Is what every says about Cal Berkeley true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the major.

As an engineering major? Yes. It was brutal. I have never heard of anyone's tests getting curved down before because the competition was so fierce. My freshman calculus class, 10% of the class got 100 on the first exam, so a 99% was a B due to the curve. My C+ became an F. It was insanely hard.

This was 20 years ago, but math classes were so overenrolled, if you didn't get to class 20 minutes early, there wasn't a seat in the 500 person lecture hall and you had to watch the video of the lecture from a satellite location. It was not fun.

My elective classes weren't bad though. Anything humanities was fun.

There were also a LOT of classes that I felt were a middle ground-- somewhat challenging but also very collaborative. Business, economics, public policy classes all felt that way. Never took any life sciences classes so I can't say what those were like.

Outside of Engineering/CS UCB is like any other large public which means larger classes and a wide variety of students with varying degrees of effort. The top large publics are great grad schools but nothing out of the ordinary for undergraduate education.

For engineering and CS if UCB wasn't in the heart of teh tech world it would be no different than Purdue, UIUC, and Michigan.

I mean sure, but it IS in the heart of the tech world and trains some of our best engineers. Harvard wouldn’t be such a good place for medical research if it weren’t in Boston, but it IS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Outside of STEM, it’s way more collaborative.

And way less impressive.

[Anonymous]

My DS is a math and humanities major. The math classes were brutally tough and like another person mentioned DS was shocked to get his first C+ but has now learned to do better. The choices in math classes are amazing. The history classes are also a lot of work but getting As is not as difficult. Overall, he has learned to adapt and hustle and has had great internships every summer through friend referrals. He even found a 5-week internship at a startup for winter break. He is a very adaptable kid and is fine with large setttings so that may have helped. After freshman year, he found his own housing.

[Anonymous]

Off-campus housing is expensive, in poor condition, & your roommates/neighbors are likely to be weirdos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a math and humanities major. The math classes were brutally tough and like another person mentioned DS was shocked to get his first C+ but has now learned to do better. The choices in math classes are amazing. The history classes are also a lot of work but getting As is not as difficult. Overall, he has learned to adapt and hustle and has had great internships every summer through friend referrals. He even found a 5-week internship at a startup for winter break. He is a very adaptable kid and is fine with large settings so that may have helped. After freshman year, he found his own housing.

It sounds like your child is the type of self-starter who can do well there. Congrats, they should do well wherever they go. There are many very bright people there and the very self-reliant can learn alot. But, that is very different from receiving an 'elite' education. It is making the most of a fast-paced factory education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Off-campus housing is expensive, in poor condition, & your roommates/neighbors are likely to be weirdos.

Sounds like a personal issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Outside of STEM, it’s way more collaborative.

And way less impressive.

That's BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a math and humanities major. The math classes were brutally tough and like another person mentioned DS was shocked to get his first C+ but has now learned to do better. The choices in math classes are amazing. The history classes are also a lot of work but getting As is not as difficult. Overall, he has learned to adapt and hustle and has had great internships every summer through friend referrals. He even found a 5-week internship at a startup for winter break. He is a very adaptable kid and is fine with large settings so that may have helped. After freshman year, he found his own housing.

It sounds like your child is the type of self-starter who can do well there. Congrats, they should do well wherever they go. There are many very bright people there and the very self-reliant can learn alot. But, that is very different from receiving an 'elite' education. It is making the most of a fast-paced factory education.

My son went to a top private K-12 so he already had an elite education and a good network. After HS he had choices of a top SLAC and another top 20 private but chose to go to Berkeley. I went to an Ivy and have a great career but my co-workers went to all kinds of schools and I am not sure the eliteness of my education is that much of a differentiator at this point. Frankly, being away from his elite private school bubble and learning to hustle is what he needed. Maybe he is missing out on the elite college experience but that is OK.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know why but Cal really embraces undergraduate kids who are willing to do anything to succeed. Cheating and sabotage have risen to a level of sophistication and pervasiveness across some largely represented groups that it isn’t the same place it used to be. Stress and depression is common with kids who don’t cheat and simply can’t compete by breaking the rules. If Cal removed the unethical students but kept the same level of rigor, students would bond more over failing together. Instead, they become isolated.

