<p>I was just wondering if I was the only one with this impression.</p>
<p>So far, every current Cal student I have met (not the ones who went there >10 years ago though!) has been a obnoxious and competitive (in the bad way), carrying an air kind of like "I go to Cal, so i must be better than you". Honestly a lot of people I know who get in from my school tend to cheat on hmwk/tests, have BS extracurriculars (e.g. starting clubs with all of 3 people in them to make them sound impressive), and constantly keep comparing themselves to everyone else and putting people down. One girl from Cal wouldnt even talk to me after she heard that I had a 3.6 GPA! </p>
<p>I feel like the liberals are gone, and Cal has just turned into a pompous machine. Thoughts? Have you (non-cal/highschool kids) met Cal kids and thought the same thing? Is this universal, or are the 4 or 5 cases I've seen just exceptions?</p>
<p>There are 20,000+ Cal students. You happen to know and personally meet 4 or 5 cases of stuck up stuck up Cal students. That is like <0.0002%. I think it’s safe to say that there are arrogant college students at every college campus, but there are also many chill, very down to earth people as well.</p>
<p>If I ever meet someone who acts stuck-up since they go to Cal, I’d just laugh. Getting accepted into Cal is not nearly as prestigious as other schools. At least stuck-up people at HYPM have a stronger basis due to a much smaller acceptance rate.
To me at least, getting into Cal isn’t all that prestigious. It’s what you do there that truly counts.</p>
<p>I find that more of the higher achieving students are pretty humble about being at Berkeley (I hate referring to it as Cal) because Berkeley was their safety. Pretty reasonable if they’re instate because it’s either relatively cheap and/or close to home.</p>
<p>A lot of the lower achieving students somehow think that getting into Berkeley is something worthy praise because they either
a) didn’t expect to get in
or
b) feel insecure about their abilities and need some rough benchmark to cling on to</p>
<p>Actually I really got this impression during Calso. It seemed like everyone was acting really cocky or pretentiously. Some of my friends have reported similar experiences.</p>
<p>Also what does the political climate of Berkeley have to do with anything? Actually, I already know what you’re going to say in response to that. Never mind.</p>
<p>But no, it’s not really the case. In the technical departments at least it seems like nobody cares at all about anything at any time. What I like about here.</p>
<p>@JediAce:
Not at all; i think i will get into cal just based on the other school i got into. But i guess you can never tell, and it doesnt really matter because i already sent in my deposit somewhere else.
But you are correct: I did not get into UCLA, not that it should matter. Shouldn’t this mean i should be all enthusiastic about cal though, because i still have a "chance there?</p>
<p>@misterelephante:
of course every school has stuck up people, but it strikes me odd that EVERY SINGLE (young) cal kid has been like this. Of course, the adult alumni are very nice and bright, but i worry for the next generation of cal.</p>
<p>@indiscretemath
The political climate? Thats the reason I wanted to go to cal freshman year (seriously, they USED to make hella change in the world by having the courage to speak their mind, now its mostly about grades sadly, i hear the number of protests/extreme liberals has gone down), but after meeting cal people and going to a summer class there i got completely turned off.</p>
<p>Can u give some other examples of other students u have met that were stuck up? Honestly, I’ve met a lot of smart people but none of them were stuck up. I think Cal students like to talk about school, classes, and goals more often because they are just ambitious people.</p>
<p>So are u sure what u felt was a stuck up attitude? You may already have a pre-concieved notion that Cal is stuck up based on your hs classmates and just kept at that though whenever u spoke with someone. Like, the girl for example: how are u so sure that she stopped talking to you because of your gpa? Unless it’s apparent, I’m sure there could be many possible reasons?</p>
<p>@caiacs: so by your own words your own quite evident lack of humility implies you’re probably not very high achieving? :P</p>
<p>@awesome: ugh, you’re “worried” about the next generation of Cal? Are we supposed to make sure everyone here is up to your standards of behavior?</p>
<p>Protesters and extreme liberals don’t do **** to solve the world’s problems. They just whine about them.</p>
<p>Whereas someone who actually focuses on school, gets good grades, and learn something will most likely go on to have a successful career contributing to society, and helping to solve the world’s problems.</p>
