<p>I've been going back and forth between Berkeley and UCLA and the two things that bother me most about Berkeley (and force me to consider LA) are what I've been hearing about the super competitiveness and lack of fun, friendly social life that comes with the college experience. Most Berkeley students I ask say they got "a good education," but dont have much else to say about the experience.
Any Berkeley fans with contrary evidence? I would love to hear about the vibrant social life and tough yet manageable academics (i'm considering a communications major). I'd love to hear all the positive. Thanks!</p>
<p>ok - it's definitely competitive - HOWEVER, put to rest any fears you have of the social life. we don't all sit in our rooms and study the whole weekend away. berkeley kids know how to have a good (from frat parties to just going into san francisco)</p>
<p>welcome to berkeley.</p>
<p>yay for berkeley!</p>
<p>The competitiveness and "cut throat nature" are OVERBLOWN. Really. And it applies primarily to the science weeders/engineering weeder classes. It's all relative. Relative to the mass comm classes, students would gladly trade amount of work and grding scale. It's possible to have a great social life at Berkeley. In fact, many people do. Visit, and talk to students, especially mass com majors. For example, I think there's a high frequence of sorrority girls major in mass com, much more than say, engineering. people consider it an easy major, although I have little direct experience with it, and that's true with many who deem it that, but I can't imagine it's as difficult as eecs, for instance.</p>
<p>Well, let's be honest. If you're a communications major, then it's not really that competitive and your social life will probably be really good.</p>
<p>There's quite a plethora of hot guys in frats and sports and many mass comm majors are connected with each other regarding parties in frats/athlete parties, etc.</p>
<p>You might be interested to know that communications is so uncompetitive at Berkeley that there is a facebook group full of communications majors who go to communications lectures only to delight in how "HOT" the students there are. I might add that communications majors are stereotypically known for being big in the party department. </p>
<p>Just know that if your a communications major at Cal, you won't have to face pre-med style competition. You can certainly cram one night and party every other night.</p>
<p>yah, I heard it's a "b.s." major, but can anything at Cal really be so 'b.s'?</p>
<p>The competition is deadly here. Nearly 200 freshmen die annually due to fierce competition. The only way to fight the deadly competition is to forfeit your social life.</p>
<p>Sarcasm (I need to say this because some people might have taken it seriously).</p>
<p>In its defense, it is capped. But as you can see, the engineering and science types love to hate on mass comm (as do many others).</p>
<p>Berkeley, like life, will always have someone waiting around the corner ready to chew you up and spit you out. However, the rewards, both academically and socially greatly outweigh the bad points.</p>
<p>i'd say cal and ucla are pretty even socially if not an edge to berkeley. the ucla party scene is pretty lame...</p>
<p>i've only had to engage in hand-to-hand combat with my classmates seven times over my undergraduate career at Berkeley...so it's not so bad...</p>
<p>but seriously, the competitiveness at Berkeley is way over-rated. I remember a prof of mine telling me that he was very surprised at how cooperative and friendly science majors at Berkeley are in comparison to science majors at Harvard (where he taught last).</p>
<p>I visited Berkeley over my Spring Break and hooked up with someone from my high school that is a 2nd year student at Berkeley. I was there on a Thursday/Friday and there was a lot going on and he says it is easy to make friends and have a social life if you are looking for one. As far as competitiveness, he was really worried about that and says it is way over rated. He is a Biology major.
I always heard Berkeley students were unfriendly. I didn't find that to be true at all.</p>
<p>Where did you hear that from?</p>
<p>yeah...cause I've heard quite the opposite from non-Berkeley people. I've even been told that Berkeley students have a "friendly aura" around them. Most people i've met here are very friendly.</p>
<p>There friendly in the way any generic person is IMO. If you ever have to work with them, many will reveal their selfish nature.</p>
<p>So is EECS deadly though?</p>
<p>So they say.</p>
<p>But is it hostile? I've heard stories/urban rumors that people sabotage other people's work</p>