<p>HA! That harvardsucks.org video was brilliant!</p>
<p>I don't know from Cal's side, but the rivalry from Stanford's site is completely contrived in order to create sort of unity and school spirit in the entering freshman classes. I'm a current Stanford frosh from Palo alto and my best friend, also from PA, is currently a junior at Berkeley, so I've visited her there many times before I became a Stanford person and I can tell you that the rivalry is just stupid. The two schools are WAY too different to actually compete with each other. But it's fun to yell out "Cal Sucks" at Big Game.</p>
<p>I think Berkeley students take it a lot more seriously than those at Stanford. I remember when I visited both of them before applying the tour guide at Berkeley was constantly talking about the rivalry while the guide at Stanford didn't even mention it. Seems like Berkeley has an inferiority complex...</p>
<p>My best friend goes to Berkeley, and came to visit me last weekend. I met him at the Caltrain station and noticed that he was wearing his blue and gold "Cal" hoodie, and I jokingly told him he was brave for wearing it. Anyway he wore the sweatshirt for the rest of the day, even as we walked all around campus and had lunch at Tresidder. Not a single person said anything to him, though I did notice a few people give him looks. Later as I introduced him to my friends in my dorm and told them he was from Berkeley, one of my friends said, "You go to Berkeley? That's awesome" while another friend said, "Yeah I've got some friends there too." The point is, a lot of people at Stanford have good friends that go to Berkeley. We really only joke around about it, and the only time it gets intense is for athletic events like Big Week. Really, the whole rivalry thing feels more like a fun "obligation" to preserving school spirit rather than actual hatred towards that place across the Bay.</p>
<p>how do the students compare Berk-Stanford? my guess is that the mid50%, stanford students are superior, but near the top.. there are very intelligent/achieving students from both-- maybe just not able to afford stanford. lol stanford looks like a hotelresort and parts of berk look like the slums.</p>
<p>Hey, slums or not - Berkeley must be doing something right to be on the provost's mind, lol :)</p>