I was an undergrad in the EECS and MSE joint major...

I was an undergrad in the EECS and MSE joint major at this university. For undergrad engineering students, the school should teach you how to think for yourself. Don't expect to get hand-holding here. You are paying for an education, so professors are supposed to do standard things for you like answer your questions after class or write rec letters for you. Besides that, expect to only get serious recognition if a) you win awards that make the university more reputable, b) you make a solid research contribution/discovery, or c) you "show commitment to" profs (this may involve badgering them).

I don't necessarily recommend the EECS and MSE joint major unless you are absolutely committed to exploring the two majors OR you are for sure into device research/fabrication. My personal take is that it is safer to choose EECS as your major if you had to choose between EECS & MSE or just EECS.

After being here 4 years, my impression is that this school is worth it for in-staters, maybe worth it for internationals, and probably not worth it for out-of-staters. Lower-division class sizes can be ginormous (e.g. 1200 students), so a lot of people don't go to lecture. Also consider that homework/test questions tend to be re-used for some classes, so it's important that an undergraduate student take the initiative to learn course material.

The best thing about this university is the people you meet. You learn how to deal with different types of ambitious and smart people here, and you get to see a wide range of personalities. This is probably what I will miss the most about here.

To undergrads: I also recommend taking graduate level (200 level) classes as soon as possible if you have the opportunity.

Beyond the academics and intellectualism of the school, I would say there are plenty of things to do in the area, which definitely makes Berkeley (for undergrad and grad) attractive.