<p>By 1942, the American Council on Education ranked UC Berkeley second only to Harvard University in the number of distinguished departments.</p>
<p>University</a> of California, Berkeley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N):Yes
<ul>
<li>Schools accepted: Cornell, Georgetown, UCLA, UC Davis, USC</li>
<li>Schools rejected:Brown, Columbia</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted:Penn, George Washington</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N):after Cornell</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? Mostly financial, but I also like the campus & the location.
I'm from S CA, so I want something different.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N): Y
<ul>
<li>Schools accepted: UC Davis, UCLA, UCSD, UCB</li>
<li>Schools rejected: Stanford</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted: N/A</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N): Tied for 1st</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? I liked the atmosphere more at Cal than at LA, and I like the college-feel vibe to it. Plus location is convenient.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>@ santabanta, I'm glad you've decided on Cal. Wish you the best there. Go Bears!</p>
<p>hey santabanta i wasnt undermining Cal's value. I had other options too but i chose Cal b/c i knew it was the best school even though it costs over 60k more than my other schools. its a great school, i know.</p>
<p>i was just wondering what your reasoning was out of curiosity. I had no other intention. hope to see you next year too!</p>
<p>@santabanta - Congrats on the excellent choices you had and more importantly picking what you felt would be the best fit for you!! Most kids go with "herd mentality", rather than what their gut says. All these top tier schools are great. It's more important to pick the one that fits your individual personality.</p>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N):Yes</li>
<li>Schools accepted: All UC's except ucla</li>
<li>Schools rejected:ucla pending</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted:none</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N):Was ucsd, until visiting berkeley campus</li>
<li>Why Berkeley?I love the campus & the location.
I'm from S CA, so I want something different. I need changee.</li>
</ul>
<p>cornell arts and sciences w/ 24000 scholarship</p>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N): No</li>
<li>Schools accepted: UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCI, SFSU</li>
<li>Schools rejected: None</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted: N/A</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N): Yes</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? Proximity and popularity I guess..</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N): Y
<ul>
<li>Schools accepted: Cornell, U Michigan, UCLA, UCSD</li>
<li>Schools rejected: Stanford</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted:</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N): N</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? Second choice after Stanford; Cheap tuition; Parents want me close to home; Top-notch engineering; Haas; Stanley Hall looks sweet :rolleyes:</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N): yes
<ul>
<li>Schools accepted: uci, ucd, ucsb & cal poly pomona</li>
<li>Schools rejected: ucla & ucsd</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted: none</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N): Nope.. it was ucla</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? haha.. better than the other schools, pretty much. buuut then i fell in LOVE with it (:</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>^ditto...stanley hall kicks ass</p>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N):Yes</li>
<li>Schools accepted: LA, SD, Davis, Irvine</li>
<li>Schools rejected: Caltech (Defer --> Reject)</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted: HMC, Olin</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N):No</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? CS at Cal is pretty awesome.</li>
</ul>
<p>jmilton90...didn't you go to UC Santa Barbara as an undergrad? How's the undergrad class there compared to Cal's?</p>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N): Yes</li>
<li>Schools accepted: Mills College, Univ of Utah, SDSU</li>
<li>Schools rejected: None</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted: N/A</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N): Yes, but I had conflicting feelings about Cal, Mills, and UofU</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? It was clear that Cal is my school when I was completely overcome with emotion when I learned I was accepted. I didn't feel that way about the other schools at all. Go Bears!</li>
</ul>
<p>My OOS daughter chose Cal over the many fine LACS she was accepted to (Middlebury, Bowdoin, Claremont, Carleton, and others--some of them with scholarships vs none at CAL). It was the only large school system she applied to and it was her last college visit.
