<p>Social sciences, humanities, sciences, math, arts, you name it, Berkeley has it and has the best faculty in the world teaching that subject.</p>
<p>NRC rated Berkeley’s faculty as #1. This means the knowledge transfer you get in your major will be the most advanced and most cutting edge theories in your field. I warn you though, when you talk to your counterparts in other universities, their opinions and outlook are usually inferior and outdated theories. You must bite your tongue sometimes, after all its not their fault that they are ignorant. </p>
<p>Anyways, people change majors all the time. From science to a liberal art major. COllege is about FINDING YOURSELF, and by going to a university that has just liberal arts, and no sciences, you are limiting the range of options when you embark in the journey of self discovery.</p>
<p>Yes, the lower division classes are huge. But TA's supplement the lecture in section, so gaining overall understanding of materials is just as good as a private school. </p>
<p>Upper division courses are awesome at Berkeley. Not only do you get small classes, but you get professors who are simply the best in their fields. If you must know, middle tier professors all use politics and friends mutual quoting each other for reputation. These types of professors abound at other universities. However, at Berkeley, we have no such thing as a middle tier department or middle tier professor. Our professors are just simply the best because they are the smartest in research.</p>
<p>I'm speaking of universities that have good liberal arts, but crappy sciences, or good sciences, but have a crappy sociology/english/poly sci department. Say as an undergrad you want to write a thesis on the effect of the internet on social interaction (lets say because of forums, people don't know how to socialize in person anymore) Well guess what, only Berkeley, Stanfurd and U of Chicago would be able to let you write a thesis like that because of their excellence in both technology sciences and sociology/humanities.</p>
<p>If great proffesors are good, I would assume TA's, even in small groups, are bad.
Everyone seems to agree that Berekely is great at upper level undergrad and Grad, but why not have great teaching, meaning close contact with professors in small classes, throughout?</p>
<p>In general, you're going to hear the "professors don't care about puny undergrads" complaint about every single research oriented university. You hear it from Harvard grads, you hear it from Stanford grads, you hear it from MIT grads. If your sole reason for going to a university is great teaching, find a LAC that's smaller than your high school and take classes with 5 people in them.</p>
<p>BigBrother, that seems like excellent and honest advice. However, there seems to be very little love for LAC's on the Berekely forum and by extension other schools that have a similar ethos. It seems here the idea is bigger (research undergrad) is better. This seems intuitively wrong.</p>
<p>Woodwork, I went to a small public magnet high school whose average SAT was 1380. I personally wanted to go to a large university where I could grow significantly. Some people who went to big high schools may want to go to a LAC. But when it comes to worldwide reputation, big research programs are what makes worlwide fame and reputation. I think some LAC's are excellent, like Pomona and Harvey Mudd.</p>
<p>People on the Berkeley forum are mostly going to be fans of Berkeley, either those applying, current students, or alums. (Plus a few trolls like ubermensch). But mostly people who think the school is a very good place to get an education, all things considered.</p>
<p>Combine this with the fact that Berkeley is perhaps the polar opposite to LACs. Very strong faculty, huge student body, tons of research, big classes. So since most of us are pro-Cal, it's only natural that we wouldn't be big advocates of schools that are the polar opposite.</p>
<p>Regardless, one of the most prolific posters on the Berkeley forum is Sakky, and he has repeatedly expressed his view that LACs are the best place to get an education.</p>
<p>Woodwork, I think some LAC's are really good. But everything I said was not with LAC's in mind. It was with Ivies and other top large universities in mind. So don't take some unnecessary offense. </p>
<p>BTW, I guess you don't like ubermensches argument about Laymen ranking of prestige. I don't necessarily support it, I was just going along with it to turn his own argument against him. So don't read too much into it.</p>
<p>Westside, just on a sidenote...I was wondering...kids at the other top schools consider themselves as intellectual powerhouses of the US...the best and the brightest going to the best schools.</p>
<p>Considering berk is also a top school/one of the best...do the kids are berk also foster a similar elitist/extremely proud mentality?</p>
<p>My concern is that because it's a public school kids might think less of it even though their education is on par w/ the top privates...and I'm all for elitism.. heh</p>
<p>Well, I'm not attacking specific university. Personally i chose Berkeley over UPenn (Wharton) and Cornell. But I highly respect the Wharton program and Cornell research. But personally, I find that US News non LAC rankings are highly biased towards non LAC private universities. </p>
<p>My brother went to Harvey Mudd, and eventually got his PhD at UMich. I personally have a tremendous amount of respect for LAC's. However, at my high school, no one went to LAC's. I suspect its because our high school was super small, so everyone wanted to go to a large university. Honestly, LAC's are cool with me. They are an underdog in the world of large universities, so it fits with the Berkeley philosophy of egalitarianism.</p>
<p>Rohan.... Berkeley students are in an elite class, but we generally do not act super arrogant and elitist. Public schools like Berkeley tend to support causes like eliminating poverty, like Berkeley's recent Nobel prize winner George Akerlof is known for saying. Berkeley students are known for being extremely down to earth, and for being able to identify and speak with people of all different types of backgrounds.</p>