<p>How can Berkeley be diverse when over 90% of the students come from California? On the website they claim that they are very diverse, but when I walked around campus with a friend recently, I only saw one African American the whole day and not one Native American.</p>
<p>90+% from cali
40+% asian</p>
<p>very diverse indeed</p>
<p>yea, but Berkeley is a california public university, funded by residents of california, that is why they are accepted more, and I agree. If this was a private school, sure, 90%+ from one state would be ridiculous, but this isnt the Ivy L's.</p>
<p>Most universities claim they are diverse by having 75% White, 15% Asian, and the rest URMs like African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. Personally, I don't think that this is very diverse - 3/4 faces you see on campus will likely be of the same culture/race. </p>
<p>With Berkeley it's different. It has the rare characteristic of not having a majority race, which means that you can't say "on average a person here is _____", like you can with most other schools. At Berkeley, the make up is: African-American 4%, Asian-American 41%, Hispanic 11%, Native American 1%, White 41%, and International 3% (so you theoretically should have seen 1 Black person out of every 25 people on campus, and 1 out of every 100 should have been NA). But consider this: the "Asian" demographic is hardly homogeneous. Within the category are Chinese Americans, Indian Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, and Vietnamese Americans, just to name some of the largest groups. Needless to say, each of these groups of people have different cultures and customs. So although there might be less Native Americans than in a university that practices the unfair (my opinion) act of affirmative actions, you end up with large quantities of equally qualified people from all sorts of cultures and backgrounds - a lot more so than in other schools of Cal's caliber. If that isn't diversity then I don't know what is.</p>
<p>I personally don't believe that having Blacks & Native Americans on campus are the only way to have diversity. Berkeley more than makes up for less URMs by making sure that those who go there have the same abilities as everyone else and allowing people who are often in too small numbers in other colleges to really have their voices heard. </p>
<p>I could make an argument on how letting under qualified URMs into colleges actually reinforces negative stereotypes (and sometimes even creates them), but I've already written enough this post and class is starting in 10 minutes. I'm sure you can see why if you think about it.</p>
<p>And regarding the In State/OOS composition - California is undoubtedly the most diverse state in the nation - geographically, demographically, and regionally. There are tons of people at Cal from every background imaginable. If meeting people from outside CA is a big deal in your college decision than Cal might not be for you. Honestly I find that socioeconomic status is a much greater factor in a person's personality than their state is. Who do you think would have more in common with someone who lived in a bad part of LA - someone from Beverly Hills just a few miles away or someone who lived in downtown Detroit. See what I mean?</p>
<p>/rant</p>
<p>Come here and you'll understand. It's not only the campus - you'll be spending a lot of time in the city and surrounding neighborhoods if you're the active type, and this place is simply brimming with interesting characters.</p>
<p>California is diverse.</p>
<p>The best way to answer your question is with a question: a college that is 25% Latino, 25% African-American, 25% White and 25% Asian, of whom 25% are out-of-state and 25% international, but 90% comes from a family whose income is above $100,000 and 90% are politically conservative- would you still qualify this as diversity?</p>
<p>Looking at the color of the skin, alone, is not a measure of diversity. </p>
<p>Some things to consider:</p>
<p>At Berkeley, 30% of students were born outside of the United States, 56% had parents who were BOTH foreign-born;
2,848 Admitted Transfer Students (1,864 enrolled), or roughly equivalent to the number of students in the incoming freshmen classes at four top liberal arts colleges (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Wellesley);
23,482 Undergraduates, 10,076 Graduates (70/30), a ratio that (to me) favorably compares to most liberal arts colleges (100/0) and over Harvard (33/66);
2,539 Total Full-Time International Students, or a greater number of students than the undergraduate and graduate student population at Cal Tech;
Each year’s new undergraduate class comes from 50.9% public high school, 7.1% private high school, 5.2% out of state, 1.1% international, and 28.7 community colleges;
The class comes from 50 of 58 California counties;
