Berkeley Bashing

<p>Just curious, it seems Berkeley gets bashed on these boards disproportionately more than other top publics (UVA, UCLA, Michigan). I almost see no complaints on CC about these other top universities. Yet it seems like every week, another thread erupts into a debate about how horrible Berkeley is or why it will never compare to HYPS. </p>

<p>What is up with this? I guess, if you're going to bash public education you should probably go after the best public institution? Does that explain it? I don't know. End rant here.</p>

<p>whats HYPS anyway?</p>

<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford, and all other educational institutions at that level...</p>

<p>I would like to know the answer to the above as well... ^^</p>

<p>It's because there is a pair of dedicated Berkeley bashers on this board. </p>

<p>As well, it's also because Berkeley is perhaps the only large public school that can stand up academically to the top privates, hence the comparison and the recurrent topic.</p>

<p>Seriously, just don't go here. I remember after gettinga accepted as out of stater i read these sometimes, and it wasn't too great to listen to the bullcrap ppl like shiboing boing was spewing. i agree, i dont mind sakky's constructive critism, he at least admits it is still one of the top schools in the nation, it just requires some attention when comparing to the very top. but overall, there are really crazy ppl on thse boards for whatever reason, and I'm warning you now, if you like your school, and are proud to go to Berkeley, don't read these idiotic boards, itll just make you sad. </p>

<p>Finally, i heard this one point about recurrently about how only like 1 percent of ppl from Berkeley typically go on to Harvard Medical School. I am sorry to say, but that it true, HOWEVER there are TONS of other top schools like JHU and UCSF, where the Berkeley percentage of acceptance is much higher, several times up to 15 percent. I compared this to MIT's, and it stands up very formidably. Harvard aside, Berkeley sends I would say a very comparable amount of students to top medical schools. So, if harvard is your only true love, then maybe thats a problem, but if you want to go to the best of the best, you have every oppurtunity to do it from Berkeley.
Here are the stats, if you guys are wondering:</p>

<p>Berkeley's Statistics for premed acceptance from 2000-2004
<a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>MIT's Statistics for premed acceptance from 2005
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/career/www/preprof/2005top25.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/career/www/preprof/2005top25.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>As you will see, in truth, they are quite similar.
There, I'm a proud MCB'r and WILL get into a top med school, you mark my words, and I'll come back here and tell you haters when I do.</p>

<p>"Seriously, just don't go here. I remember after gettinga accepted as out of stater i read these sometimes, and it wasn't too great to listen to the bullcrap ppl like shiboing boing was spewing. i agree, i dont mind sakky's constructive critism, he at least admits it is still one of the top schools in the nation, it just requires some attention when comparing to the very top. but overall, there are really crazy ppl on thse boards for whatever reason, and I'm warning you now, if you like your school, and are proud to go to Berkeley, don't read these idiotic boards, itll just make you sad."</p>

<p>pooty_pooty, I think many of us don't want to leave this board because in spite of the berkeley bashing, there is still a great deal of information to be gathered from certain threads. </p>

<p>"As you will see, in truth, they are quite similar.
There, I'm a proud MCB'r and WILL get into a top med school, you mark my words, and I'll come back here and tell you haters when I do"</p>

<p>Sweet, I like it when I see UCB alumni succeeding. Its inspirational of sorts.</p>

<p>"Just curious, it seems Berkeley gets bashed on these boards disproportionately more than other top publics (UVA, UCLA, Michigan)."</p>

<p>It's tough being on top. :P</p>

<p>heh, i like that matt30 ^</p>

<p>It's also true.
Notice the same bashing that Harvard gets. Sure, most of the things it's attacked for are true, but why are these criticisms coming up in the first place?</p>

<p>Similar? What stats are you looking at? Comparing MIT's 2005 numbers to Berkeley's 2004 numbers</p>

<p>MIT:</p>

<p>Harvard: 11.1% (16 acceptances)
Hopkins: 9.9% (7 acceptances)
Columbia: 6.8% (9)</p>

