<p>I was rejected from two Ivies and Stanford (Stanford was my dream! xD) and although I was very happy to get into Berkeley, I was very disappointed about my rejections. But, honestly, all of that changed at CalSO.
I was never much of a “school spirit” person, either, but the students and advisors at CalSO were so friendly (but also extremely intelligent), so laid-back, so interesting, but also so excited to be studying at Berkeley. I know it’s sounding like some Berkeley advertisement, lol, but I felt I really clicked with the people and the campus. And, yes, every time I heard someone begin a Cal cheer while I was walking through campus, I did feel a lil’ school pride </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong because I know that with crap like TeleBEARS and bureaucracy and with classes that are hard as friggin hell, that might change as the school year begins. And although I did meet a couple annoying/stuck-up students, I didn’t let that change my perception of the entire school. The awesome people I met waaay outnumber the stuck up people.
PS: I also think it’s sad that the idea of protesting has become something hip and cool. The issues aren’t thoroughly researched anymore and I think it does more harm than good sometimes, where the perception of the protesters as “stupid hippies” overshadows the issue.</p>
<p>I have to agree with caiacs. Most of my friends and I at Cal are pretty disappointed to be there, and disappointed that we didn’t get into HYPSM or Caltech. We’re not particularly stuck up when it comes to our school.</p>
<p>But many engineers and scientists are definitely stuck up towards humanities/social sciences majors, but that is a different topic.</p>
<p>I completely agree with the first post of this thread. For some reason, Cal students seem to be much more arrogant and prestige-oriented than their peers at UCLA/USC (who are just as accomplished/smart, but who tend to love their school much more), with a higher percentage fluffy extra-curricular backgrounds and resume padding, both from HS and in college as well. I definitely agree that kids at Cal are more likely to be the type who started a random BS club in High School with 3 friends, just to put it on their resume.</p>
<p>Honestly, Cal for undergrad is around the same level as UCLA/USC for undergrad. Sure, there are HYP-level faculty at Cal (because of HYP-level grad programs) which you could care about accessing, but <1% of undergrads will ever utilize those resources, and there is also some outstanding faculty at the other schools. There are definitely many people who choose Cal for the right reasons (legitimate passion for Cal-specifics, want to get out of SoCal, etc) but I’m just saying that there is a higher ratio of hollow, pompous kids at Cal, because of prestige, but also because of the following gap:</p>
<p>No school has a gap between grad and undergrad programs, like Berkeley does. Unfortunately, the quality of students at Cal is not so different from that at peer schools, yet you end up with more arrogant people who can’t even support a pompous attitude with anything significant underneath, because of that unique combination of HYP name prestige with UCLA/USC-level undergrad selectivity.</p>
<p>I again want to emphasize that I’m only speaking of ratios.</p>
<p>So, at least judging from here (and assuming you guys all go to Cal), a lot of students actually <em>don’t</em> like Berkeley? I don’t know much about UCLA, but is it that much better than UCB? I saw a link to a Forbes list that apparently just came out, of the best public colleges in the US. UCLA ranked above UCB; would you guys agree with that, or…? That really got me thinking cuz I don’t know anything about UCLA xD lol</p>
<p>Personally I don’t know why people get so defensive about two ranking spots. I got into both Cal and UCLA. I chose UCLA. For a while I cared about prestige, but you know what, screw it. It’s about where you want to spend your time. I hate the fact that people assume those who go to Ucla are nothing but bitter Cal rejects and those who go to Cal are nothing but top ten rejects. I know so many people that turned down cal for Ucla and Ucla for Cal. In the end it matters about where you are meant to be. I am just so sick of people especially those on CC thinking better of themselves because they go to Cal. I’m pretty sure that employers are not going to be like ‘I’m going to take this person because he or she went to Cal instead of Ucla.’ Anyway, to wrap up my rant not all Berkeley people suck, and UCLA is not trash when compared to Berkeley.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, more people choose UCLA because they love it (also, especially USC), in spite of the prestigious option of Cal. People tend to choose Cal for less lovable factors, like rankings and Haas.</p>
<p>All three schools have basically the same admissions standards, so the results of this self-selection are obvious.</p>
<p>Less than 1% access the HYP-level faculty? That can’t be true, can it? I know at least 30 undergrads personally that are currently in research labs. That’s like half of the total people I know at Berkeley…I can’t speak for everyone, but during the school year, I talk to my professor on a weekly, if not daily, basis. And if I’m not talking to my professor, I’m talking to the post-docs, who all did their PhDs at HYP-level schools. </p>