<p>@dezmos meh well she kind of was like “oh” when i told her my GPA and i guess I sensed it in the tone of her voice? I’m usually pretty good at reading people, but its possible that I misread it.</p>
<p>Lol im used to people talking about school, classes, and goals all the time. But people who i know who go to ivies aren’t really like that, and people from UCLA arent like that either. Honestly im pretty ambitious too, though its true my highschool GPA is awful, its definitely the worst part of my application by FAR (highschool teachers tend to hate me, college ones not so much though :/), so I know what its like talking at least about SAT’s, AP tests, SAT 2’s, grades, etc all the time.</p>
<p>@caiacs
they bring news and media attention, which i think makes a HUGE difference.</p>
<p>Yeah uhh . . . attracting attention to yourself isn’t really helping anyone except satisfying your own desire to be at the center of attention.</p>
<p>99% of the protesters (wait I lied, 100% of the protesters) don’t even understand the nature of the problem they’re protesting against. They just jump at whatever fantasy seems socialist enough for their liking (expand government give aways, help the homeless, DOWN WITH FREE TRADE !! etc etc) or basic human rights issues like gay rights who anyone in their right mind would have nothing against anyways.</p>
<p>Did I ever say that no one on the right ever protests? No.</p>
<p>I simply said that ANYONE who spends their time yelling and marching doesn’t really contribute to society no matter his or her political standing.</p>
<p>As much as I find the budget cut protesters (VERY) annoying, caiac I think you’re wrong in saying that ANYONE who yells/marches contributes nothing to society. Let’s not get too extreme here. There are a large number of marches/protests that have shaped history and society. </p>
<p>Tell those who marched for civil rights in the 60s that they contributed nothing. Tell those that marched during the Vietnam war that they contributed nothing. Tell those that marched for Indian independence from the British regime that they contributed nothing. Tell those people yelling in Iran, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Bahrain that they contribute nothing. You get my drift.</p>
<p>“or basic human rights issues like gay rights who anyone in their right mind would have nothing against anyways.” The problem is, most people are not in their right mind. I guess that’s what those protesters are trying to change. Remember, Prop 8 did pass in California (only to be deemed unconstitutional later).</p>
<p>I do agree with you that the budget crisis is much more complex than it seems, but remember that a large number of people protesting are service staff who didn’t make the cut for top-tier education.</p>
<p>EDIT: As for the topic at hand, sure Cal has a lot of stuck up people. Cal’s a big place though, so we have a lot of every kind of person. It’s just about finding the corner that’s perfect for you :)</p>
<p>Reiterating ManBearPig’s point: Although I agree that most protests kind of fail and often times obnoxious (e.g. Westboro Baptist Church), but then there is ManBearPig’s point, which I agree on.</p>
<p>I think saying “all protesting is dumb and worthless” is a bizarre statement considering the effects its had in the past.</p>
<p>Now, if you say “all protesting currently being done at UC Berkeley or other college campuses is dumb and worthless” then I would totally agree. It seems to me that those who protest these days do it just because its just another fad on par with announcing to everyone that you are liberal. </p>
<p>Basically, protesting is now cool which makes it worthless. </p>
<p>As for the OPs question:</p>
<p>A lot of people at Berkeley are stuck up (the stuck up people I’ve met are all music/theatre & dance studies majors, but thats another story), but a lot of them are also pretty cool cats. While being stuck up is not a good thing, dismissing your admission into Berkeley as non-prestigious is silly. People should be proud (but not too proud) they got into Berkeley. Not many can say the same thing.</p>
<p>I mean…yeah on some level it is true. People who get in here have to have been competitive in the first place. Honestly, when i was in hs i would compete against a friend lol which got us better grades. people here aren’t going to let you push them around but there definitely are people who will help you just out of the kindness of their heart.</p>
<p>^competitiveness is different than pushing other people down and intentionally misleading them for a grade. At least thats what I hear happens at berkeley (people mislead other people with information and go and kill people who get curves)
Competition is a good thing; honestly i do exactly the same thing (compete to see who could set the curve :P). but negative competition is not.</p>