<p>Just curious to know what current Cal students thought about going to school with mostly other Californians. I'm not going to lie, the idea of meeting people from all over the country (and world) was a big appeal of private schools to me, but while Berkeley is definitely diverse, it's geographic demographics are clearly a lot different than non state schools.</p>
<p>positives? negatives? is it easier to see new friends/do stuff with them during breaks if they're in state? or do you wish it was more geographically diverse? or does it not really change anything at all?</p>
<p>I was just sort of randomly thinking about this :)</p>
<p>I'm an entering freshman. It would be nice if Cal admit more out of state students. However, Cal makes OOS admit levels lower because the students applying in state have parents that pay taxes to the state, which in turn funds Cal.</p>
<p>Yeah, but Cal is a public state school. People in California pay taxes for these schools.</p>
<p>I think it's diverse enough, though. If you are really looking to make friends with people outside of California, you can definitely find them. </p>
<p>Just this summer, I met a whole bunch of internationals.</p>
<p>I'm not a student, but I do go to a school that's roughly half Californian, and I can tell you it really doesn't matter. I've met people from all over the US, and their place of origin doesn't have a bearing on my experience. I've also met some from Turkey, from Tunisia, from Nicaragua, etc. but other than an occasional "ooh, that's neat" and perhaps an interesting conversation, it has no significant effect on your experience. Berkeley also enrolls lots of international students, I think from over 100 countries, so you'll have that if you want.</p>
<p>ya, but for every oos cal accepts, it means one less instate student.</p>
<p>cal is a state school first. </p>
<p>therefore, cal needs to justify their decisions and accept oos students who clearly have potential. these oos students usually decide not to attend cal because they feel that they are getting ripped off for having to pay for a higher tuition.</p>
<p>thanks kyledavid and TropicalTriceps and celsius, those were more of the opinions I was looking to hear (I know WHY there aren't many OOS, I was more curious about how it changed people's experience at college). and I suppose kyle is right about it not being very important in every day interactions. It's just pretty interesting to learn about other places/countries (in high school I always enjoyed talking to foreign exchange students about where they're from, etc)</p>
<p>just wondering, kyledavid, are you just speaking from your experiences at admit weekend (because you're a prefrosh, too?), or your high school?</p>
<p>California's a pretty diverse state to begin with, so I don't think I've ever thought Cal to be "homogenous."</p>
<p>Being Californian doesn't really mean the same thing as being from Montana (judging from my experience there) -- there is a wide, wide range of experiences and backgrounds that feeds into the school. Internationals, people who grew up in other states, those who grew up with a language other than English as their first, people who have lived in lots of different countries, and so on -- California attracts them and then disseminates them. </p>
<p>I can't imagine you'd find another state with quite the same range of students as you can find in California.</p>
<p>One of the most memorable parts of calso was when, in a giant filled lecture hall, they asked first generation american or foreign students to stand and about 95% of the students stood up.</p>
<p>^ aw that made me smile that you recall a memorable part (I was a calso counselor so I remember all)</p>
<p>As OOS, if you are concerned about making friends you should become a calso counselor. Hell, even if you aren't concerned be a calso counselor anyways.</p>
<p>I wanted to go here because I always wanted to live in California, more specifically SF (its close enough). As an OOS student, I doubt I'll apply though. The tuition gap is too big (btwn IS and OOS), classes get full easily, its getting harder to graduate in 4 years, budget problems, having to travel far on breaks when most others don't, lack of aid etc etc. From my point of view it wouldn't be worth it. I'd be glad to hear otherwise though.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I wanted to go here because I always wanted to live in California, more specifically SF (its close enough). As an OOS student, I doubt I'll apply though. The tuition gap is too big (btwn IS and OOS), classes get full easily, its getting harder to graduate in 4 years, budget problems, having to travel far on breaks when most others don't, lack of aid etc etc. From my point of view it wouldn't be worth it. I'd be glad to hear otherwise though.
[/quote]
It's harder to graduate in 4 years? Almost everyone who isn't doing an impossible double major or has health problems graduates in 4 years. Most people I know haven't had many problems with classes they need filling up.</p>
<p>Does anybody actually know the drop out (not transfer) rate of UC Berkeley? Is it also true that quit a few of those Cal drop outs where engineers who couldnt cope with the intensity of the engineering program.
This question is kind of random, but I was on College Board and it said that 1% of entering freshman had a GPA from 2.5 and 2.99 when applying. Where these students athletes or do they come from really hard schools?</p>
<p>I could care less, aside from the financial side of the equation. There are 24,000 undergraduates at Cal. If you can't find 10 or 20 that you think are cool, interesting people, you've got problems.</p>