Berkeley for a humanities (maybe social sciences) major?

[Anonymous]

Would you? DS is tempted by the weather and the aura; I'm not convinced it's the best place for an undergrad who likely will major in IR, history, or something of the sort (it's conceivable he'll float into something like econ or soc, but I don't really see him getting closer to Berkeley's traditional STEM strengths). Anyone with actual, relatively recent experience as a student there in the humanities or social sciences (or a parent or close friend/relative of such a student) able to speak to the experience? Many thanks for any insights.

[Anonymous]

Berkeley is fantastic all around, including social sciences. Are you in state? I wouldn’t send my kid OOS for humanities. I just don’t see the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Berkeley is fantastic all around, including social sciences. Are you in state? I wouldn’t send my kid OOS for humanities. I just don’t see the point.

+1. I’ll leave it to others to comment on recent student experiences, but I would disagree with the characterization that its traditional strength is just STEM. It is very strong in the social sciences and humanities.

[Anonymous]

If I were a humanities kid, the last place I would want to go is a place for factory courses. That would include any large state school. Go to a SLAC -- or even a mid-sized university like USC or Notre Dame, where there will be much smaller courses. Then go to a place like Berkeley for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were a humanities kid, the last place I would want to go is a place for factory courses. That would include any large state school. Go to a SLAC -- or even a mid-sized university like USC or Notre Dame, where there will be much smaller courses. Then go to a place like Berkeley for grad school.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

It’s a great school for history. A wide range of interesting courses and most of the professors are strong lecturers, accessible, and experts in their field. There are a handful of large classes but most are normal sized and the 103 proseminars are discussions centered on interesting topics led by one of the professors. These are often people’s favorites. Lots of reading and writing but if you are interested in the subject and material it is a great experience. People generally seem to like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were a humanities kid, the last place I would want to go is a place for factory courses. That would include any large state school. Go to a SLAC -- or even a mid-sized university like USC or Notre Dame, where there will be much smaller courses. Then go to a place like Berkeley for grad school.

I don't buy this received wisdom. Senior year, courses will be similar-sized at Berkeley and Middlebury or wherever. Junior year, a humanities kid probably is going to be abroad regardless. So you're really talking about freshman and sophomore year--and then the question is, for those 15 hours each week you're in class, whether you'd rather listen to a world-class expert lecture or a handful of other 19-year-olds pontificate in a "guided discussion." And then there are the other 153 hours each week when you'll be surrounded by a huge number of ridiculously smart and interesting people at Berkeley, and will have access to all kinds extracurricular opportunities.

[Anonymous]

UC Berkeley's academic strengths are across the board, not solely in STEM fields. In fields such as English, history, geography, sociology, anthropology, comparative lit, classics, psychology, and many others, Berkeley is often considered among the top-10 institutions in the country for those disciplines. It's one of the attractive things about a well regarded state flagship -- the academic offerings are top-flight across most majors.

The first 2 years at Berkeley do tend to be large lecture halls, especially in the courses you'd expect, such as Introductory Physical Chem, Intro to Data Science, or lower div CS. But if you're studying humanities, you'll have a lot of classes that are 50 ppl or less by sophomore year. By junior/senior year, you'd be surprised how many smaller class offerings there are, including senior seminars of 15 ppl apiece. It's pretty cool having a Nobel Laureate teaching your class and really caring about the subject matter/teaching in general.

[Anonymous]

There is no “floating” into the economics major at Berkeley since it is an impacted major and has capped enrollment. Many of the Social Science majors are impacted as well.

[Anonymous]

1. Does your son like Asian women?

If not, they won’t like Cal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UC Berkeley's academic strengths are across the board, not solely in STEM fields. In fields such as English, history, geography, sociology, anthropology, comparative lit, classics, psychology, and many others, Berkeley is often considered among the top-10 institutions in the country for those disciplines. It's one of the attractive things about a well regarded state flagship -- the academic offerings are top-flight across most majors.

The first 2 years at Berkeley do tend to be large lecture halls, especially in the courses you'd expect, such as Introductory Physical Chem, Intro to Data Science, or lower div CS. But if you're studying humanities, you'll have a lot of classes that are 50 ppl or less by sophomore year. By junior/senior year, you'd be surprised how many smaller class offerings there are, including senior seminars of 15 ppl apiece. It's pretty cool having a Nobel Laureate teaching your class and really caring about the subject matter/teaching in general.

This.

[Anonymous]

Berkeley is very strong in humanities and social sciences. Your son should look at the Political Economy major which is excellent.
That being said, I'm not sure Berkeley is worth it for OOS. Its very expensive and there is a lot of hassle involved in getting classes, housing.
What are his other options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were a humanities kid, the last place I would want to go is a place for factory courses. That would include any large state school. Go to a SLAC -- or even a mid-sized university like USC or Notre Dame, where there will be much smaller courses. Then go to a place like Berkeley for grad school.

Completely disagree. My humanities student is at a large state school, and I'm astounded at the breadth and depth of her classes - not to mention the opportunities afforded to her that would never have been possible at a limited SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were a humanities kid, the last place I would want to go is a place for factory courses. That would include any large state school. Go to a SLAC -- or even a mid-sized university like USC or Notre Dame, where there will be much smaller courses. Then go to a place like Berkeley for grad school.

I don't buy this received wisdom. Senior year, courses will be similar-sized at Berkeley and Middlebury or wherever. Junior year, a humanities kid probably is going to be abroad regardless. So you're really talking about freshman and sophomore year--and then the question is, for those 15 hours each week you're in class, whether you'd rather listen to a world-class expert lecture or a handful of other 19-year-olds pontificate in a "guided discussion." And then there are the other 153 hours each week when you'll be surrounded by a huge number of ridiculously smart and interesting people at Berkeley, and will have access to all kinds extracurricular opportunities.

+100
Exactly.

[Anonymous]

When did Berkeley become known only for stem? It has the best graduate department in English in the nation and has contributed too much to speak on for the social sciences