Stanford vs Berkeley?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
181

<p>Then I suppose you are thankful that Stanford rejected you? A blessing in disguise? </p>

<p>Anyway, to say that Berkeley is unequivocally better than Palo Alto is just plain dumb. Some people may prefer Palo Alto more, some people may prefer Berkeley more. Some people like rich areas and some people like ghettos. It's all a matter of choice and preference.</p>

<p>In addition, Stanford fosters a much better college community than Berkeley ever could. Since Stanford guarantees housing for all your undergraduate years, EVERYONE lives on campus. 99 percent of students live on campus. Contrast this to Berkeley, where only the freshmen are given housing. You might have fun at Berkeley in your first year, but after that, forget about it. You'll be isolated and Berkeley will be nothing more than a commuter school to you.</p>

182

<p>According to US News, the difference between Stanford and Berkeley is equivalent to the difference between Berkeley and University of Rochester. Just a little food for thought.</p>

183

<p>Yeah, you know, if you can't live on campus in dorms with three other dudes for your whole college experience then you're basically guaranteed to have a horrible experience. I mean, c'mon, who wants all that freedom? You know what would make stanfurd even better? If they let mommy come live in the dorms too. Its a good thing gutrade didn't get into any of the schools that he applied to 'cause now he gets a couple more years to live with mommy and daddy.</p>

184

<p>Gutrade,</p>

<p>As someone who lived off-campus for a year, I have to say that your argument only holds a little water. Living in an apartment hardly destroys the college experience.</p>

185

<p>GentlemanScholar,</p>

<p>He's going to Yale, which is undoubtedly superior to Berkeley, and so you have no absolutely no standing to accuse him. If anything, Gutrade has the high ground over YOU.</p>

186

<p>I am not surprised that the difference between Stanford and Berkeley is equivalent to the difference between Berkeley and U of Rochester. I mean c'mon, the difference between Stanford and Berkeley is simply HUGE.</p>

187

<p>Gutrade said: "Then I suppose you are thankful that Stanford rejected you? A blessing in disguise?"</p>

<p>Funny coming from someone who was rejected outright from Stanford EA and was whining about settling for Yale and being in Harvard's shadow. Explains your insecurity and bitterness.</p>

<p>Kid, you REALLY need to grow up.</p>

188

<p>I have degrees from both Harvard and Berkeley... and Berkeley no doubt belongs in the same tier as Harvard, Stanford, MIT, etc.
I think some of you are just too darn elitist and have these ridiculous, unsubstantiated biases against large, public universities.</p>

189

<p>OMG, someone who actually knows what they're talking about defending a big public? Egads!</p>

190

<p>I think you are angry that you came from Harvard and didn't get into a good graduate school that measured up to your undergraduate school. That's a complaint of a lot of Harvard students. You go to the top and you climb down from there.</p>

191

<p>How's the trolling business ubermensch? </p>

<p>So, is someone who went to Berkeley for her PhD and is a member of the NAS less qualified than the Harvard PhD who is a member of the NAS?</p>

192

<p>uber,</p>

<p>I got into MIT, CalTech, Berkeley, and Harvard for grad school, and chose Berkeley. It was in the top 3 in my field, and I wanted to get out of Boston. CalTech, which was ranked #1 in my field, just has a horrible quality of life. Stanford, by the way, is ranked #22 in my field, so I didn't waste my time.</p>

193

<p>jab93,</p>

<p>I think that when you become a member of the NAS or equivalent in your field, you won't give a rat's tuchus what uber has to say.</p>

194

<p>Wow. Uber is ridiculously stupid.</p>

195

<p>Again, I don't really care that much about living on campus. I'm there for the education. (What a concept!) I didn't want my college to be a spoiled, sheltered, hand-holding country club, daily crumpets with the profs. </p>

<p>Sure, a huge part of my learning experience will come from peers, but it's not like I have to live within close proximity to a person in order to get to know them. I'm a pretty outgoing individual, and we all know there's no dearth of that sort at Berkeley. </p>

<p>I'm also actually getting two years of housing, due to the fact that I'm a freak and research everything early. That's half of my college experience. For the other half...whatever! The difference between Berkeley and Stanford students is that the former know how to adapt to things, to real-world situations. Alienated is probably the last thing I'll be feeling...I can't wait to go!</p>

<p>I'm a girl.</p>

196

<p>Collegeperson, uber and gutrade, why are you so obsessed with Cal? If gutrade's going to yale (which is B.S.) then why doesn't he spend his time on their boards? Unfortunatly for Uber there is no SF City College board, so I can understand why he'd want to come over here. As for collegeperson, I don't know where or if he goes to school, but he's obviously obsessed with Cal. Don't worry collegeperson, there's always grad school, although I really doubt you'd have a shot at getting in here, but dont be afraid to dream.</p>

