<p>Comments about every aspect of UC Berkeley; campus life, Greek life, academics, etc.
Also, entrance GPAs, SAT scores, extra-curriculars on apps, etc. Basically, what does it take to get it?</p>
<p>If you ask some people, a world renowned research university famous for its amazing faculty, resources, and intellectual atmosphere.</p>
<p>If you ask others, a sinking socialist hellhole that’s out of money; which is bleeding out the above mentioned faculty and resources heading for greener pastures. Not to mention the disgruntled student body over sharp tuition hikes, and a idiotic admissions policy coming into effect in 2012. </p>
<p>^ The latter represents the view of many Californians today who are angry that it costs so much to go there now and get an inferior education than you could have received in the past before CA’s idiotic state budget problems caused the UC system to tank and be robbed of spending it desperately needed to retain its excellence.</p>
<p>This is what we get for requiring a supermajority to pass a stupid budget. Honestly, no wonder we’re facing the possibility of rewriting our state constitution.</p>
<p>One of the great universities in the history of the world, now brought perilously close to shipwreck by its dependence on handouts from a state legislature that has no more money to give.</p>
<p>Amazingly beautiful area with scenic and artistic wonders to explore. Gorgeous campus (classic architecture, a stream, redwoods, hills and views.) Urban town with a decisive ultra-lefty/yuppie vibe that is both rich (hills) and working class (flatlands.) Recommended for those not faint-of- heart: this is a big school with minimal hand-holding and it takes a certain about of confidence and savvy to navigate its hoards and bureaucracy. Academically it can be cutthroat especially in premed/engineering/business. Academically it can also be heaven in certain arcane fields (ancient Tibetan, anyone?)
Socially, Cal is as nerdy/intellectual/preppy/greek/politicized as you want it to be. This school has all of these groups and then some.</p>
<p>Hyperbole much? While Berkeley may decline because of the financial problems, I would hardly say that the situation will be a ‘shipwreck’. Let’s bear in mind that there are thousands of colleges in the country. Despite all its recent travails, Berkeley is still going to be better than the overwhelming majority of them.</p>
<p>Yet ironically despite its socialist reputation, Berkeley is one of the leading centers of tech entrepreneurship and small business creation in the entire country. Granted, it may not be as prolific as the South Bay, but it is still more culturally entrepreneurial than the vast majority of other places in the world.</p>
<p>I have to agree with UCBChemEGrad on this one: I fail to see what’s so idiotic about the new admissions policy. If anything, I would argue that it may actually be beneficial.</p>
<p>^ Ummmm…I think we know the current situation at Berkeley better than a Yale student, a Michigan professor and a USC booster living in “lalaland”.</p>
<p>^You did not answer my question(how do you know) and I’m not a USC booster. I’m trying to help people make better decision. See the following thread.</p>
<p>I think you may be referring to me as the “Michigan professor.” I am a professor, but I am neither at Michigan (the school) nor in Michigan (the state)—though I’m an alum of the former and a native of the latter. I did, however, spend a year as a visiting professor at UC Berkeley as recently as 7 years ago, and I personally know numerous members of the faculty there, some of whom I consider very close friends. I also closely follow developments in the lateral movement of faculty, a matter in which I have a substantial professional interest. In that capacity, I hear a great deal about current conditions at Berkeley, at least from a faculty perspective. It is my personal and professional judgment that the current situation at Berkeley and throughout the UC system is indeed perilous. We are very close to seeing waves of faculty defections. It hasn’t happened yet and may not happen; a lot will depend on whether and how soon the UC system can stabilize its finances which are presently an absolute disaster, and whether its top competitors regain financial strength rapidly enough to seize the opportunities they see to raid the UC faculty which presently contains many, many deeply disgruntled and highly attractive people. I did not say the situation there is presently a “shipwreck”; I said it’s “perilously close to a shipwreck,” and I stand by that. It’s not hyperbole. It’s a crisis of the first magnitude. Of course, if you’re willing to settle for Berkeley being merely better than most schools, you may not see it that way. Heck, Michigan State is better than most schools, even, I daresay, better then “the overwhelming majority of them.” Berkeley has long been among the very best. For it to fall from that rung to merely very good would be in my view a disaster. Others may see it differently.</p>
<p>I’m afraid that that is nothing but pure hyperbole, for even if Berkeley were to decline, it would still be clearly better than the overwhelming majority of other schools as you have freely admitted. To characterize such a situation as being ‘perilously close to a shipwreck’, ‘crisis of the first magnitude’, or an outright ‘disaster’ - what does that say about most of the other schools who would still be even worse than Berkeley? I suppose those schools would then truly be shipwrecks or crises of the zeroth magnitude.</p>
<p>^ The point is that while Berkeley is probably still great, it is now headed for crap because of something so silly as money. Yes, it might still be awesome, but if California can’t address the budget crisis and give Cal and the other UCs the money they need, the whole system is going to take a hit. Because of the current state of things, Berkeley doesn’t have as much to offer as it did just a few years ago. Budget constraints have forced it to put less money for research, increase class size, and cut corners. Maybe it’s still better than University of The Middle of Nowhere, but Berkeley is still hurting – badly. At least University of The Middle of Nowhere is staying at the same level of non-excellence every year. Berkeley runs of the risk of slipping down in the rankings and quality of education it gives.</p>