Is what every says about Cal Berkeley true?

[Anonymous]

PS. This idea that you can’t interact with professors at Cal is also a myth. I was by no means a tippy top student (got pretty lazy in college😜), but was invited by *multiple* professors for one-on-one coffee/lunch and invited to go back to chat in their office after taking their class (also pretty shy😜) throughout my college years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PS. This idea that you can’t interact with professors at Cal is also a myth. I was by no means a tippy top student (got pretty lazy in college😜), but was invited by *multiple* professors for one-on-one coffee/lunch and invited to go back to chat in their office after taking their class (also pretty shy😜) throughout my college years.

You left a lot for the imagination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Cal a while back. Even before the test blind era, they admitted a heap of very unprepared kids, either as transfers from community colleges or as freshmen from sub-standard high schools. For these kids, Cal could be cut-throat and you had to work hard to make up for your inadequate background, as it didn’t dump down the weeder classes! But if you’re prepared, college at Cal or HYP (where I also had experience) should be fairly easy.

I was chatting with a professor who moved from HYP to Cal then. He thought some of the kids at Cal were so behind that they shouldn’t have been admitted in the first place. Surprisingly, he thought the average student at Cal was a bit better than the average at the HYP where he used to be a faculty, due to those admitted purely with $$$ at that HYP. Go figure!

Fiction

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PS. This idea that you can’t interact with professors at Cal is also a myth. I was by no means a tippy top student (got pretty lazy in college😜), but was invited by *multiple* professors for one-on-one coffee/lunch and invited to go back to chat in their office after taking their class (also pretty shy😜) throughout my college years.

You left a lot for the imagination.

That is how romantic fantasy works.

[Anonymous]

I suspect those who don’t believe my experience at Cal have one of those unprepared kids at Cal. So indeed, if you’re unprepared, Cal is not the place for you. To add, college is the place to inspire you. If you still have the high school mentality and expect lots of hand-holding at the college level, then you should go to a liberal arts college, though the TAs at Cal are likely a lot smarter than the professors at a top liberal arts college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspect those who don’t believe my experience at Cal have one of those unprepared kids at Cal. So indeed, if you’re unprepared, Cal is not the place for you. To add, college is the place to inspire you. If you still have the high school mentality and expect lots of hand-holding at the college level, then you should go to a liberal arts college, though the TAs at Cal are likely a lot smarter than the professors at a top liberal arts college.

Smarter? How do you measure smartness? And source/link?

[Anonymous]

Why would I have incentives to make up stories about my experience at Cal? I was candid about there being a subset of inadequately prepared kids due to its “institutional priorities” (for lack of a better phrase). I suspect this number has increased with their test blind policy. On the other hand, those who are admitted without such considerations should be stronger on average. I think the situation is similar in those elite colleges that admit over 30% test optional kids: it’s like there’re two schools on the same campus in terms of undergrad quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspect those who don’t believe my experience at Cal have one of those unprepared kids at Cal. So indeed, if you’re unprepared, Cal is not the place for you. To add, college is the place to inspire you. If you still have the high school mentality and expect lots of hand-holding at the college level, then you should go to a liberal arts college, though the TAs at Cal are likely a lot smarter than the professors at a top liberal arts college.

You are getting desperate. I comment every now and then on what the actual experience at UCB is like because I have actual experience there. Most of the comments about the challenges and experience at UCB are directionally accurate. You might not like what they say about a school that you care about but facts are friendly, they don't have an agenda and the comments are mostly factual.

Regarding your comments about liberal arts colleges I'm pretty sure that your attitude is pretty foolish. I went to a different large public before UCB so I don't have direct experience but I am smart enough (as you implied) to understand that the direct close engagement at top SLACs is far from hand holding. The results of their graduates speaks far louder than your insecurities. Finally, since most professors at top SLACs received their PhDs at top R1s I'm pretty sure that the UCB TAs aren't smarter than teh SLAC professors. The TAs actually hope to rise to their level over time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the TAs at Cal are likely a lot smarter than the professors at a top liberal arts college.

The TAs of today at Cal are tomorrow's professors at top liberal arts colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suspect those who don’t believe my experience at Cal have one of those unprepared kids at Cal. So indeed, if you’re unprepared, Cal is not the place for you. To add, college is the place to inspire you. If you still have the high school mentality and expect lots of hand-holding at the college level, then you should go to a liberal arts college, though the TAs at Cal are likely a lot smarter than the professors at a top liberal arts college.

You are getting desperate. I comment every now and then on what the actual experience at UCB is like because I have actual experience there. Most of the comments about the challenges and experience at UCB are directionally accurate. You might not like what they say about a school that you care about but facts are friendly, they don't have an agenda and the comments are mostly factual.

Regarding your comments about liberal arts colleges I'm pretty sure that your attitude is pretty foolish. I went to a different large public before UCB so I don't have direct experience but I am smart enough (as you implied) to understand that the direct close engagement at top SLACs is far from hand holding. The results of their graduates speaks far louder than your insecurities. Finally, since most professors at top SLACs received their PhDs at top R1s I'm pretty sure that the UCB TAs aren't smarter than teh SLAC professors. The TAs actually hope to rise to their level over time.

The Ph.D. graduates want to get an academic job in a research type university. Most view an industry job better than teaching in a liberal arts college.

Anyway, I’ve said enough. Good luck to all of you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would I have incentives to make up stories about my experience at Cal? I was candid about there being a subset of inadequately prepared kids due to its “institutional priorities” (for lack of a better phrase). I suspect this number has increased with their test blind policy. On the other hand, those who are admitted without such considerations should be stronger on average. I think the situation is similar in those elite colleges that admit over 30% test optional kids: it’s like there’re two schools on the same campus in terms of undergrad quality.

It’s DCUM, you aren’t allowed to say anything positive about Cal.