Best housing for freshmen at UC Berkeley?

The best housing is Blackwell! It is located near campus and it has its own gym. The bathrooms are always clean and spacious. This building also has study rooms so you do not have to walk from campus to your dorm late at night. The rooms are more modern than other dorms. More social housing are Unit 2 and Clark Kerr!

Depends on what you value! If you're looking for something more modern, I highly recommend Blackwell. Extremely modern design, bathrooms are extremely spacious, the study rooms are gorgeous, and there's a mini-gym on the first floor. If you want to be more social (i.e. partying) and have access to various spaces, Clark Kerr is definitely a solid choice. I see them as another section of campus as there's so much in the area–dining hall, skate ramps, pool, soccer field, BBQ grills, etc. If you want to build more of a community with the dorm floor, Unit 3 has arguably been known to be the "closest/tight-knit" group.

Blackwell if you can get it ;)