high. However, with the help of tutors, I was able to learn the level of analysis needed to succeed at Cal. The tutors assisted me in writing assignments and reading assignments to help be further understand the lecture material. The SLC is a valuable resource for success at Cal."

-- Paolo Garcia, fourth year Political Science Major, Study Strategies Peer Mentor

"From day 1 until graduation, the SLC played a big part in my college life. Not only did it help in terms of academics, it is also the main source of network establishment. All kinds of amazing people are involved in the SLC and getting to meet each and everyone of them was truly a blessing. No matter where you go, you will meet someone who has been involved with the SLC at one time in their lives (really!). In my case, there are people from the SLC in each year of the med school I am at. These people have helped me so much in my transition from college to med school, thanks to the SLC."

--Pam Chayavichitsilp, Cal alum, former SLC user and Science tutor, UCSD medical student

As a freshman, the SLC provided a comfortable environment where I could get assisted by students who were well trained on material that, many times, I had never encountered before. Sometimes I had no clue where to start, but because the SLC tutors were able to provide help from the perspective of someone who had been there before, they were able to offer learning tips and insight that I might not have gained from the classroom alone. Even when I didn't need help on specific items, it was very helpful to be around people working on the same material with the assistance available when needed. All of the science classes that I encountered at Cal proved to be a big challenge to me and many of my classmates, but the SLC was always a dependable resource for assistance and encouragement. Thanks for all of your commitment and support.

--Antrina Brantley '04

"I truly believe that (tutoring at the SLC) was the most meaningful, productive work experience one could have as an undergraduate. After graduating from Cal with four years of tutoring under my belt and a degree in English, I found work in the publishing industry, which had been my goal. . . My work at the SLC (also) made me a strong candidate for Masters programs I applied to. After all, the work of a graduate student and a writing tutor is quite similar: teaching, writing, reading, and researching"

--Amber Carini '05, former SLC Writitng tutor

"The SLC is a good resource if you're looking for a supportive academic community. It can be overwhelming as an incoming freshman to have to sit in a class with four to five hundred other students. The SLC has the potential to make the Berkeley experience a bit easier to handle because it makes the campus a little 'smaller.'"

-- Patrice Crisostomo, fourth year Psychology major, current Psychology 1 tutor