<p>Berkeley:
Harvard: 1% (1)
Hopkins: 5% (3)
Columbia: 9% (2)</p>

<p>Similar trends abound throughout the dataset. Despite more people, acceptance rates is less and less people in absolute numbers get in to top medical schools from Berkeley.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Seriously, just don't go here. I remember after gettinga accepted as out of stater i read these sometimes, and it wasn't too great to listen to the bullcrap ppl like shiboing boing was spewing. i agree, i dont mind sakky's constructive critism, he at least admits it is still one of the top schools in the nation, it just requires some attention when comparing to the very top. but overall, there are really crazy ppl on thse boards for whatever reason, and I'm warning you now, if you like your school, and are proud to go to Berkeley, don't read these idiotic boards, itll just make you sad.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, I don't know that these boards should make you sad. I think the purposes of these boards is to hear a wide range of opinions. What is the point of hearing only opinions that are exactly the same as yours? You might as well just have a conversation with yourself. Why even have a discussion board if the board cannot present a wide range of opinions? </p>

<p>
[quote]
Finally, i heard this one point about recurrently about how only like 1 percent of ppl from Berkeley typically go on to Harvard Medical School. I am sorry to say, but that it true, HOWEVER there are TONS of other top schools like JHU and UCSF, where the Berkeley percentage of acceptance is much higher, several times up to 15 percent. I compared this to MIT's, and it stands up very formidably. Harvard aside, Berkeley sends I would say a very comparable amount of students to top medical schools. So, if harvard is your only true love, then maybe thats a problem, but if you want to go to the best of the best, you have every oppurtunity to do it from Berkeley.
Here are the stats, if you guys are wondering:</p>

<p>Berkeley's Statistics for premed acceptance from 2000-2004
<a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>MIT's Statistics for premed acceptance from 2005
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/career/www/preprof/2005top25.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/career/www/preprof/2005top25.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>As you will see, in truth, they are quite similar.
There, I'm a proud MCB'r and WILL get into a top med school, you mark my words, and I'll come back here and tell you haters when I do.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Ha ha ha! You have chosen to compare it to MIT, which I have even said myself is unusually bad among the top private schools at gettings its students into med-school. That's because MIT, among the top private schools, is unusually difficult and rigorous and that is, sadly, what you do not want if you want to get into med-school. Instead, you want a school that grades easily and will hold your hand, and that is something that MIT will not do.</p>

<p>I think a far more fair comparison would be against Princeton. After all, HYPS have much the same philosophy when it comes to grade inflation, advising, and hand-holding. Sad to say, but Princeton does significantly better than Berkeley does when it comes to premed.</p>

<p><a href="http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/data98-03.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/data98-03.htm&lt;/a>
<a href="http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/2005Statistics.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/2005Statistics.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Unfortunately, schools like Harvard don't publish their premed data online. But I've seen it, and trust me, it's roughly the same as Princeton's. </p>

<p>
[quote]
It's because there is a pair of dedicated Berkeley bashers on this board.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I can't help but think that that was a shot at me.</p>

<p>If I am basher (which I don't think I am), then what does that make you? A booster? I would argue that if my opinions are slanted, they are no more slanted than yours, CalX.</p>

<p>man, i'm so curious to your story sakky. I hope you respond to my PM soon. I'm sure you get a lot of PM fan mail though, so I'll be patiently waiting!!!</p>

<p>^ UCB has a medical school?</p>

<p>Yes, UC San Francisco is Berkeley's medical school.</p>

<p>Well, I knew that, but on the statistics page it lists both UCB and UCSF</p>

<p>Uh, no, UCSF is not Berkeley's medical school. They are entirely different institutions. To say that UCSF is Berkeley's med school is like saying that Harvard Medical School is MIT's med school.</p>

<p>Ok ok, UCB and UCSF have close ties.</p>

<p>But still, the statistics page lists both universities?</p>

<p>Technically UCSF is a separate graduate university that is part of the UC system, yet it apparently is affiliated more or less with Berkeley.</p>

<p>I suspect that the listing is talking about one of those joint Berkeley/UCSF programs, where you are admitted to both schools but are, for the purposes of statistical counting, only counted as 'belonging' to one school. </p>

<p><a href="http://jmp.berkeley.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://jmp.berkeley.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
Technically UCSF is a separate graduate university that is part of the UC system, yet it apparently is affiliated more or less with Berkeley.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I don't quite agree with this, as UCSF is no more affiliated with Berkeley than with any of the other UC's. It is true that joint programs exist between Berkeley and UCSF, but on the other hand, joint programs exist between Harvard and MIT, yet I wouldn't call those 2 schools 'affiliated'. Heck, Berkeley and Stanford run some joint programs, but I doubt that anybody would say that they are affiliated.</p>