Reply to Berkeley for a humanities (maybe social sciences) major?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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.[/quote]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.[/quote]
So you do buy this received wisdom for two years, that is, half the college experience?

A couple of points: you make a case, really, for transferring to Berkeley; it is an easier transfer admit. Second, you are completely wrong about junior and senior years: while courses will be much smaller junior and senior year, there is still a huge difference between 20-30 kids and 5-15. They are not "similarly-sized" -- at any point. [/quote]

I’m not sure anyone who thinks there is a “huge” difference between 20-30 kids and 5-15 kids has ever been in both.

The good news is that Berkeley caps its history proseminars at 15 kids, so OP’s kid will get to experience both![/quote]
I have been in both: there is a huge difference. Anyhow, Berkeley is more like 30-40 at the upper levels, not 20-30. A proseminar? Er, OK, kids take 1 class with 15 students -- the largest size class an upper-level humanities student would ever take at a SLAC or, for that matter, a mid-sized private. And that is every class for two years.

Nothing wrong with Berkeley, but people saying this is a great undergraduate experience for anyone, let alone what humanities majors can get elsewhere, is beyond the pale. All I can say is listen to the California residents on this board![/quote]

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