Karla de la Cruz’s path to UC Berkeley was neither linear nor easy. For much of her life, she didn’t even think going to college was a possibility for her – let alone walking the stage at the world’s top public university. She was raised by a single mother who worked long hours as a farmworker in rural Northern California, and few students in her community had the support necessary to go to college.
She beat the odds this week by graduating with a degree in sociology after completing the honors thesis program. During her time at Cal, she also worked as a student employee in the Division of Equity & Inclusion and participated in several research projects. Building on her research at Berkeley, she plans to apply to Ph.D. programs in sociology. She hopes to turn her research on farmworker health, environmental stress and immigrant wellbeing into policy that uplifts communities like her own.
She spoke to Berkeley Social Sciences about her background, experiences at Cal and plans for the future.
Tell us about your background and how you ended up at UC Berkeley?
Karla de la Cruz: Coming from a single-parent household in rural Northern California, college always felt out of reach. My mom worked long hours as a farmworker, and our small-town school lacked resources, counselors and specialized help. I didn’t know how to apply to college or where to even begin. Also, being undocumented at the time, I was terrified to ask questions.
When I tried reaching out, I was asked why I didn’t have the “proper paperwork.” After that, I told myself I wouldn’t apply to a UC school. I didn’t think I belonged there; truthfully, I didn’t even know what "UC" meant. But one night, the pressure of everything caught up to me. I couldn’t sleep. I got up at 4 a.m., opened YouTube, and started watching videos on how to apply. Three days before the UC application deadline, I submitted my application -- just me and YouTube.
Somehow, I ended up waitlisted at UC Berkeley. They asked for a letter of recommendation before releasing a final decision, but I never sent one. Not because I didn’t have teachers who supported me, but because I didn’t believe I belonged. I didn’t want to ask anyone. I was undocumented at the time, navigating everything alone, and afraid people would think I wasn’t smart enough. So I stayed quiet.
I had been accepted into every other school I applied to, so I enrolled at UC Santa Cruz, but I always felt that Berkeley was unfinished business. Eventually, I decided I needed to prove that I belonged in that space. I applied to Cal again – this time as a transfer student. And here I am.
What were some of the challenges you faced navigating college as a first-generation student and the daughter of a single-parent farmworker?
Karla de la Cruz: When I was 17, I started working in the fields with my mom. I didn’t have legal status and couldn’t apply for any of my friends' jobs. That’s when the fear hit me: What would my future look like? Would I always be stuck doing labor that breaks our bodies just to survive?
College was never guaranteed, and I had no roadmap. As a first-generation student, the oldest daughter, I carried the weight of figuring out every step alone, including financial aid, enrollment and class registration. I was afraid to mess up because I didn’t know how to navigate those systems.
Some days, I felt completely stuck. I had no backup plan, but I kept pushing. I’ve always been someone who pays attention to detail and notices patterns. Over time, I realized that the inequality I saw in the fields and my community wasn’t random and unique to my situation. I went into college not knowing what I wanted to do. But those lived experiences started to shape everything.
How did studying sociology help you make sense of your experiences?
Karla de la Cruz: Sociology gave me a language for everything I had lived but couldn’t name. I remember sitting in my first theory class and feeling something shift. I had always internalized my struggles, thinking that maybe I wasn’t smart enough, or perhaps I was the problem. But sociology helped me understand that my experiences weren’t isolated but systemic.
It allowed me to see my story as part of a larger structure, one shaped by immigration policy, labor exploitation and racialized poverty. I began understanding the “why” behind what I had lived through.
More than that, it helped me realize that sociological research could be rooted in care — that my story, and the stories of people like my mom and neighbors, could inform policy and drive change. It connected the personal to the political in a way that made everything feel both heavier and more full of possibility.
What does graduating from UC Berkeley mean to you?
Karla de la Cruz: Graduating from Berkeley means everything to me. It’s not just about earning a degree, it’s about rewriting the narrative. It means honoring my mom’s sacrifices, the dreams my family couldn’t pursue and every version of me who thought this wasn’t possible. I am the first person in my family to graduate from a university, and it is the No. 1 public university! It means walking across that stage for all the students who have ever felt invisible or ashamed to ask for help.
Berkeley also changed my life in a real way. While in college, I received legal documentation. That one change placed me in a position of relative privilege I had never known. It gave me access to opportunities, yes, but more importantly, it gave me a responsibility to use that access to help those still navigating systems from the outside.
Berkeley gave me space to grow. I have worked as a student employee in the Division of Equity & Inclusion, supporting the Office of the Vice Chancellor. That experience helped me to better understand the importance of thoughtful, mission-driven institutional work. I’ve also been a mentor to students in programs like Navigating Cal. I have had the opportunity to be involved in research through programs like Social Sciences Research Pathways (SSRP), and the Honors Thesis Program.
Earning a degree from UC Berkeley is a reminder that even when we don’t believe we belong, we are capable, we are resilient and we bring value.
What are your plans after graduation?
Karla de la Cruz: This past year, I wrote an honors thesis on healthcare access among undocumented farmworkers in rural Northern California. That project was deeply personal, combining my lived experience, community ties and academic training.
Through that work, I found my passion for research. I plan to apply to Ph.D. programs in sociology to continue my work on farmworker health, environmental stress and immigrant wellbeing.
This summer, I’ll intern with the California Department of Health Care Access and Information. I’ll work on public policy focused on health equity, an opportunity that feels like a full-circle moment.
Long-term, I want to help create policies that reflect the realities of the people I grew up with, people who are often excluded from data, decisions and support systems. I aim to build community-centered research and policy rooted in dignity, care and lived experience, especially for undocumented and Indigenous families in rural spaces.
