<p>thanks for all the input guys. I do come from a wealthy conservative catholic family and would probably fit in better socially at notre dame; however, I love the bay area as opposed to south bend which is sorta isolated. So you guys are saying if I'm 100% sure about pre med then ND's the way to go?</p>
<p>With your backround, if I were you I would go to ND. :-)</p>
<p>how does 84% compare to schools like JHU, Stanford, and Duke? I guess what I'm asking is to put it in perspective for me please.</p>
<p>^ Your goal of getting into medical school is not going to make a difference between attending Notre Dame, Berkeley, JHU, Stanford or Duke...</p>
<p>Go with the school that has the most reasonable cost; provides the social aspects you enjoy for fun and diversion; and the academic environment that challenges you and allows you to perform your best.</p>
<p>Your grades, MCAT score, and recommendations will matter more than the name on your undergraduate diploma.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would research and apply to schools that interest you...then when you get the acceptance letters and financial aid awards, your decision will become much clearer.</p>
<p>I have been told that the dorms all have chapels where mass is said each morning, but I don't know if this is true</p>
<p>Whoever told you that was joking. As if they could find enough priests to say all those masses!</p>
<p>Also, when I was investigating ND for my d (who I doubt has the stats for admission, sadly), I was told that the school runs the gamut from devout to atheist. Any range of religious bent can be accommodated.</p>
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then when you get the acceptance letters and financial aid awards, your decision will become much clearer.
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<p>ahh if only this were true! choosing a college is the HARDEST thing in the world. but damn, kyledavid, you are making me reconsider berkeley, even though i never really seriously considered it. maybe i should have visited in april...</p>
<p>but yeah goblue the stats i posted were ADMIT data not matriculation data--sorry for my mistake. as for notre dame being an "easier" school than berkeley, i'm not so sure i buy that. from what i've heard, the College of Science and the College of Engineering at ND are just as grade-deflated and competitive as any other top private school, even though the Arts & Letters and Business Schools are much easier to maintain a higher GPA in. berkeley's publicness and sheer number of really smart students means competition will feel much greater than in the smaller environment of ND.</p>
<p>so yeah, i chose ND over berkeley, but when i look back in hindsight (a whole TWO MONTHS of hindsight), i feel like berkeley would have been sick as well if i had wanted to go there. CC is very pro-berkeley, so maybe i'm too influenced by you guys, but yeah both are undoubtedly great undergraduate schools (i think ND has a slight edge, though, because of its alumni commitment to the school and overwhelming sense of community and school spirit).</p>
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CC is very pro-berkeley
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<p>Hmm, I think that's very debatable. CC seems very divided on Berkeley: many seem to dislike or disdain the school, whereas many others support it.</p>
<p>One reason that's often cited is that Berkeley is in a very odd position: it's a public school that actively competes--and competes well--with top privates. Combined with the fact that its peer assessment score is in stark contrast to its overall ranking, and the debates spark only too often. Berkeley (in addition to a few other schools like Cornell, WUStL, etc.) seems to be bashed frequently on these boards.</p>
<p>^ It's also because Berkeley's grad programs are some of the best in the world, but somehow Berkeley's undergrad programs are thought of as "meh"....mostly because kids don't have as high SAT scores on average and the large(er) class sizes...</p>
<p>Berkeley is yin and yang. The best description I read was that Berkeley has stellar academic programs with a street tough swagger.</p>
<p>Undergrads don't get the care and feeding compared to top privates and LACs.</p>
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but somehow Berkeley's undergrad programs are thought of as "meh"
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<p>It seems to me that it's more because the students here are so obsessed with HYPS+ that they turn their noses up at extremely high-caliber schools not ranked next to them. Even if Berkeley doesn't give its undergrads the 'care and feeding' of a top private, its undergrad program isn't 'meh.'</p>
<p>BERKELEY is HATEEED on CC. I am a Berk acceptee and I am so afraid of these Berkeley haters.</p>
<p>btw, wouldn’t med schools know that Berkeley deflates GPA and take that into account? Not saying ND is a crappy school but college admissions know to take 3.4 from PhilipsAcademy more seriously than 4.5 from Inner City school of Detroit.</p>
<p>No…it is true, Chapels and Mass in every dorm.</p>