<p>I've seen several threads and posts worrying about the rumors that Berkeley students are really competitive. This is not true, from both my experience and from the experience of many other posters here. I haven't seen or heard any instances of cut-throat competition, even in departments that seem to be famous for it, like EECS, MCB, or UGBA.</p>
<p>If anything, collaboration is far, far more prevalent than competition here, even in curved classes. Students work and study in groups all the time, whether for group projects, preparing for exams, or just doing homework every week. So don't be afraid of Berkeley because you've heard about nasty competition here, because it is almost certain that you won't encounter it.</p>
<p>(I'm actually interested in how and why these rumors come about...)</p>
<p>My two cents, I’m an MCB major and I think it is difficult and competitive, and so does pretty much everyone in the major, including the faculty. Getting an A is means sacrificing a lot of your time to studying.</p>
<p>^Well, I hope the upper div classes aren’t too much more time consuming than the lower div courses for MCB…are they, or do you think the lower divs (OChem, Bio 1A, etc.) are just as competitive?</p>
<p>There seems to be two different understandings of the word competition here…</p>
<p>I don’t think the OP is saying getting an A is easy at Cal, rather he/she is saying it isn’t competitive, where he/she defines competitive as people trying to “kill” each other for grades as opposed working together in study groups, and he has noticed that a lot of collaboration does go on here at Berkeley, which contradicts his definition of competitive.</p>
<p>But OP, competitive by many posters here I think refer to the difficulty of the average student to achieve an A in a class under the majors you mentioned as being considered “competitive”.</p>
Really? I guess I’m wrong about that, then. Still, I haven’t heard of such stories in any other area…</p>
<p>
Huh. I would just use “hard” or “difficult” to say that, but I guess you could interpret “competitive” that way, though it has more potential for ambiguity.</p>
<p>can’t speak for other depts. but as an eecs major i’dsay it’s highly competitive.
the op obviously hasn’t taken the upper division courses such as cs150 cs170 ee140 ee141 ee142 yet.</p>
<p>As a non-STEM/business major, I’d have to say my classes aren’t competitive.</p>
<p>However, I think a lot of extracurriculars are unnecessarily competitive and have application processes. I’ve had to interview to volunteer at schools and join clubs. Seriously? It’s dismaying for someone wanting to explore new activities and professions.</p>
<p>AtypicalAsian - EECS and L&S CS share the same comp sci classes, so there’s really no difference.</p>
<p>I guess part of it depends on what you define competitive as… the classes don’t feel competitive. It’s not like a cutthroat atmosphere where people are focused on beating everyone else. There’s tons of collaboration, and people are always helping each other out, explaining concepts, giving hints, whatever. Are classes graded on a curve? Sure, but that seems pretty normal, honestly… only reason it can be tough is that there’s a lot of smart people here.</p>
<p>That said, I’ve spent the past 4 days working on one project, got 3 hours of sleep last night, and need to go back to debugging a different project now… end of the semester always sucks though.</p>
<p>Atypical: Major in what you’re interested, don’t try and pick things because they’re easy or you think it’ll make you a lot of money. You’ll do best in Uni if you major in something you enjoy, especially if you’re in something like CS or Haas.</p>
<p>(Also, from what I remember, Haas is more selective than EECS which is more selective than L&S, when it comes to admissions. But Haas and L&S CS you need to petition or finish pre-reqs or something before you get in, I think.)</p>