<p>Hi, I'm thinking of going to UC Berkeley but I'm also thinking about some other schools such as UMich, Carnegie Mellon, and possibly NYU.
My main concerns:
1. I heard Berkeley was EXTREMELY tough in academic coursework--I know college generally is much harder than high school, but I'm getting the idea that Berkeley is especially difficult, especially when comparing to schools like UMich or NYU.
2. Along with tough coursework I heard Berkeley also had a reputation for GPA deflation, which worries me.
3. L&S CS, a major I was thinking of doing, is being capped pretty soon, if not already, so I'm not sure if I should give up UCB for another school's compsci major. However, Berkeley's CS major would obviously be my best choice for job opportunities in the future. HOWEVER, I'm not even sure if I want to do CS yet.
4. I know there's many different kinds of students on campus but so far, I haven't heard very good things about them. I'm afraid I'll have trouble making friends, being a pretty un-outgoing person, and I'm afraid that might also hurt me in terms of getting what I want at Berkeley, as it is a public school and not a "hand-holding" institution.
5. I know Berkeley is VERY competitive, but I am not a very competitive person by nature. I'm also the type of person that likes to study with friends or in study groups a lot rather than by myself, but with the competitiveness of Berkeley students I'm not sure how likely this is.
Based on these concerns about coursework and my passive, more introverted-type personality, do you think I should choose UCB or a different school?</p>
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I haven’t taken courses at other schools, but chances are that it’s not significantly harder than the schools you’re thinking of.
Our GPAs are apparently lower than those of a lot of private schools. I wouldn’t worry about it too much, but if you really want a high GPA, you may be better off going somewhere else. If what you really want is to learn, though, Berkeley’s a great place for it.
From what it sounds like the requirements will be, as long as you do fine in the prereqs, I think you have a very good chance of getting into the major. And if you don’t do fine in the prereqs, then CS is probably not for you anyway.
I’m in a similar situation. I don’t think Berkeley people are that different from people anywhere else – there are good people, nice people, mean people, etc., just like there would be anywhere else. I really suggest joining student organizations that look interesting and talking to people in your classes, but I know it’s hard; it still is for me, as well. One thing Berkeley will teach you is that if you really want something, you need to figure things out, ask for it, and sometimes push for it. The downside of this is that, yes, we don’t “hold your hand”, but I think this prepares us better for the real world than the alternative.
Berkeley isn’t really competitive. I don’t really understand why people think this. Maybe these rumors come from pre-meds and (pre-)business people, but I haven’t heard or seen anything about nasty competition even among those people. People study in groups and with friends all the time, and if you want to do that, there are probably a lot of people willing to join you!
If you’re in-state and the other schools didn’t give you money, then I would definitely go for Berkeley. (Unless one of the other schools has a much better program in whichever field you want to go into…) If it costs the same as the others, go with whichever school feels the best to you. Berkeley probably isn’t the most friendly school, and like you said, it is not a “hand-holding” school, but it’s a great place to be all the same, and I don’t think I would rather go anywhere else (besides possibly MIT or Stanford).</p>
<p>If money is the same at these schools I would choose UoM, CM is better known than Berkeley in CS but it’s also hard. UofM strikes the right balance.</p>
<p>@energize, Thanks for the reply! I am out of state so money is basically the same, but I think your post made me feel a bit better about Berkeley. Maybe I need more “real world” training anyway.
@AirforceWuhn, why, in your opinion, would UofM be a better choice? And what do you mean by it “strikes the right balance?”</p>
<p>It’s really sad that bright and capable Berkeley students have resigned themselves to having lower GPAs.</p>
<p>This is from a recent STANFORD posting describing grading at Stanford: “As for grade inflation, for a typical intro class I’d say there’s 10% A (or sometimes A+), 20% A-, 30% B+, 20% B, 10% B-, and 10% C+ or below. For a more advanced class, the grading is a bit more lenient, with somewhere around 10% A+, 30% A, 20% A-, 30% B+, and 10% B or below.”</p>
<p>Compare this with Grunbaum’s Math 54 class last semester where more than 9% of the class failed. 14% of students in Math 53 at Berkeley last semester received a C- or lower.</p>
<p>^It seems a bit unfair to compare the average Stanford class with a cherry-picked Berkeley class…</p>
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<p>I cannot speak for the other schools, but I have found that, though the coursework is is certainly much harder than in high school, it is still manageable. Maybe I just haven’t taken hard classes yet, but it is possible to do well.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure what Berkeley’s grate in/deflation is compared to the other colleges, but in most classes, a reasonable number of people get A’s. For example, even in the example of Grunbaum’s Math 54, which I also took last semester, 26.65% got A’s. This percentage may not be as high as in other places, but it is not impossible to achieve, at least in the lower division “weeder” courses.</p>
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<p>I’m not a CS major, so I can’t really comment on this, but energize’s advice seems to be sound.</p>
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<p>Well, I am also a similar type of person. However, I sound found a couple of people who were similar to me and who I now hang out with on a regular basis. You should be able to find such people in your clubs and maybe even classes. </p>
<p>As for getting what you want, you will indeed need to learn to plan things correctly and perhaps even put all your effort into it. But this is actually a good thing, since it leaves you with more skills and experience. Maybe this is just specific to science majors, but it doesn’t seem to require too much extroversion to find opportunities. Many of the people you may contact may be just as introverted as you are, and won’t care as much about your social skills as your hard skills. There is certainly a place for people like us at Berkeley.</p>
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<p>The only evidence I have of this so far is the pre-Haas class UGBA 10, whose multiple choice tests are graded on a fairly harsh curve. However, at least in my experience (math and science classes), people are eager to collaborate, and there doesn’t actually seem to be any cutthroat competition. Of course, there is a curve, which makes you implicitly compete against other people, but I’m willing to bet that most of the people at the top of the curve benefitted from collaboration.</p>
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<p>If you’re set on CS, CMU might be a good competitor to Berkeley, even if Berkeley is in state and money is an issue. I don’t know much about the other 2 colleges you mentioned, but despite my slight bitterness at not getting into MIT, I am fairly satisfied with Berkeley.</p>
<p>I want to comment on the competitiveness part. </p>
<p>I’m an mcb major, which is what a lot of pre meds major in, but I am not a pre med student. The only thing “competitive” about it is that everyone else in the class is going to study hard. People will gladly collaborate with you if they like studying in groups. People aren’t out to sabotage each other at all. </p>
<p>I’m also a cs minor so I can comment a bit on that too. </p>
<p>What has been said is what I’ve heard as well; requirements for getting into the major will be going up sometime in the future. But don’t sweat it, if you put the time in you’ll do fine. Especially if you love cs. I took my first cs class last summer and had zero programming experience before that and I’m doing just fine. Just keep up with the assignments and you’ll be fine.</p>