<p>I'm currently debating between Berekely and Emory, a smaller, equally regarded private school in Atlanta. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I'm debating between Berkeley and Occidental...I feel your pain... hardest decision ever</p>
<p>Depends. Berkeley is basically like UT. Large impersonal, but with slightly higher rankings for graduate school and about the same quality undergraduate. Only the people are much ruder and the surrounding area is a mix of an urban wasteland and upper-middle class suburbia.</p>
<p>Don't listen to Polite Antagonis. He is a depressing failure of a Berkeley student. </p>
<p>Other than that, what do you want to study? Are you passionate about it? Or do you just want to go to college to party? Do you want to study a lot? Or do you like to cram?</p>
<p>If you want visualization, Berkeley is trees, grass, and artificial streams with nice shade to sit down under and study with right outside of it a hustle and bustle of an urban atmosphere, while a small college is mostly quiet with a few students you more likely than not walking around across neatly trimmed lawns.</p>
<p>This only matters ceteris paribus (all other things equal), but it does depend on where you can visualize yourself... since you'll be there for the next four years.</p>
<p>Other than that, it's as greatestyen said, what are you planning to do in college?</p>
<p>I'm a work hard, play hard kind of girl. I'm interested in double majoring in neurocience and education so I'll obviously be studying A LOT. But I'm also interested in being social, active on campus, attending sporting events, and partying a little. My work/school will come first but I want a balanced life. Berkeley's size scares me. I fell as if it may be hard to learn in a class of 500, but i don't know how well I'll adapt to a small ,wealthy, private school in the South. Although Emory is known for it's faculty, and small class sizes and overall superb undergraduate education, it's not big in sports and the kids seem a bit babied and spoon fed. What to do!!!</p>
<p>I love you too greatestyen lol.</p>
<p>Berkeley is the EXACT same thing as UT. North/East side is a nice suburb. South/West side is the ghetto.</p>
<p>Its also highly impersonal, you get 1 year guaranteed housing but dorms are soooo expensive, its like 1100 a month for a crappy room without air conditioning.</p>
<p>Greatestyen is in-state and has a small subset of experiences to compare.</p>
<p>If you're out of state, definitely go to Emory, you won't regreat it. Those classes are definitely tough and will take a lot of time. The sports ain't bad at Berkeley, but for the "babying" at Emory, I'd rather have the option than not have the option at all.</p>
<p>The only reason to go to Berkeley is if you're in-state or if you know you're good enough to be able to work well with a Professor in order to get into a good graduate school.</p>
<p>It makes me wonder, why did you choose to attend UC Berkeley, polite antagonis? Since you are an OOS student, I'm sure you had many comparable universities to choose from.</p>
<p>Berkeley had the best economics and biochem program, 2 subjects I was interested in, versus Duke and Rice. The first 2 years at Berkeley weren't too bad; my dorm didn't have the type of geeky people I would be friends with and people quickly developed cliques which were hard to penetrate, but the academics were really good despite the large classes; because the most of the lower division curriculum is well-developed and tested fairly because of it (since many of the classes are taught so often and have lots of gsi's and profs who teach them so you can avoid bad ones).</p>
<p>My last 2 years here have been pretty bad overall; I decided to focus my energy on joining clubs and doing student-activities but I found the general social scene to be full of unmotivated and incompotent students. Also my classes became worst as upper div classes are sometimes not taught on a regular enough basis for what I consider a fair distribution and fair representation of what you know and have learned. In addition, I had 2 crappy professors as well who were bad for various reasons (1 was visiting). Some of the professors have indeed been great and I have met some cool people, but many of them have their own lives and cliques and its hard to see anyone on even a semi-regular basis. I would've transferred out if I had known some of the things I know now sooner. </p>
<p>I'm not saying Berkeley is all bad, but you can definitely have a bad time if you're unlucky.</p>
<p>"I found the general social scene to be full of unmotivated and incompotent students."</p>
<p>This is actually one of my major concerns. I'm deciding between Cal and Pomona at the moment. Coming from a small private high school, I've been enthusiastic about moving into a larger, more diverse community, but it would certainly be a bummer to transition into Apathetic City. Hopefully there'll still be people to strike up good conversation with.</p>
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Berkeley is the EXACT same thing as UT.
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Berkeley is basically like UT
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<p>Which is it? Learn to be consistent in your statements. </p>
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Its also highly impersonal, you get 1 year guaranteed housing but dorms are soooo expensive, its like 1100 a month for a crappy room without air conditioning.
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<p>First of all, students are now guaranteed two years. Second, what's with you and air conditioning? I've seen numerous posts by you complaining about the lack of A/C in the dorms...why? Berkeley is in a cold climate. I have lived in the dorms for three years and I've never met anyone who would like A/C other than you. (And I don't even know you.) Most people always have the heater on. There is no need for A/C. Third, not all rooms are as expensive as you say they are. Fourth, in my book, Foothill dorms are very high quality. The same could be said about the NEW buildings in Units 1-2, Stern, and CKR. </p>
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Greatestyen is in-state and has a small subset of experiences to compare.
