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<p>Is that necessarily due to the LAC environment, or the self-selection of students who choose to attend a LAC (or a specific LAC or non-LAC)?</p>
<p>Berkeley is no exception to the “big state flagship university” characteristic that its students contain both those with top end academic ability and motivation and those who are content to just slide through academically while majoring in “fermented beverage social studies” and the like.</p>
<p>Anyway, the OP’s likely majors are not psychology. Amherst would be a poor fit due to not having engineering and having a relatively limited math department (although cross registration with a nearby big state flagship university might help). Carleton also does not have engineering.</p>