Because of transfer students, the class reflection is upper-class heavy: 3880 Freshmen, 4253 Sophomores, 6715 Juniors, 9015 Seniors and 10,076 Graduates;
15% of undergraduates live outside the city of Berkeley, about 28% live at least one mile outside of campus, across a wide range of housing options across alternative transportation choices (only 4.9% drive alone to school); and
400+ Student Organizations reflect the diversity of interests on campus.</p>
<p>Here are some numbers for comparison to other research institutions:</p>
<p>Family Income
UCB: 33.7% (under $35k), 20.1% ($35k-$65k), 9.5% ($65k-$80k), 46.7% (over $80k)
Harvard: 6.8% (under $33,000), 9.2% ($33k-$57k), 10.1% ($57k-$80k), 73.9% (over $80k)
Northwestern: 6.7% (under $30k), 9.8% ($30k-$60k), 7.9% ($60k-$75k), 75.6% (over $75k)
Cornell: 10.6% (under $30k), 16.8% ($30k-$60k), 9.6% ($60k-$75k), 79.8% (over $75k)
UCSD: 20.6% (under $30k), 21.2% ($30k-$60k), 9.5% ($60k-$75k), 48.8% (over $75k)
* NOTE: I tried to find data for top-tier public universities outside of California (including Michigan, Virginia, Texas, and UNC Chapel Hill, but none were available online for public view)</p>
<p>Highest Level of Parents’ Formal Education (Father/Mother)
MIT: Less than High School (2.9%, 4.3%), High School (8.6%, 6.8%), College Degree (23.8%, 33.4%), Graduate Degree (49.6%, 38.2%)
Northwestern: Less than High School (1.4%, 1.8%), High School (6.0%, 5.8%), College Degree (25.9%, 36.1%), Graduate Degree (56.8%, 40.1%)
Cornell: Less than High School (3.7%, 3.1%), High School (6.4%, 9.1%), College Degree (25.9%, 34.1%), Graduate Degree (50.3%, 35.6%)
UCSD: Less than High School (10.8%, 11.4%), High School (12.4%, 15.1%), College Degree (25.2%, 31.2%), Graduate Degree (32.8%, 21.4%)
UCB: Less than High School (16%), High School (18.4%) College Degree (26.6%), Graduate Degree (30%)</p>
<p>General Conclusions: Berkeley educates students from a diverse geographical, social, economic, ethnic, and educational background. Once at the university, these varying perspectives are expressed through a range of housing choices, type of campus involvement, and decentralized practices. What this equates to is that any given person you meet on campus can be at different stages in their lives, entertaining any number of on-campus and off-campus activities, including jobs; comes from a distinct background, engaged in a personal set of priorities, currently studying in one of seven schools/colleges across one hundred established majors (in Letters & Sciences alone, there are 61 majors including a total of 35 special concentration areas within certain majors, and 74 minors offered), and has a career and life trajectory that is unique to that person.</p>
<p>A lot of newcomers agree that all of this can be daunting, that the scale of the Berkeley campus- and I haven’t even talked about the thousands of employees, administrators, scholars and professors- is overwhelming. A concern for the common student is that he or she will be lost in this crowd of energetic and talented people, but can you blame them? Everyone is so different that you have to seek out conformity, as opposed to fall into it; and yet everyone is so high-achieving, it is incredibly difficult to stand out. This duality pretty much sums up the challenge Berkeley presents. You really only have two options: you can either withdraw due to fear and lack of understanding, or embrace this diversity.</p>
<p>But through all of this, I ask to the OP: how the heck in the world can you claim that Berkeley is not diverse? Just what exactly are you comparing Berkeley against? In terms of higher education at top universities, Cal campus’s diversity is unparalleled.</p>
<p>I find it odd when people claim there's no diversity because everone is from California. California could be 3 or 4 states, easily. Would Berkeley be more diverse if someone made some imaginary lines seperating California into 4 different states? Try to tell me that someone that grew up in Eureka is the same as someone that grew up in South Central Los Angeles just because they're both from California. Honestly, if you think everyone in california is basically the same then you probably aren't ready for college (or anywhere outside or your bedroom).</p>
<p>California could be it's own country, we feed the rest of the country (except for corn) and is EXTREMELY diverse. All the trends are set here, it's a place of dreams, and where the west ends. We're the prophet on the golden shore baby (like jerry garcia said). screw kansas.</p>
<p>you'll love it at cal. there are people from all over the world and the fact that they are simply grouped in categories such as asians, hispanics, etc., doesn't mean that they are mainly koreans/chinese or mexicans. there are plenty of countries under these umbrellas, so YES cal is DEFINITELY DIVERSE</p>
<p>"screw kansas" -punkdudeus<br>
lol</p>
