<p>I've been accepted to both and am NOT a CA resident (will pay same amount as a private school). I've always loved Berkeley's vibe, but I hear that because of budget cuts, over-crowdedness, waitlists for classes, not enough student-teacher attention, and a bureaucratic administration, maybe Berkeley isn't the way to go.</p>
<p>Don't ask what I'm going to major in because I'm asking for information on my potential college experience as a whole. When it comes to colleges as great as Cal and Duke, it the major isn't important anymore. </p>
<p>From what people have written back to me, it seems like you don’t need a small individualized class because your teacher is going to lecture just as well and then u get into smaller groups of 20-30. Unless for some reason u NEED attention then a private school would be good.</p>
<p>however i’m deciding between usc and ucb, and i’m trying to convince myself to go to usc over ucb even though ucb is supposedly a no brainer for most ppl. my teacher just asked me today, “WHY would u choose usc over cal?!!” lol and i said…</p>
<ol>
<li>usc balances academics with social activities better</li>
<li>smaller classes (which contradicts the above lol but i think u can benefit still)</li>
<li>double majors are encouraged</li>
<li>ucb is verrryy competitive.</li>
</ol>
<p>that being said, usc is a private school like duke so some of the same stuff applies. </p>
<p>This is unfortunately not a realistic premise. The experience at Berkeley will change hugely depending on major.</p>
<p>Depending on major, your class sizes may be very small and personal, the professor attention may be great, your peers may be astronomically stronger. Your peers may not be competitive in the least.</p>
<p>If you want to exclude major, you’re pretty much talking about the city of Berkeley and the campus, to which I’ll say they’re pwetty byootiful…something tells me this may not be what you’re looking for!!!</p>
<p>if you love berkeley’s vibe, you should definitely come here - you won’t get that anywhere else. And big classes do not matter, you can get all the attention from professors and grad instructors you want it. It’s just not forced on you. And double majoring is easy, especially if you’re in L&S. And almost everybody absolutely loves it here - you will not regret it :).</p>
<p>Fine, I’ll be a political science/English double major.</p>
<p>There are only 6,300 undergraduates at Duke vs. Berkeley’s 20k. That means smaller class sizes.</p>
<p>I’ve heard of classes being large lectures, even the upper-level classes.</p>
<p>@berry14: My friend at Cal is trying to double major and says, QUOTE: “It’s almost impossible because of high demand for all courses. People who aren’t even double majoring are always wait-listed.” </p>
<p>I heard it’s pretty hard to double major.</p>
<p>Please try to be objective, even if that means talking against your own school. Don’t get me wrong, I love Cal, but I want to make an informed decision based on facts, not over-zealous perceptions.</p>
<p>Well read every other thread on this forum then, there are enough cal haters on here.</p>
<p>It is easy to double major in L&S, almost everyone actually does double major mostly because there aren’t enough required courses for one major to even take up 3 years. Waitlists are annoying, but unless you are stupid about it and don’t plan anything in advance, it will not affect any of your plans. Just know the requirements for your majors, spend a couple hours figuring out what classes you need and when you should take them, find out which classes fill up faster than others, take the professor rankings into consideration, and just play around making potential schedules. I’m double majoring Econ/MCB and have had to waitlist a lot of classes, but I have always been able to get in.</p>
<p>and “There are only 6,300 undergraduates at Duke vs. Berkeley’s 20k. That means smaller class sizes.”
