Shrinidhi Gopal, a senior majoring in economics and data science, is the incoming president for UC Berkeley's undergraduate student government. She is one of 202 students who made these subjects the second most common combination of majors declared on campus this spring.
Gopal spoke with Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science, and Society about how she discovered these fields and the power of combining data science with the social sciences. She also shared how she got involved in student government, what she hopes to accomplish this year and advice for incoming undergraduates. This Q+A has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you decide to attend Berkeley?
I was actually deciding between UC Berkeley and UCLA [UC Los Angeles]. I was offered the Regents’ Scholarship at Berkeley, which is why I chose Berkeley because I also got to go to the Regents’ Overnight Host Program, which was really cool – not in person because it was during COVID-19. But I got to do it virtually. I really liked the campus.
But also something I really loved about Berkeley was the flexibility to take classes and then declare your major. When I applied to college, I applied as a neuroscience major but I knew I was thinking about going into something a little bit more technical. So I also wanted to be at a school where I’d have the opportunity to pursue those different interests.