<p>i stayed in the dorms with my friend for 5 days and went to a few classes. i'll tell you what is truly impressive about berkeley- their grad school. berkeley's grad school (in sciences/engineering) has produced an innumerable number of renowned scholars and nobel prize winners. </p>
<p>what i was not impressed by was the level of "normal" passion the students carried with themselves. albiet, my analysis is probably biased because i was primarily around 1st and 2nd years. </p>
<p>what really speaks to me is when students love what they are learning so much that there bears no real distinction when the students are in an academic setting or "chilling" with their friends. this is what true passion is - not going for good grades and trying to make it for themselves.</p>
<p>here's a little amazing trivia about uc berkeley: during the manhattan project, most of the nuclear scientists and technicians came from berkeley.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn't expect this thread to be revived. I posted this almost half a year ago. :p</p>
<p>I will still be interested in Berkeley for graduate school, but as RocketDA suggested, I will be attending an "ivy/typical pop-culture school," as I was accepted to Princeton ED. Thanks for the feedback, though -- recountings of personal experiences, especially, will benefit other prospective students. :)</p>
<p>Passion varies depending on the who you're around, but maybe you're right, that students here have less passion for academic pursuits than at other schools. It's not that these people aren't here- I ecnounter them all the time- but I bet there are fewer per capita here than at some other schools.</p>
<p>Yes, Berkeley's graduate schools are more impressive than their undergraduate schools in general, and the disparity exists to a greater extent than this does at other famous universities, such as the Ivy league.</p>
<p>What is a "typical pop-culture school?" I wonder how Berkeley wouldn't fit into that category.</p>
<p>I feel for RocketDa. He/she is in for a big let down when he/she goes to college. I hate to break it to you, but 90% of students are not going to be discussing quantum physics as they eat their cereal in the morning. You can't always be "on," meaning that you aren't going to be shouting from the roof of your dorm every night about how awesome it is to be learning. To tell you the truth, I was kind of disapointed when I first got to college. Like you, I expected school (notably berkeley) to be full of people so swept up in learing new things that that was all they could talk about. Thats not the way it is. Anywhere. Since I've been here I've visited alot of highschool friends at their schools (some of which are considered the best in the world) and it was exactly the same.</p>
<p>GentlemanandScholar, college has not been much of a let-down. I suppose there are always those "nerdy" groups to which will always be geeky. Perhaps I have just surrounded myself with nerds.</p>
<p>There is something subtly stimulating about a school with a constant nerdy physique. I think that it may form a sense of community, as everyone knows that there is a common ground. This effect seems to be synergistic in some schools - a sort of self-perpetuated strive to understand the depths around us. </p>
<p>This is all I am saying. Some may like this and some may not. No doubt most schools have their nerds (or even super-nerds), but the effect of pretty much everyone being on the same page is very hard to describe in words.</p>
<p>my bad...i suppose i should explain what i meant by pop culture school-
those schools that everyone knows about- harvard, yale, princeton, mit, caltech, berkeley, stanford, etc.. i make the connection to popularity because all of these schools have a lot of money - money that can/has gone towards extensive pure science facilities (i.e. particle accelerators, bubble chambers, fusion reactors, etc.)</p>
<p>Hi I'm a sophmore in the north bay, and I really want to go to Cal, i still haven't taken the SAT's but plan to this year but if you could please tell me if Cal is Saftey reach or match that'd be great, and what i should aim for on the SAT's to get me in (realistically)</p>
<p>Basics:
Top 10% of class
Weighted GPA: 4.0 (by end of year 4.17)
1/2 of my classes have only seniors and juniors (I'm the only sophmore)</p>
<p>Freshman:
AC Spanish 5-6 (3rd yr)
Honors algebra 3-4
Honors Biology (2nd year science at my school)
P.E.
Honors English 1-2
Apreciation of the arts</p>
<p>Sophmore:
AC spanish 7-8
IB trig/precalc
IB chemistry
computer foundations
Honors world history
Honors english 3-4</p>
<p>Extras:
150 hours of community service
science club
Safe school embassador
Academic decatholon participant
attended math competitions
won a $500 dollar schloraship for winning at a bussiness camp
Varsity swimming
Practice swimming 2 hrs. everyday after school on competitve team
Plan on doing partial IB diploma (there's no higher level science or math)</p>
<p>I want to major something along the lines of bussiness or science</p>
<p>How could anyone even guess about your chances if you haven't taken any SAT's yet? Just so you know, those tests are very, very important. But, because you're asking, I'll give you your chances as of right now. 0%! Take your sats then come back.</p>
<p>Well, yeah, the SAT I and SAT II scores are important, a very large part of the application, but you can have some idea if the student is going to get in or not without them. Is it any more certain than the other guessing people do on these boards? Probably not. At the least you could assume some score and say "with this, this would happen," if you guys are going to play along with chances threads.</p>
<p>I just don't see how someone with one year of UC grades and no SATs (or even PSATs) can get an accurate guess at their chances. But I'll say this, if you get perfect sats, keep a 4.0 or higher UC gpa and do a bunch of ecs, you will have a shot, but did you really need me to tell you that? I'm sorry if I'm being short with you, but I'm just sick of seeing people asking about their chances when they haven't even started the procces of acumulating stats. I saw someone ask about his chances when he was in 9th grade. How can you even guess? You might as well ask when your in 5th grade. I understand that people are nervous and want to make sure they are competitive, but you can look up the stat of admits and see what it takes to get in. Just do your best and when you get closer to to graduation come back and ask again.</p>