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<p>Actually, I have no expenses at all since I am a Regents Scholar. If you had been as "smart" in high school as you claim to have been, then you would have realized that Berkeley does in fact have the Regents for OOS students. Of course, obviously not for you so you choose to cry about it. </p>
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If you're out of state, definitely go to Emory, you won't regreat it. Those classes are definitely tough and will take a lot of time. The sports ain't bad at Berkeley, but for the "babying" at Emory, I'd rather have the option than not have the option at all.
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<p>Once again, it's better to ask the OP what s/he wants out of the college experience rather than make stupid suggestions based on no personal factors like the ones you, PA, claim to value so much. (For example, if a person wanted to major in....Women's Studies, there's no place better to do that than at Berkeley. If a person wants premed then yeah, PERHAPS Berkeley isn't the best choice.) </p>
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The only reason to go to Berkeley is if you're in-state or if you know you're good enough to be able to work well with a Professor in order to get into a good graduate school.
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<p>Ugh. You're ignorance is nausiating. </p>
<p>To all students: Whether or not you choose to go to Berkeley, do it because you "want" to, not because someone claiming they know what all students want out of college tells you to do so.</p>
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I'm debating between Berkeley and Occidental...I feel your pain... hardest decision ever
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<p>Stephooooooooo.</p>
<p>"Actually, I have no expenses at all since I am a Regents Scholar. If you had been as "smart" in high school as you claim to have been, then you would have realized that Berkeley does in fact have the Regents for OOS students. Of course, obviously not for you so you choose to cry about it."</p>
<p>I didn't apply, didn't even hear about it. I had different personal problems than you I won't get into. If you want to get into a competition about "smartness," I'll let you win. It really doesn't matter to me to dispute your false sense of superiority.</p>
<p>"First of all, students are now guaranteed two years. Second, what's with you and air conditioning? I've seen numerous posts by you complaining about the lack of A/C in the dorms...why? Berkeley is in a cold climate. I have lived in the dorms for three years and I've never met anyone who would like A/C other than you. (And I don't even know you.) Most people always have the heater on. There is no need for A/C. Second, not all rooms are as expensive as you say they are. Third, in my book, Foothill dorms are very high quality. The same could be said about the NEW buildings in Units 1-2, Stern, and CKR."</p>
<p>Foothill had crappy rooms. They were small and expensive, much more so than private housing. And many rooms were blocked from the wind which made the rooms very hot. And when it got cold there was no heating.</p>
<p>"Once again, it's better to ask the OP what s/he wants out of the college experience rather than make stupid suggestions based on no personal factors like the ones you, PA, claim to value so much. (For example, if this person wanted to major in....Women's Studies, there's no place better to do that than at Berkeley. If this person wants premed then yeah, PERHAPS Berkeley isn't the best choice.)"</p>
<p>She said education and neurobiology. I don't think Berkeley is good enough at these things to warrant coming here.</p>
<p>"Ugh. You're ignorance is nausiating.</p>
<p>To all students: Whether or not you choose to go to Berkeley, do it because you "want" to, not because someone claiming they know what all students want out of college tells you to do so."</p>
<p>I'm not writing an honor's thesis here, and I don't really care about being politically correct, I think its easy enough to tell what I mean without making picayune arguments.</p>
<p>Your stupidity is moreso, such as your spurious arguments about racism in another thread. Berkeley is full of stupid people like you and I don't have any problem calling you on that.</p>
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And when it got cold there was no heating.
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<p>Ok. We must be talking about different Foothills. All rooms that I have ever been in (a lot) have had heaters. And people use them. Nobody that I personally know cares about the lack of A/C because there is no need for it!</p>
<p>My room was always cold during the winter. I don;t know if we had a heater, back then and if we did, we certainly didn't get to control the settings on it.</p>
<p>If you're going to say good things about Berkeley at least mention that you don't even have to pay for it, that is probably something that will make anyone dislike Berkeley less if they aren't paying a private school price for a public school experience.</p>
<p>Was there a big white thing next to your window? That's the heater and its very easily turned on...you just turn the knob inside of it.</p>
<p>Well it must have been broken or not available when I was attending. my room was also right next to the piano room which blocked the wind and made the room unbearably hot. I got a fan but it was still hot.</p>
<p>Oh foothill.. I know quite a few classmates who dislike living there. One freaked out when a bat swooped into her room; the way she described it was so hilarious.</p>
<p>oh yes...foothill does get its share of wildlife. ever seen the turkeys?</p>
<p>well i chose berkeley over georgetown last year so i guess i might be able to help you out. in all honesty i would not pick against berkeley just because it is large but rather think of where you are going to be most comfortable over your next four years. although berkeley is a large school, your experience here is definitely what you make of it</p>