<p>You can knock Berkeley as much as you want (I knock the school more than most), but you can’t criticize the research opportunities FOR UNDERGRADUATES. So many people get to work at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and there are a ridiculous number of opportunities to work with professors in the National Academies of Science and Engineering. AND THEY ALL WANT UNDERGRADS. My professor has been in the NAE since 1987…USC has 12 members of the NAS. UCLA has 39 (more than half of whom in the biological sciences). How many does Berkeley have? 131…I haven’t even mentioned the numbers in the NAE. </p>
<p>USC and UCLA students have much less of an opportunity to do research with the best professors in the world (assuming that the national academies include the best professors in the world). This is a fact.</p>
<p>But I agree that there is no difference between UCLA, UC Berkeley, and USC undergrads. It’s just that Cal students have better opportunities.</p>
<p>EDIT: And what defines a “lovable factor”? I LOVE working with accomplished professors. It’s an absolute honor just to be in the same room as people who are that smart and awesome. Are you going to call that a “less lovable factor” too?</p>
<p>But I agree that if Berkeley undergrads think they are better than USC and UCLA undergrads automatically, then they are kidding themselves. It’s simply not true, since the admissions processes are so similar.</p>
<p>Very much agree with singh2010 ^^^ about Berkeley people automatically thinking they’re better than LA people and also with Juicey231 about the “wrap up”</p>
<p>I pretty much agree with this. I feel like I’ve been able to make the most of my opportunities here at Berkeley. It probably wouldn’t have mattered if I went to a private school. I’m probably spoiled by being in such a small college within Berkeley that I never have problems getting the courses I need or talking to faculty on a daily basis. Research here is really phenomenal. </p>
<p>I’m doing research down in SoCal for the summer at another institution (hint: it’s a Tech school), and I can say that most of the undergraduates I’ve met here are just as down-to-earth as my friends and colleagues back home. I do admit, the school is very small in comparison to Cal. </p>
<p>I haven’t met that many stuck-up undergrads; usually it’s a freshman thing that dies out as you enter your later years. Besides, people shouldn’t really care about the discrepancies between Cal/UCLA/USC. If you come to Cal for the right reasons, then you’re here to learn (and have a good time).</p>
<p>(Undergrads who keep harping on how Berkeley is the number 1 public school in the US need to chill the **** out.)</p>
<p>There are a lot of smart people at Cal, and many not so. For you supposedly hyper-intellectual unhappy ivy-reject folks out here, once you get into labs (i see some of you already have) and upper division courses (that you’re meant to be in), you will find the group of people you’re looking for.</p>
<p>So what if not every person is as smart as you want them to be. You’d have to be kidding yourself to think that every single student at HYPSM is a hyper genius. I hang out with and know plenty of them and of course they are bright and talented people, but nothing that is <em>leagues</em> above Berkeley. </p>
<p>Anyway, here’s the point:
Grow out of freshman year “prestige” mentality. If you’re bright and do well at Cal you will be extremely successful (in whatever field). Who really gives a **** if Cal people are stuck up?</p>
<p>I don’t why, maybe because I am not as smart as most of you in CC, but I have no interest in research. It’s not because a number of undergrads in a research team do something like brewing the best coffee or keep track of how many cars enter the garage, but even if it’s a research about Starcraft II which I love with all my heart and spend countless hours on playing, I’m not sure if I want to do it. </p>
<p>Unlike a job, research usually has no specific goal (finding a cure for the cancer is not a specific goal, at least give a deadline for a project), nothing is rushed, and most research is spent on observing rather than teaming up and coming up with solutions on the go. It might be something I wouldn’t mind doing when I get old, but as for now when I have lots of energy and enthusiasm, I would choose something that is fast-paced and interactive.</p>
<p>But this is just me; if you like the nature of sitting down and researching for long hours, there’s no reason not to do it.</p>
<p>I don’t even know why I’m saying this since the original post was about the stuck-up people at Cal and later flowed to the topic about the research opportunities, but I just want to make a point that some people are not interested in that even though there are opportunities.</p>
<p>Ha, I stopped following BW after the guy got kicked out of the scene for match-fixing. Sad, because win or lose, it was entertaining to see his creative strategies…</p>
<p>Interesting… my impression of most of the kids I know at Cal is that they feel like they “only” go to Cal. As in, it is hard to forget about that school across the bay where the /real/ smart kids go. I haven’t met many people who were super proud to go to Cal.</p>
<p>It also may be that students seem more competitive/stuck up in the first year. I remember meeting freshmen, including at calso, who thought highly of their intelligence before getting a real “taste” of Cal. After suffering through multiple midterm seasons, I would say most became more humble.</p>
<p>It is hard to say that UCLA is better than Cal or Cal is better than UCLA. You just have to go to the school that’s a better fit for you. Personally, I hate the city of LA and wanted to be close to my family. Why I’m here!</p>
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