The University of California - Berkeley

Some would argue that I've only been here for 2/3 of a semester and I am not being fair; however, I'm going to be honest about Berkeley. The place is an excellent institution with brilliant professors, interesting people, a fascinating past and intellectual stimulation that will not end. Unfortunately, there are severe trade-offs. White students are often made to feel unwelcome, particularly by some of the more "radical" professors and minority students. Racism and discrimination are prevalant and blatant on the Berkeley campus; GSI will often turn blind eyes to students who are of the same race, creed or political ideology and immediately slam anyone whose views do not coincide.Students are just as brutal and closeminded; if you express a point of view on any subject different from a students, they immediately begin preaching and berating you -- even if your opinion is not too far afield from theirs. And if you are conservative? Don't EVEN think about it - you will be ostracized and reamed by the more politically radical students day after day. Some conservative student groups have even recieved death threats from radicalist student organizations. Also, if you plan on having a love and social life, forget it. On Berkeley girls: Forget the stick, try getting whooped by the WHOLE damn tree. There is a reason why Berkeley was rated by Playboy as having the "ugliest" girls. Some of the girls are alright looking, but they often have old boyfriends from home that they simply REFUSE to let go of, are bitchy as hell or are so involved in their "Greek Life" crap that they won't give guys outside their little bubble world the time of day. The classes are not all they are cracked up to be. I've found the math department particularly boring, it is difficult to stay awake during lecture and discussions are made excrutiatingly boring by ignorant or incompetant GSIs. However, I do have to give kudos to the English/Comparative Literature, Poltiical Science, Biology, Business, and Computer Science departments, which are all exceptional; however, watch what you write. As I stated before, certain professors don't like it if you express views that are even slightly right of far-leftist radical. Berkeley is not for everyone, it certainly is not for me and I look forward to transfering as soon as I can. It's a nice enough place and the people are cool enough, but the lack of serious social life, lackluster academics and narrowminded faculty and student body make it difficult to enjoy the experience. I could not honestly recommend California to anyone unless they really enjoyed studying all the time. Oh, and I'm not griping because my grades are lousy, I had a 3.75 average at the midterm.

1st Year Female -- Class 2006

Collaboration/Competitive: A+, Individual Value: F