<p>So I'm sitting in math discussion and this Asian kid next to me has this autism-esque blank stare who finished every problem as the GSI wrote them down. I got to know him a little bit before I turned in my homework and left.</p>
<p>I googled his name and it turns out that he was a USAMO qualifier in his ninth and tenth grade. Mad props and mad respect to him. I'm actually a little proud that he chose to come to Berkeley. </p>
<p>This may seem like anecdotal evidence, but I'm sure there are more hidden gems out there.</p>
<p>of course there are smart people here. it’s not surprising.</p>
<p>You just have to look in the right places. In lower div classes it’s hard to stand out but in upper div classes in competitive departments the smart people really stand out.</p>
<p>lol i think everyone is a stalker…aren’t they? haha but yeah I think the smart people are just hiding their smartness. Only the dumb people come out and so you never really get to meet the smart people cause guess what they’re doing while you’re out at Bear’s Lair!</p>
<p>As unlikely as this seems, I think I know who the kid is that you’re talking about. I just googled his name and it came up with similar results.</p>
<p>There aren’t that many people that qualify for USAMO freshman and sophomore year. This kid is at the level of smart that . . . no more than maybe a handful of Berkeley students his year can match.</p>
<p>All the really smart math undergrads are in the graduate courses. The talent level in Stat 205a was pretty high when i was in the class for the first 2 weeks.</p>
<p>There wasn’t an honors version of that class. To be honest, none of the people in my honors math class last semester could hope to hold a candle to this kid, assuming he hasn’t suffered severe brain damage since tenth grade, which I don’t think he has.</p>
<p>Most of my friends who I have met in CoC or at the lab where I work are ridiculously smart and hard-working. Just wait until you take hard-core upper division courses (if you haven’t started already), the reason why the average grade is deceptively higher is because the undergrads are so smart. I’m scared when I begin taking grad courses next fall or spring…</p>
<p>I want to point out that besides this kid, I have not been impressed by the student at ALL.</p>
<p>I think I have different standards for “being smart” than all of you people. Even when I talked to a bajillion people at the Regents and Chancellors scholars reception (which is SUPPOSED to be the top 1% of Berkeley applicants and top 4% of students admitted), I was not impressed at all.</p>
<p>This kid qualified for USAMO when he was around FIFTEEN OR SIXTEEN years old. There’s probably less than 100 kids in the country that matches his level of mathematical talent and intuition. Qualification for USAMO is usually enough to get admissions into MIT or Caltech BY ITSELF. Your CoC friends probably think that they’re “the ****” for maintaining their A- average, but this is like comparing a scooter to an eighteen wheeler.</p>
<p>Caicas I don’t consider people who have strong grades to be “smart,” as I myself have good grades. The kid you mentioned is definitely amazing but … intelligence goes beyond USAMO. It’s great that he can pass the AIME when he’s a freshman, but in my opinion, being a significant contributor to a decently sized open source project is just as amazing and much more useful. I’ve met a USAMOer, and he’s definitely been impressive, but I’ve also met non-USAMOers who are just if not more impressive.</p>
<p>In high school, people thought math competitions were the **** and if person A was smarter than person B if person A performed better at competition X.</p>
<p>If your standard of “smart” is qualifying for the USAMO and only qualifying for the USAMO, then you’re missing out on a big proportion of geniuses. Zuckerberg never made the USAMO nor would I be surprised if he even cared for it. </p>
<p>Finally, if you haven’t met “smart” people, that does not mean that Berkeley doesn’t have smart students, it just means you haven’t met them yet.</p>
<p>I don’t consider kids who have good grades to be “smart” either. It’s pretty easy to get grades.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that all smart people qualify for USAMO. I’m saying that all USAMO qualifiers are smart. Serious fallacy there. I’m also implying that some people responding to my OP are underestimating a bit how much it takes to get 7 or 8 on the AIME as a 15 year old kid. </p>
<p>And honestly, I am really not that impressed by Berkeley’s undergrad student body. Not even most of the people in upper div math.</p>