Interview With a College Senior (Ella & Clara Carter-Klauschie)
- claracarterklausch
- Dec 25, 2025
- 6 min read
Ella Carter-Klauschie is a senior at UC Berkeley pursuing degrees in Media Studies and Sociology. They write for The Daily Californian and are a fellow at the nonprofit newsroom CalMatters. Ella is the eldest Carter-Klauschie sibling and graduated from Hamilton High School in 2022.
Clara and Ella Carter-Klauschie sat down together in their childhood home to discuss college, the future, and more!
Clara: How has your year been?
Ella: It's been the busiest semester that I've ever had, because I'm working 10 hours a week and then also doing some extracurricular things and balancing my classes. I'm doing a lot of things that I'm really passionate about, but I have very little free time.
Clara: How would you say your view of college, or of the college application process, has shifted since you were applying to college?
Ella: I think that when I was first applying to college, I was really invested in the applications, and I felt like going to a prestigious, big-name college was very make-or-break. I definitely sound like I'm coming from a very privileged perspective, going to UC Berkeley. Still, the moment I started getting into colleges, I kind of realized that I didn't have to be so anxious and stressed about it, and that anywhere that had a program I was excited about would be good enough. And so, I think, since then, I've really been more focused on what I can get out of individual parts of college rather than a big name. I wish I hadn't stressed myself out that much. That was my biggest takeaway at the end of senior year.
Clara: What's one piece of advice you would give high school seniors about college or the application process?
Ella: Be realistic with yourself, and don't overexert yourself, because it's going to be okay. Be realistic with the colleges that you're applying to, the classic advice of a reach, a safety, and a target. As long as you have a safety that you're excited about, it's really gonna be okay, and you're gonna find people and programs you're excited about at that safety. You don't have to go to a quote-unquote prestigious dream school. You can go to the school that accepts you for you and is not asking you to jump through incredible hoops to get in.
Clara: What's one thing you wish you had known before your first day at Berkeley?
Ella: Hmm. I wish I had known that my first semester was gonna be uncomfortable and I had been more prepared for that. I wasn't ready for the hard mattress and the tricky dining hall food and the loud dorms, and just all the discomforts that don't happen when you have your own room at home. So I guess bracing myself for that a little bit more so that I didn't feel so uncomfortable with it in my first semester, and so I wasn't like wishing to go home my first semester.
Clara: What is one piece of advice you have for making friends in college?
Ella: I actually am so impressed by my freshman year self on that one because if I met someone in class or even saw someone whose outfit I liked in class, I was bold enough to ask if they would have coffee with me after class. And I did that, probably in most classes that I was in freshman year, which is kind of crazy. I don't think I could do that now. I was very outgoing. But I met people that I still know, and I'm still friendly with, and nobody thinks that's weird, especially in freshman year. In freshman year, you can also go and knock on the doors of everyone in your hall, and everyone will be excited to have someone to talk to because they want to make friends too. So maybe that's good advice as well.
Clara: What has been your favorite class throughout college?
Ella: I took a class this semester called Decolonizing Citizenship, which was a seminar class with about 20 people. It was a lot of really interesting readings, and then just a deep discussion. I got to hear more about what my peers think than in any other class that I've had. And the professor was amazing, but she kind of took a bit of a backseat so that everyone could work out these complex ideas and concepts together, and that was what made it so great.
Clara: Well, that does sound great. If you could go back and change one thing about your college experience, what do you think it would be?
Ella: I think… I wish that I had, after I had met people, continued to push myself to meet more people, or to just to be out and about more, because these days and last year, I definitely see the same people, mostly people that I'm in class with or have known for years now, and go to the same places. I'm not trying new things as much as I was freshman year, which is so great about freshman year. I wish I had kept trying new things.
Clara: What has been your most memorable experience throughout college?
Ella: There are a lot of stories that are coming to mind, but it's hard to decide what kind of story to choose. Well... I went on a retreat with the Daily Cal a couple of weeks ago, and we got to jump in the frozen lake, and I always like that kind of thing. I do like lakes. I like to jump in cold water because it helps with feeling burned out and feeling too busy.
Clara: Do you feel that your college experience has prepared you for a career in your intended field?
Ella: Probably not, but I would like to think so. I want to be a journalist, and maybe in my highest aspiration, an editor, specifically in the nonprofit newsroom space. Berkeley is not super solid with the journalism classes. We have a great master's program, but there's no undergrad journalism major, just a minor, which I didn't do. But the Daily Californian is a very highly regarded newsroom where I've gotten to make a lot of connections and meet a lot of people in journalism. And it is the paper of record for the city, so it is just like working at a local newsroom anywhere else, except we're all students. So in that respect, yes. But honestly, in that type of field, I don't really know if you can ever think that you're actually prepared because every job is super different. And so I would be a little naive to think that I am prepared.
Clara: How has your definition of success shifted since you started college?
Ella: Wow. I think that a big part of college for me has been being away from home and being away from my family, so I think I learned pretty quickly that to me, success means staying connected with everyone that I'm away from. And so, that's why I do FaceTime calls with everyone every week. Going into college, I think my biggest concern regarding success was passing classes and getting into all of the activities that I wanted to do and, like, really being on my grind. But I think weeks into getting there, I realized that that was probably gonna come in some respect, no matter what I did. I was gonna have to work hard and figure it out, and I'm always doing my best. But what takes true intentionality is maintaining relationships with people. Those relationships last even after college is over.
Clara: Well, on that note, what will you miss most when you graduate? And what won't you miss?
Ella: Ooh, I'll miss community, and I'll miss spaces like the class that I mentioned earlier, where the point is just to talk about ideas. That doesn't happen so much in the adult world. It's very much so an academia thing. And I'll miss being able to walk down the street and see my friends or go somewhere and know who's gonna be there. But I guess that's just an element of moving somewhere new and starting over. What won't I miss? In part… I won't miss class. Not entirely. I loved a lot of my classes, but I think I get jaded about the intense, theoretical nature of a lot of the classes that I've taken, that don't truly feel grounded in reality. So, I'm excited to be in the world writing about communities and realities that people are living, rather than theorizing about them in a classroom.
Clara: So what does graduating from college mean to you?
Ella: It means a lot. It's been something that I thought I would do. But I don't know if I knew how challenging it would be, especially in my freshman year. I don't think I realized that... Graduating means you're out in the world, but it doesn't mean that you have job offers lined up. In high school, I would have thought that graduating from Berkeley, you immediately have a job that someone wants you to fill, which is not the case. So, yeah. Graduating means uncertainty. Oh man. Okay. That's a little rough.
Clara: Well, maybe we can get you some certainty. Would you like to ask the Magic 8 Ball a question?
Ella: Okay, I don't want to be boring, but I feel like I should now ask the magic eight ball, will I be employed? Post-graduation?
Magic 8 Ball: Signs point to yes.
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