<p>I read somewhere that Chicago has among the most pretentious and intimidating students around. Those of you who go there now, do you feel this is true?</p>
<p>That is so funny! Because I have heard that College Confidential has the most pretentious and intimadating posters around!</p>
<p>But really, it depends on what you consider pretentious. It is all about you? Are you intimidated by others easily? </p>
<p>Was the "somewhere" you read about reliable or accurate? </p>
<p>Or was 'the somewhere' as honest about STD's as your last hook-up? "sure baby, I read somewhere that it doesn't matter if you use a condom".</p>
<p>this board (excluding myself) holds the cream of the crop. If anyone has reason to be arrogant they do. It should'nt get any worse than this forum... and frankly I don't think this forum is intimidating or pretentious, Just confident</p>
<p>Haha, do you guys really think this forum is known for intimidating and/or pretentious people? I just find some of the more caustic posters humorous (especially as they're often witty...).</p>
<p>bettina... you live in SF? what HS do you go to? I go to SH.
btw, I have a friend whos a current chicago third year. He says that one of the big plusses about chicago that nobody mentions is that there are so few grade grubbers. Classes are better because theres much less competition, and you dont get dumb people talking all the time because they want the A, because they either don't exist (not a lot of dumb people there) or are comfortable making the B or C (since chicago doesnt have grade inflation). Because of this, I dont see how anyone calls chicago students intimidating or pretentious. They are all extermely bright, from all accounts Ive ever heard from anyone whos been there, and therefore have no need of pretense. Also, the place is so un-intimidating that you dont even call your professors "Dr." or "Professor such and such," its university policy that they go by Mr. Ms. or Mrs. Everyone is on the same level there.</p>
<p>All the pretentious people from my school are going to Berkeley. When I tell them I want to go to Chicago, they freak out about the dificult admissions and classwork. I would expect that pretentious people everywhere are equally afraid, and, in affect, call their own bluff, when considering having to actually hunker down and work hard for their education and reputation.</p>
<p>Don't trash Berkeley. It's a great school. </p>
<p>This board trashes waaaaaay too many great schools.</p>
<p>On a random note... in support of jpps1... I was looking up the statistics of various Chicago programs and was surprised at the no. of times Berkeley placed in the top 10. I always associated Berkeley with the hippie sterotype stemming from people's park and various other demonstrations of the 1970s... i guess you learn something new everyday...</p>
<p>i wasnt trashing berkeley, Im just saying what kind of students from my school go there. from my school, Its the grade grubbers, who want the A but dont want to study or think, who end up at berkeley.
Now, with that siad, of course berk has some top ranked programs. And many students go there who compare well with students at any Ivy or Stanford or wherever.
and user_name: there are more asians than whites at berkeley, the hippie thing is gone. Of course its still very liberal and very activist, but i would say this is true more so of the city of berkeley itself than it is of the student body or professors of the university.</p>
<p>I think U of C has got to be one of the least pretentious and least intimidating student bodies I've ever been around. Every kind of eccentricity, including being dull and normal, is warmly tolerated.</p>
<p>People do take their studies seriously, but in my experience they're pretty humbled by their work, and don't go around bragging about their grasp of the categorical imperative or whatever you're imagining.</p>
<p>The city:No Way?!? Are there really more asians than whites at Berkleey or were you just placing emphasis??? For some reason its hard to think of whites as a minority in a CA school of all places. hmm</p>
<p>I recommend this book to all of you for more on the subject of race at Berkeley and the issue of affirmative action: Illiberal Education, by Dinesh D'Souza.</p>
<p>According to The University of California's "viewbook" (not really a viewbook, but its the only glossy admission thing they make), heres the ethnic breakdown at berk:
black: 4%
white: 30%
Asian/Pacific Islander: 39%
latino: 10%
decline to state: 9%</p>
<p>At davis its 35% asian/PI and 40% white
At irvine its 48% asian and 24% white
at LA its 37% asian 33% white
riverside is 38% asian 22% white</p>
<p>seeing how staggering teh statistics are, Im wondering if im just missing the sarcasm in your remark. The UCs are by far the most diverse student bodies at a state school anywhere in the US. On top of asian white, most of them haev 10-20 percent latin-american populations. </p>
<p>My high school is about 50 to 60% asian/pacific islander. Of course, theyll object to being lumped into the same category, philipino or samoan culture is entirely different than chinese or japanese. Anyways, for teh asians at my school, I think it is a parental influence thing, immigratns coming to california know much about the UC system, and dream their whole lives of having a kid at berkeley. Its much like rich whites and ivies on the east coast, i imagine (dont know too many east coast rich whites).</p>
<p>The city: Unfortunately there was no sarcasm in my remark, simply ignorance. I had no idea that the UC schools were so diverse. I always just kind of pictured the students as tanned and white. Well props to them, I am on the east coast, in the overly conservative state of VA. The area in which live is overwhelmingly white, we could really do with some of this Ca diversity.</p>
<p>ah dont worry about it. You probably had places like UCSB and cal state long beach in your mind. Those are the tanned valleygirl schools (well, long beach much moreso than UCSB)
UCSB is 54% white 15% asian.</p>
<p>And at least in Virginia you have the common sense to elect a democratic governor. Unline CA, where we're stuck with Arnie, who has done absolutely Nothing BUT slash funding for the UCs and CSUs.</p>
<p>User_name, you should take the drive up to Northern VA. You'll be surprised with all the diversity up here!</p>
<p>TheCity, we may have a Democratic Governor, but we do have a Republican legislature. Watching the two sides clash in last year's state budget crisis was not a fun experience, esp. since my school system was threatening to cut funding for its programs as a result of the disputes in Richmond.</p>