It’s sad because you grow and learn more by being challenged to failure. However, you can’t do that anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why but Cal really embraces undergraduate kids who are willing to do anything to succeed. Cheating and sabotage have risen to a level of sophistication and pervasiveness across some largely represented groups that it isn’t the same place it used to be. Stress and depression is common with kids who don’t cheat and simply can’t compete by breaking the rules. If Cal removed the unethical students but kept the same level of rigor, students would bond more over failing together. Instead, they become isolated.

It’s sad because you grow and learn more by being challenged to failure. However, you can’t do that anymore.

huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why but Cal really embraces undergraduate kids who are willing to do anything to succeed. Cheating and sabotage have risen to a level of sophistication and pervasiveness across some largely represented groups that it isn’t the same place it used to be. Stress and depression is common with kids who don’t cheat and simply can’t compete by breaking the rules. If Cal removed the unethical students but kept the same level of rigor, students would bond more over failing together. Instead, they become isolated.

It’s sad because you grow and learn more by being challenged to failure. However, you can’t do that anymore.

huh?

They are talking about rampant cheating by Asian students. Pretty well known.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why but Cal really embraces undergraduate kids who are willing to do anything to succeed. Cheating and sabotage have risen to a level of sophistication and pervasiveness across some largely represented groups that it isn’t the same place it used to be. Stress and depression is common with kids who don’t cheat and simply can’t compete by breaking the rules. If Cal removed the unethical students but kept the same level of rigor, students would bond more over failing together. Instead, they become isolated.

It’s sad because you grow and learn more by being challenged to failure. However, you can’t do that anymore.

huh?

They are talking about rampant cheating by Asian students. Pretty well known.

Asiana make up 40% of Harvard and other elite institutions so is this cheating only at Cal or also at other top schools as well. Somehow the biggest scammers like Trump, SBF and Holmes seem to not be Asians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why but Cal really embraces undergraduate kids who are willing to do anything to succeed. Cheating and sabotage have risen to a level of sophistication and pervasiveness across some largely represented groups that it isn’t the same place it used to be. Stress and depression is common with kids who don’t cheat and simply can’t compete by breaking the rules. If Cal removed the unethical students but kept the same level of rigor, students would bond more over failing together. Instead, they become isolated.

It’s sad because you grow and learn more by being challenged to failure. However, you can’t do that anymore.

huh?

They are talking about rampant cheating by Asian students. Pretty well known.

Asiana make up 40% of Harvard and other elite institutions so is this cheating only at Cal or also at other top schools as well. Somehow the biggest scammers like Trump, SBF and Holmes seem to not be Asians.

Cal is a public with huge classes and strict curves for many majors (especially the STEM ones frequented by the children of Asian tech workers) which is what drives the cheating. There are similar issues in some bay area public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why but Cal really embraces undergraduate kids who are willing to do anything to succeed. Cheating and sabotage have risen to a level of sophistication and pervasiveness across some largely represented groups that it isn’t the same place it used to be. Stress and depression is common with kids who don’t cheat and simply can’t compete by breaking the rules. If Cal removed the unethical students but kept the same level of rigor, students would bond more over failing together. Instead, they become isolated.

It’s sad because you grow and learn more by being challenged to failure. However, you can’t do that anymore.

huh?

They are talking about rampant cheating by Asian students. Pretty well known.

Errr
1. Asians include many ethnic groups, and Asian Americans are different from Asians. Are you talking specifically about the international students?
2. Can you clarify what you mean by “Pretty well known”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a math and humanities major. The math classes were brutally tough and like another person mentioned DS was shocked to get his first C+ but has now learned to do better. The choices in math classes are amazing. The history classes are also a lot of work but getting As is not as difficult. Overall, he has learned to adapt and hustle and has had great internships every summer through friend referrals. He even found a 5-week internship at a startup for winter break. He is a very adaptable kid and is fine with large settings so that may have helped. After freshman year, he found his own housing.

It sounds like your child is the type of self-starter who can do well there. Congrats, they should do well wherever they go. There are many very bright people there and the very self-reliant can learn alot. But, that is very different from receiving an 'elite' education. It is making the most of a fast-paced factory education.

Not PP. Pretty sure the history proseminars or taking econ classes with Bates Clark/Nobel winners aren’t a “factory education.”