<p>It's that time of year again, when college acceptees are considering where to attend. Seems not so long ago I was in your dudes' shoes. Now as a Cal Junior, i'm watching my senior friends ponder which pretigious grad/med schools to go to, or otherwise whine about having to work. Anyway, my take on Cal is this: If you're a science major, Cal is THE place to be. Contrary to popular folklore among private-school pushers, the profs are very accessible, the students are first-rate (many of my professors and lecturers that used to teach at Harvard/MIT/Stanford have mentioned that Cal science majors, in general, show the same academic performance as their 40,000-dollars-an-year-tuition-counterparts), and getting a research position is a piece of cake. If you're intended business, i pity you, because you're 18 years old and already planning on doing middle-management for someone else's company. If you're humanities or social sciences, Cal tends to have big classes (at least for popular classes and lower divs) but Cal's atmosphere is first-rate. If you're an engineer...then fool, sign that intent-to-register already because Berkeley engineering kicks so much a<strong>, that whoever's a</strong> i'm talking about everytime i use that phrase must have a seriously sore a** by now. Another thing... be sure to weigh in the social atmosphere (and climate) that you desire VERY SERIOUSLY when choosing which college to attend for 4 years of your life. Because chances are, you're gonna end up hating academics and concentrating on social life anyway. Like a big proportion of Cal Students and most Ivy League + Stanford kids i've met. Arrogant as it may seem, I laugh at those dumb Stanford and Harvard philosophy and psychology majors (i've met many) who blow 40,000 dollars an year "learning" random garbage you can pick up in a library when it has been shown that where you go to college has no correlation with starting salary when you get a job; if you're a brilliant Iowa State-Hickville student, your talent will be discovered sooner or later, whether as a grad student in a prestigious PhD program, successful businessman, well-respected social commentator, or famous artist depends on the talent. The tendency for many people to choose a college simply out of "name-recognition" or "associated prestige" is a sad case of social elitism that's rampant among many private school-bound kids (esp. non-science majors). Many Ivy Leaguers I've met hate their school's environment, and many transfer to west coast colleges. By the way, i'm not ragging on Stanford with malicious intent (to those that don't know, it's Berkeley's arch-rival)-----it's a great school...but it's not worth that much tuition for a non-technical major...or even for a technical major (with the exception of engineering---i'm not an engineer by the way). Actually (shhh, this is supposed to be a secret).....a science degree at a state school is pretty much the same as a science degree at Yale.....if you don't believe me, go to Yale and find out how many of your profs and TAs got their undergrads at state schools...you'll be surprised. It's up to you as the student to make the most of your opportunities, and the opportunities are always out there, not matter what college you're in. I'm getting sleepy so i'm gonna cut this short....no time to proof-read. Peace to all, and I hope you find your special place.</p>
<p>bump. this is a great post, esp for CA residents.</p>