Frankly, the people she met at Cal and some of the posters here on CC (for example Ken1234, UCBChem Grad Engineer,Somemom) made the difference for her. When she visited Cal, the people she met seemed genuinely proud of the school, were friendly, "down to earth", and engaged with life inside and outside of the classroom. The energy of Sproul Plaza, the beauty of the campus, the diversity, the "quirkiness," and the endless course offerings were factors. In short, she thinks she will grow more as a person at Cal than anywhere else (that intangible "fit."). So I hope that it is everything she dreams it to be. To be honest, as a parent this decision point was very very hard for me. I had to force myself to let her go as my child (so to speak) and let her make the decision on her own as a young adult. I asked for a lot of advice on this forum, gave her the facts as I saw them, but in the end it is her life and her decision. I thought she would do best at Middlebury or Claremont , but she felt Cal resonated with her. So you all take care of each other at Cal, OK? And Go Bears!</p>
<p>You're awesome, santabanta! I sounded just like you before I came to Berkeley. I got into some nice private schools, but in the end I chose Berkeley because of it's world class education and atmosphere. Sometimes I might make fun of Berkeley, but I truly love this place. Berkeley doesn't just educate you; it teaches you how to be a person. Hope to see you next Fall!</p>
<p>I don't really feel like accurate comparisons can be made between the Berkeley and Stanford undergrad programs unless someone has been an undergrad at both Berkeley and Stanford since the two are so similar in prestige and the merits of the student bodies (being an undergrad at one school and a grad student at the other doesn't count). Otherwise, you're just making speculations.</p>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N): Yes</li>
<li>Schools accepted: UCLA, Colorado School of Mines</li>
<li>Schools rejected: MIT (defer->reject), CalTech (early), Harvard</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted: none</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N): Yes, tied with MIT</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? Northern California location, strong EECS department, large size = many opportunities, many relatives went there, amount of school spirit, very strong emphasis on student rights, quirky nature.</li>
</ul>
<p>to santabanta</p>
<p>"yes, i did turn down those schools...you know what, you people will def. say after looking at my resume that i am "overqualified" for Cal (siemens finalist, intel finalist etc etc) but you know what? i think im a perfect fit..."</p>
<p>this is your quote from earlier which led to my question
I am sorry if I offended you in any way
and I am glad you aren't choosing a school based on its fame or ranking</p>
<p>ummkk? =)</p>
<ul>
<li>California resident (Y/N): Yes</li>
<li>Schools accepted: UCLA, NYU</li>
<li>Schools rejected: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn</li>
<li>Schools waitlisted: N/A</li>
<li>Berkeley top choice (Y/N): Yes</li>
<li>Why Berkeley? Price, college town, do-it-yourself atmosphere, Haas</li>
</ul>
<p>
[quote]
you guys, especially jmilton90 and somewhat whatever1989 do not deserve to go to Cal if you so openly undermine its value...
yes, i did turn down those schools...you know what, you people will def. say after looking at my resume that i am "overqualified" for Cal (siemens finalist, intel finalist etc etc) but you know what? i think im a perfect fit...
someday you will learn to value a great school like Cal, especially since you went to it....wow guys, go get some school spirit...</p>
<p>GO BEARS</p>
<p>sometimes just because you get something you undervalue it...and when you dont get something you hold it on a pedestal...learn to appreciate what you have.
and by the way, i was offered scholarships (woodrow wilson) from JHU....and by the way, i know at least 4 other kids personally who turned down Stanford for being a Bear. who the hell says "Judging the education as a grad student here, and the quality of the undergrad here is definitely not on par with Stanford." (jmilton90)???? especially which Cal Golden Bear would say such an idiotic thing? jmilton90 you need to learn some school spirit</p>
<p>edit #3: and before you guys start cooking up reasons why i didnt go to those private schools, money was not a problem, neither was distance, etc ,etc....it was solely based on education, school environment, etc, etc...btw...im MCB, pre-med</p>
<p>edit #4: "sounds pretty bogus" is that what you said jmilton90???? what the hell is "bogus" about this? why? is this not supposed to happen in your world? should ppl flock to Stanford if they get in? wow dude...maybe in college apps they should ask about school spirit so they can weed out ppl like you
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
"overenthusiastic" lol...maybe...but at least not as discouraging, bitter, and perhaps even envious as some others on this thread..
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Uh, santabanta, just because somebody goes to a particular school doesn't mean that should never be critical about that school. In fact, I would argue that it is imperative that they do so, because that's the way that a school will improve. </p>
<p>From what I can gather, when you say "school spirit", what you really mean is "don't say anything bad", which is tantamount to censorship. But then why even have a discussion board at all if people are not supposed to express their opinions honestly?</p>