There’s also a lot more classes offered and a lot more sections at Berkeley. English classes will never be big - even the R1A/R1B english classses that everyone has to take are all limited to 17 people. Lower Div Poli Sci lectures will be big but each will have mandatory discussion sections with 20something people. And upper divs are not big anyway. Look it up for yourself, all the class size limits are on here: <a href=“http://osoc.berkeley.edu/OSOC/osoc?p_term=FL&p_list_all=Y[/url]”>http://osoc.berkeley.edu/OSOC/osoc?p_term=FL&p_list_all=Y</a></p>
<p>Well, the causation is actually not quite well-founded. Class size is not a function of overall size so much as the relation between number of people wanting to take classes and the number of classes offered. A big place can make very small classes if the classes are not things a million people want to take. A big school size means some of the main
intro courses will be very large, but they are very large at much smaller schools. As an example, MIT’s intro to CS class might be as large as ours, even if our school size is much bigger, because percentage-wise, lots of people at MIT consider the CS major.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you want a real answer to your question, ask political science and English majors. My impression from the English majors I know is that many of the good classes are heavily sought and getting in is not a piece of cake, but if you plan a little double majoring should not be an issue. The key is your major should be relatively flexible about many of your major requirements. If it isn’t, then of course you can run into issues.</p>
<p>EDIT: as flutterfly says, there are not many requirements to most majors, so a little planning makes you much more likely to get what you want.</p>
<p>I have exactly the same dilemma. OOS (from NYC), deciding between Berkeley/Duke as a potential English/Poly Sci (but maybe Psych) major. Love the Cal atmosphere and incredible English program but I’m also, as you stressed, turned off by the recent budget cuts and the large class sizes.</p>
<p>However, this thread has made me realize that perhaps the concerns are just over exaggerated. I don’t mind large classes – I just don’t want a totally impersonal college experience. I’m visiting both this weekend, however, (Berkeley for the 2nd time), so hopefully that’ll help me make my final decision. But I’m definitely warming up to Berkeley as of now (Or I guess re-warming up. It was initially my first choice and then I grew sort-of disillusioned).</p>
<p>Random question, but what are the library hours like? Are there any main libraries with really late hours?</p>
<p>Main stacks/Moffit are open till 2am everyday I think and 24/7 finals week And if you liked it when you visited, you will love actually going to school here and will not regret making the decision. Tons of people here have turned down Cornell/Upenn/Duke etc and nobody actually goes around complaining that their classes are too big or that they wish they went to a smaller school.</p>
<p>Oh, good to know, thanks! It’s nice to know that there’s a place to study late at night.</p>
<p>And thanks for all the info. I’m feeling pretty confident I’ll pick Berkeley at this point, unless I end up really liking Duke more. But I’ve never visited Duke so I figure I should just to make sure. </p>
<p>It seems like all the negatives of Cal have really been blown out of proportion so it’s nice to hear a point of view that’s much more positive.</p>
<p>I heard a lot from friends in HS that Duke was better (for those reasons above, smaller, private school, prestige) but did more research. Duke isn’t really as prestigious as a lot of people think and programs/recruiting are what matters. Plus Berkeley campus is so much fun :)</p>
<p>Currently double majoring, including an undergraduate B.S. from Haas School of Business. Not a lot of schools can boast a good undergraduate business degree (or even a business degree at all)</p>
<p>All very good arguments. I am so stuck right now. </p>
<p>Duke seems less bureaucratic than Cal, but again, I love the student vibe at Cal. I’m from LA originally (haven’t lived there this past year –> non-resident tuition; UC residency rules are Nazi-ish), but I haven’t visited either school. The city of SF is amazing, though. I am not too gung-ho about the large lectures and course waiting lists. </p>
<p>I think Duke is favored more for post-grad, jobs; it definitely has a stronger alumni network. I’m going to brace myself for the “WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT?! HUH!?” comments, followed by links. </p>
<p>One thing you have to consider is recruiting; recruiters have “target schools” they like to come to and Cal is a big target school for SF firms (of all industries)</p>
<p>If grad school is your goal, that factor may not be as great since you plan on going wherever anyway, but if you are looking for a full-time position you have to consider where you want to be upon graduation.</p>
<p>Although firms from NY do recruit from Berkeley, they definitely concentrate efforts on east coast schools. So if you’re looking at biotech (it’s a big industry in NC) then consider location as a big factor!</p>
And if you liked it when you visited, you will love actually going to school here and will not regret making the decision. Tons of people here have turned down Cornell/Upenn/Duke etc and nobody actually goes around complaining that their classes are too big or that they wish they went to a smaller school.</p>