197

<p>Haha well said G&S. </p>

<p>Yeah, it's one thing to be really sure of your viewpoints (So you prefer Stanford - who gives, ultimately?) but to spend hours and days composing responses, looking up statistics, and trying as hard as possible to sound like a pretentious wank to a bunch of people who will forget you when they're happily at college....?</p>

<p>Why, it's almost endearing. Weetle baby got a bunchie in ees panties because Big Bad Berkeley has the audacity to claim right to excellence?</p>

198

<p>"I didn't want my college to be a spoiled, sheltered, hand-holding country club, daily crumpets with the profs."</p>

<p>That's rather strange. You DON'T want close-contact with your professors, and maybe even "eat daily crumpets" with them? That's an extremely fantastic luxury that most schools and most students would die for. To have the Stanford/Yale/Princeton/Harvard experience of living in the lap of luxury while only caring about your education and social/extracirricular growth is not something everyone can experience. Those who can experience that are the priviledged few that everyone wishes they could be. You have the rest of your life to "experience the real world." How is it so bad to have best four years of your life, and look back on a college experience that was nothing short of utopia. I'd take the daily crumpets, country-club-like lifestyle over the ghetto, mass production-like education at Berkeley. I want a name, not a number. I want to be pampered for four years rather than constantly struggle for the necessities.</p>

199

<p>It's not a "ghetto," it's a cultural mecca.</p>

<p>Furthermore, I dunno about the crumpet situation at the Yard - or even down on the precious Farm, for that matter. I threw that out there not as an implication of close contact, sprung from the goodwill of the profs towards students, but to suggest that there's a mere facade (if any) of true understanding. There can't be that much close contact with profs if they're groundbreaking researchers as well as ivory tower teachers to thousands. I'd rather just take the course, no bs, and not be coddled if I'm having a bad day or didn't get the grade I wanted. </p>

<p>The real crumpets go down, so to speak, at places like Reed, Amherst, or Carleton - small liberal arts colleges, which we both evidently elected not to take advantage of. We want the big stuff, don't we? 'Better to be 50 feet from brilliance than 5 feet from mediocrity' and all that business. </p>

<p>Because that's how you rank institutions, is it not? Presteige. Presteige does not equal the easy utopia you speak of. Harvard isn't perfection. *Gasp!</p>

200

<p>This is from the stanfurd daily.</p>

<p>Friends or Foes?: Daily online survey reveals surprising degree of respect & appreciation for school across the Bay </p>

<p>Printable Version
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<p>Friday, November 16, 2001
last updated November 16, 2001 2:43 PM</p>

<p>Editor’s Note: In preparation for tomorrow’s 104th Big Game, The Daily ran a two-week online survey inviting a wide range of Stanford community members — undergraduates, graduates and alumni — to weigh in about Cal and the historic cross-Bay rivalry. This story presents the results of the survey, which was written and developed by sophomores Feng, of Stanford, and Simler, of UC-Berkeley.
The friendly competition between Stanford and UC-Berkeley has produced one of the longest and most colorful of collegiate rivalries. With a history rich in lore, its annual culmination in the Big Game determines Bay Area bragging rights for the remainder of the year. </p>

<p>With such a storied tradition behind them, it is not surprising that students at Cal and Stanford — or perhaps more affectionately, Kal and Stanfurd — have been taunting, playing tricks and causing good-natured mayhem toward their across-the-Bay counterparts for more than a century.</p>

<p>Evaluating the stereotypes</p>

<p>The rivalry, of course, comes packaged with certain assumptions made by both sides. At Stanford, the prevailing opinion is that Cal students are quite liberal and a bit less academically inclined. </p>

<p>And the city of Berkeley doesn’t do much to redeem its students in the eyes of Stanford. With an ample supply of seedy characters, Berkeley is not the most conventional place for intellectual stimulation.</p>

<p>To determine whether these stereotypes accurately reflect the views of Stanford students, The Daily prepared the online survey, which a total of 430 Stanford people, representing a sizeable sample of both current students and alumni, took. </p>

<p>In addition, 330 responses came from loyal — but pernicious — Cal students, who in true Big Game rivalry fashion “crashed” the survey in an attempt to tamper with the results.</p>

<p>Consequently, numerous survey entries peppered with comments like “Stanford sucks” and “Go Bears” and renditions of the Cal fight song had to be removed from the final data set.</p>