<p>ok berkeley may be 'diverse' but only by numbers. there is little integration between ethnicities/races etc. i find that there is a significant amount of people who stick to people of their culture...i'm not saying that everyone is like this either (or i would have no friends since i am multiple ethnicities)...but sometimes it seems like the easiest thing for people to do is join a race/culture affiliated club and then only keep friends within those clubs...and i know a lot of this is not done on purpose either...it's easy i guess..</p>
<p>I hear that because there are barely any black people there, less black people are thinking of applying there, but i think that's just for out of state.</p>
<p>the reason why the number of african american students decreased over the years is because on average, their stats are not good enough to get them here. since the school stopped practicing affirmative action, african american students now need to be just as qualified as other applicants to get in.</p>
<p>
[quote]
ok berkeley may be 'diverse' but only by numbers. there is little integration between ethnicities/races etc. i find that there is a significant amount of people who stick to people of their culture...i'm not saying that everyone is like this either (or i would have no friends since i am multiple ethnicities)...but sometimes it seems like the easiest thing for people to do is join a race/culture affiliated club and then only keep friends within those clubs...and i know a lot of this is not done on purpose either...it's easy i guess..
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah that's true...but that happens everywhere. It happens at Berkeley where the Asian population is 41% and it happens at other private schools where the Asian population is around 15%. The difference is if you're Asian, it's a lot easier to find Asian friends to hang out with. Hey, if Asians want to hang out with Asians, who are we to stop them? Diversity is touted so much but I wonder how much good it's actually doing. If I were black, I wouldn't get along as well with white students or Asian students, due to cultural/racial differences. I would relate with my black friends a lot more, so I would want to make friends with black students. I suppose the lack of minorities is a disadvantage for minorities since they will have trouble finding friends of their race, but is it that advantageous for me to surround myself with a black student, an Asian students, and a Jew? I think that's arguable.</p>
<p>Once again, this issue of diversity continues to be driven along racial and ethnic lines- if only things were as clear cut as the color of one's skin. </p>
<p>Among other things, there exist underlying economic factors that govern social relationships.</p>
<p>To use a case-study, I think we can learn a lot from the recent ASUC elections. The best way is to trace “Asian” candidates and see what political parties they belong to; but before that, we need to differentiate between Southeast Asians versus Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. To quickly brief, Southeast Asians (including Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia) tend to be lower-income and first-generation due to recent immigration driven by politics back home, while it is not uncommon to find Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans represented as middle-class families with middle-class sentiments. How does this translate into the election process? It means that all Southeast Asian candidates were represented under CalServe (including the victorious presidential candidate) and no other student political groups, the often-referred “radical” CalServe being an organization dedicated to serving the interests of underprivileged students. (Note that the term “radical” also connotes economic relations.) </p>
<p>By the numbers, there were 17 “Asian” candidates for executive and senatorial offices, there were 4 whose ethnic backgrounds qualify them as Southeast Asian and they were all members of CalServe (CalServe had a total of five “Asian” candidates); meanwhile, all dozen candidates outside of CalServe were Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. The point being, that how one falls into particular groups (either political or social, both cases are applicable here) is based on their own personal beliefs and values, which are largely shaped and determined by one’s upbringing and economic circumstances. This is why I included information such as family income and parents’ education background when responding to the OP in post 7, because that is where Berkeley diversity is truly derived and how the school is arguably more diverse than any other university, including any one of the HBC (historically-black colleges) which, by some people’s definition here, would qualify a school like Howard University as more diverse given the percentage of minorities. </p>
<p>It would appear that some people would answer "yes" to the opening question I posed in post 7. How unforunate.</p>