<p>Anyone else in the same boat as me? I got accepted into Berkeley, my dream school. I really want to submit my SIR, however, I am having some second thoughts about attending. I have heard that it is very competitive, hard to get a high GPA, etc. Would it just be better if I attended a lesser ranked school (i.e. UC Davis), or will having a degree from Berkeley really be all that it is cracked up to be?</p>
<p>Have you sat in on classes in your intended major? Did you find the level of discussion to be intimidating? inferior to what you'd like to experience? at the right level?</p>
<p>Do you know others from your ccc who went to Berkeley in similar majors as yours? What was their experience?</p>
<p>These would help you know whether Cal will fit your level of academic intensity. It is possible to find that you are in deeper water than you would like; but it's probably not likely.</p>
<p>no. push urself. PUSH URSELF. none of this wussing out.</p>
<p>yah, you're right sauronvoldemort. its not like Cal students are some superior intellectually immortal beings or anything, right? I mean, they are just like me.... physiologically wise.</p>
<p>I find that Cal is overrated when it comes to difficulty level. Especially in the social sciences. Although EECS is killer.</p>
<p>I don't know what circumstances brought you to a CC, but most of the kids you will encounter aren't a different superintelligent life form; most were just able to do a really good job of following directions in high school. To be sure, there will be bright kids, but remember that academic success is a grueling day-to-day process, and that's the case no matter where you go.</p>
<p>
[quote]
but remember that academic success is a grueling day-to-day process, and that's the case no matter where you go.
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nah, not at ucsd, or any UCs lower than it</p>
<p>...
UCSD is not an easy school, and judging by the highly qualified freshman applicants getting rejected from LA and Berkeley these days, those two schools are no longer the sole bastions of hard-working and smart kids. (Transfer admission hasn't quite caught up in terms of competitiveness, but just wait a few years).</p>
<p>But believe what you want.</p>
<p>I am totally going through the same thing as you. I got accepted to my number one dream school for an awesome major (EECS). Now people are giving me second thoughts with all this talk of grad school and low GPAs. </p>
<p>But I do want to push myself, and after going through a grueling 2 years, everything else will be easy in the workforce.</p>
<p>GO TO THE BETTER SCHOOL!!!</p>
<p>I am transferring from a mid tier UC (don't know where yet) -- there is nothing worse than having a 4.0, but still having doors closed to you because your schools is not "good" enough.</p>
<p>People tend to exaggerate differences in measurable intelligence. Are the people at UCB on average smarter than the people at UCSD? Yes. Is the difference as big as people make it out to be? Not even close.</p>
<p>To put things in perspective, I want to do finance. Your goal may be different, so adapt this appropriately. After interning ever since I came to college, maintaining a 4.0 (half my grades are A+'s), and a whole lot of other marketable attributes, I started the investment banking recruiting process earlier this year. Despite all my achievements, I received less than five interviews (without connections) out of the hundred or so investment banks/regions I applied to. At every California interview, however, I saw kids from UCLA and UCB that I blew away in competence. Ultimately, this came through to the recruiters, and I received a summer analyst offer, but at an UNBELIEVABLE cost of time, energy, and effort. </p>
<p>One last example -- One investment bank that I interviewed with had me come to the UCLA campus to interview there since they were targeting UCLA kids. I learned later, from my connection at the firm, that I was the top candidate out of 25 UCLA students.</p>
<p>When I was first entering school, I had the same mentality as you. I've paid quite a bit for that mistake. PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>One other thing, this doesn't really apply to UCB, but you need to take into grade inflation at the "tougher" schools:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gradeinflation.com%5B/url%5D">www.gradeinflation.com</a> is a good start</p>
<p>I'm in the same situation. OMG, I'm so confused now. All of my friends tell me to go to Cal, but I'm kinda frightened by the school's reputation. Is it super hard there and are all the students just super geniuses? Well, I have worked pretty hard for the last two years to be able to get into Cal, but now I don't know whether I should go there because of the lower GPA thing. Lower GPA means no chance for grad school right?
June 1st will be coming soon.</p>
<p>i'm pretty scared too....</p>
<p>however, i can tell you that all 3 of my roommates go to cal and they're very down to earth and normal. not super genius-y at all. one of my friends told me that it seemed like in his classes (he's an english major) only the least insightful people ever talk in class... so it's not like your class will be buzzing with philosophical investigations and you'll be the loner in the corner.</p>
<p>My main problem is Grad School. I don't want my lower Cal GPA to be the reason why I don't get into grad school.</p>
<p>im in the same situation. Aside from being scared of bums lol, i am also scared of grade DEflation @ berk! two dudes from my cc transfered over to berk with a 3.8, and when they left berk, their gpas were 3.2 :confused: not that good...</p>
<p>lol@thinking cal will hurt your chances of getting into grad school.</p>
<p>Of course, I am not pre-med.</p>
<p>they were sociology majors <em>gasps</em></p>
<p>How about math majors guys? Any info on math majors at Berkeley</p>
<p>passionate: are you a girl?</p>
<p>nope lostincode. I'm a typical Asian guy. Why do you ask?</p>