<p>wouldn't it be suicide though? I mean, you are shifting from an easy environment into a death bomb competitive environment at UCB? </p>
<p>correct me if i am wrong.</p>
<p>"wouldn't it be suicide though? I mean, you are shifting from an easy environment into a death bomb competitive environment at UCB?"</p>
<p>Not exactly. The competitive nature of Cal's academics is mostly seen in lower division courses where students are weeded out by stringent curves. The lower division courses are large, impersonal, and fast-paced. But as students move on to upper division courses, the competition diminishes quite a bit. The class sizes become smaller and you actually get to talk to the professors during lectures.</p>
<p>So, if you can spend your first two years at UC Merced and not have to worry about the competition of Cal's lower division weeder classes, then you should be happy.</p>
<p>Hmm..i see your point. But wouldn't you have to get used to doing things on your own without the one on one interaction that you had at merced? I am not trying to put this program down, i think its an excellent idea.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how classes are run at UC Merced, but I'd imagine it to be quite similar to the other UC's despite a smaller class size. In college, you have to do things on your own regardless of your interactions with the professor.</p>
<p>I haven't read much into this program, but it seems like a good path to Berkeley if you didn't get accepted out of HS but don't want to attend CC....and hey, you might actually even like it at UCM and stay, what a concept! hehe</p>
<p>Yeah, its better than going to a csu or cc, plus it gives you a feel of what being in a UC is like.</p>
<p>I don't know if I would say its better, maybe for some or maybe not, but it's another option...and people like options</p>