<p>Again, all your points are perfectly valid, but you're missing a key aspect of this whole thing: you choose your peers. There IS an exceptionally intelligent set of folks at Berkeley, and you CAN choose to hang around them and engage in discussion with them. Just because there are stupid people here doesn't mean you will suddenly be talking to them in your spare time. I agree that you will inevitably get idiots in your discussion sections and have to listen to their inane ramblings from time to time, but consider you spend less time in discussion than you do in lecture even, and if you purport most of the learning goes on outside of lecture, then discussion is really a minor portion of this issue.</p>
<p>Your theory holds only if you assume that the people you hang around are a random selection of the people you go to school with. You know that isn't true. If I take EECS150, I'll get a different set of peers than if I take EE100. I get to make that choice. If I join TBP and HKN, I'll get a different set of peers than if I join a party frat.</p>
<p>Now, we're never going to convince each other of the other's opinions, because this is far too subjective. I could go so far as to say that in the real world, you'll have to deal with the tail end. There's no society in which a tail end doesn't exist, and it is typically longer and worse than Berkeley's tail end. Hence, living in Berkeley educates you on how to deal with these people, hence giving a MORE well-rounded education than a campus of exclusively excessively intelligent people.</p>
<p>This is all degrees, though. I agree that having a tail end may be bad. I think that it has a negligible impact on things, though. You feel it has a "STRONG" negative impact. In reality, though, I think we can both agree that it is certainly possible to get a great education at Berkeley, meaning that the impact certainly isn't strong enough to deter smart, focused students from getting the job done, and that's what matters.</p>