<p>Actually, not really. Berkeley is a fine school, no question about it. But it looms a lot larger in the minds of people in California than it does elsewhere. This has been discussed before, but for a lot of people Berkeley conjures up vague hippie associations and not much more. Which is not a reason not to choose Berkeley, and I’d be delighted if my kids went there. But to suggest that it’s “national” in scope is an example of Californians overthinking California culture and institutions’ prevalence elsewhere.</p>