<p>Respect for the enemy</p>

<p>In the eyes of many, Stanford is one of the premier private universities in the nation, while Cal is among the top public universities in the country. While it is to be expected that Stanford affiliates would acknowledge Cal as an academic counterpart, a surprising 93 percent said they had respect for Cal as an academic institution.</p>

<p>Moreover, 60 percent of Stanford students said they thought they would be happy attending Cal.</p>

<p>But the difficulty of UC-Berkeley is not lost upon the Stanford populace — 72 percent said they feel that Cal’s workload is as hard or harder than that of Stanford.</p>

<p>And the survey seems to disprove the popular refrain that Cal is a safety school for Stanford rejects — one-third of the respondents who applied to Cal said they were not admitted.</p>

<p>Contrasting environments</p>

<p>Cal’s political ideologies were made famous during the ’60s and ’70s, when Berkeley was a hotspot for left-leaning social awareness, imbued with a heavy dose of hippie culture.</p>

<p>It seems that this opinion lives on, as nearly four-in-five respondents said they feel that Cal students are more liberal, though only 28 percent would go so far as to say that Cal students are “a bunch of radical protesters.”</p>

<p>Three-in-five polled felt the Cal populace was “more in tune with the real world.” Some praised Cal students for their activism.</p>

<p>“I don’t necessarily agree with all the things they do, but somebody needs to bring these issues to attention,” said Stanford sophomore Ray Chen.</p>

<p>Tucked serenely beneath the Santa Clara Foothills, the notorious “Stanford Bubble” contrasts sharply with urban Berkeley,where bustling streets are lined with a wide selection of shops and restaurants. With the campus’s eight-story high-rise dormitories, on a clear day one can see the Golden Gate Bridge.</p>

<p>74 percent of respondents said they like the fact that Cal is integrated into the city, though nearly two-in-five still deem it “a dirty place.”</p>

<p>“I’ve been there a couple of times, and I wouldn’t like the quality of life there,” said junior Rustin McCullum.</p>

<p>Occupying Golden Bear territory is a student body composed of more than 31,000 students, 70 percent of whom are Asian or Caucasian. Nevertheless, 86 percent of those polled felt that Cal was diverse.</p>

<p>A fun tradition gone too far?</p>

<p>The rivalry has had its share of amusing moments on both sides. In addition to the excitement of the game itself, the rivalry’s symbol, the Axe, has been a constant source of enjoyment over the years. </p>

<p>In all, 86 percent of respondents agreed that the rivalry is an enjoyable addition to their college experience. </p>

<p>But the rivalry extends far beyond the Big Game and infects other aspects of the interaction between Stanford and Cal. Each sport seems to have its own version of the showdown. For swimming, it’s the Big Swim. For track and field, the Big Meet. </p>

<p>Though the rivalry has many positive attributes, a sizeable number of Stanford students said they feel it is often pushed too far. Thirty-six percent thought that Cal students took the rivalry too seriously, and 28 percent said they think Stanford students go overboard. </p>

<p>“I enjoy the fun part of the rivalry,” said one respondent. “But I hate at the game how our student section acts like we’re better. I especially hate the ‘You will work for us’ [chant] because they are at the same academic level as us.”</p>

<p>One-in-five respondents claimed to have a hatred for Cal, which comes as no surprise to students like Cal sophomore Howard Ching, who actually found the figure somewhat low.</p>

<p>“Definitely more than 20 percent of Cal students hate Stanford,” he said. “I’ve been to Stanford a few times and it didn’t seem like they really hate Cal all that much.”</p>

<p>Hatred on the part of Stanford students was found more often in those who were rejected from Cal, but less often in those with friends and family there. </p>

<p>This rang true with Cal freshman Claire Wineman, whose brother is a senior at Stanford. According to Wineman, having a sibling across the Bay “kind of tones down the rivalry.” </p>

<p>However, Wineman was quick to point out where her loyalties lie. “Cal is better of course,” she declared.</p>

<p>“Tempered by time and </p>

<p>distance”</p>

<p>The rivalry also seems to be tempered by time and distance, as data gathered on alumni shows. Alumni report hating Cal half as often as students, said they enjoy the rivalry more and in general had better things to say about their Cal counterparts than did current Stanford students. </p>

<p>Despite their misgivings, both alumni and students gave mostly positive remarks about Cal and the rivalry.</p>

<p>The comments section of the survey contained the occasional “Cal sucks,” but the prevailing attitude was tolerant and respectful.</p>

<p>When Cal comes marching in for the Big Game tomorrow, it will be the continuation of a long and hallowed tradition. </p>

<p>And who knows what Cal students will be thinking of their Stanford counterparts as they stroll down Palm Drive. After all, aren’t Stanford students just a bunch of elitists, isolated from the rest of the world?</p>