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| Quite Bright |
The Good: The biggest reason to go to UC Berkeley is the degree. Berkeley is known around the world and a degree from here has prestige and can sometimes open doors. The quality of education here isn?t bad, either. It?s a vibrant and stimulating intellectual community, with fine educational resources, and a fairly high percentage of the undergrad classes I took here were really pretty good. Some (not all) of the professors really try to make their classes worth taking. If you?re a smart, motivated student it is possible to acquire a decent education here and get decent grades (if you?re lazy or not a good student, don?t come here?you won?t make it). It?s an amazingly beautiful campus, too.
The Bad: Berkeley is overcrowded. Classes are often huge (don?t believe the ?official? student/faculty ratio, which is a joke). Some students are not able to get into their desired major or program. Even if you do get into the major you want, you will find that overcrowded classes will often mean you are ?waitlisted? for classes you really need?sometimes for weeks after the semester begins?and then may ultimately not get in at all. I was one of countless students who had this problem, and it was stressful to the max. The bureaucracy is awful here, too: when you have a problem like this don?t expect any sympathy from the bureaucracy or advising staff, because all you?ll get is catch-22?s and administrative runarounds. Berkeley is huge and very impersonal, so forget about any personal attention for anything else, also. Letters of recommendation for grad school are difficult to get from faculty, because professors spend so much time on their research and their grad students that there isn?t much left over to get to know any of the hundreds of (low-priority) undergrads in their classes. Real help in preparing for grad school or with job placement is almost nonexistent. This is another critical area in which Berkeley fails almost completely, and this is quite serious considering it?s the reason you are going to school in the first place. Berkeley rests on its reputation as a research university and evidently thinks you (the insignificant undergraduate) are lucky they let you come here at all. Don?t ask for anything or expect any concern for yourself as a human being or for your future, when you are an undergrad here. You are just a number (your Student Identification Number, to be exact).
The Ugly: Older, non-traditionally aged students comprise only a small percentage of the college student population, but IF YOU ARE AN OLDER STUDENT returning to school, like I was, DO NOT GO HERE. The administration and advising bureaucracy, unfriendly enough for the regular student, becomes cruel and intolerable. The rules stipulate that they cannot discriminate against students on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, etc. and this leaves?for this huge, unkind bureaucracy with its shadow side?the older student to harass and belittle. Upon being readmitted, one L&S adviser told me that I ?had not done anything with [my] life to justify being admitted and didn?t deserve to go to school here.? The Psych student services director (since retired) welcomed me with jokes about my age and gave me patently wrong information that, had I followed it, would have kept me out of the major entirely. I was excluded from the honors program on a technicality (after being advised by a Psych student services advisor that I?d meet the requirements, and after I?d been working on it for many months)?goodbye research experience for my grad applications! Every step of the way, someone in administration was waiting with ageist comments and to try to kick my feet out from under me, right up to graduation: someone in the Registrar?s office tried to block my graduation by not giving me credit for university requirements I?d already met way back in high school. I should stress that this awful treatment came from administration and not faculty (who were generally quite good). But listen: if you are a non-traditionally aged student this is one MEAN place to go to school. Don?t go here. Period. | Campus Aesthetics: A+, Individual Value: F |  | | |
| | Nov 16 2009 | 3rd Year Male --
Class 2009 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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| Quite Bright | I was disappointed with my experience at UC Berkeley as a whole. As an out-of-state student, I would have attended another university if I had the chance to go back in time. My first qualm with Berkeley is the incredibly large and impersonal atmosphere. The 15:1 ratio is incredibly misleading. In my time here, I have had 1 lecture with less than 20 people, just 1 and I have taken classes in Math, Econ, History, English, etc. The second concern I have with Berkeley is the caliber of the student body. I am not by any means a genius, but I did graduate in the top 5 of my high school class of 500 and did decently well on standardized tests. Many students I have met here--especially transfer students--got in with subpar grades and even without taking standardized tests. There are far too many transfer students at Berkeley and not to mention the chips on their shoulder make it an irritating experience. The third is that the school is racially segregated, not by law or anything, socially. Despite the fact that I come from a more rural and rather "hickish" state, I have to say that Berkeley is 1000 times worse and 1000 times more segregated. People are also extremely arrogant. They tend to judge you on your appearance and if you put any effort in the mornings into your appearance, they presume that you are an imbecile. In addition the advisers are this school are complete morons. I am applying to graduate school right now and they know absolutely nothing. I have to get all of my information on the internet and I pretty much am completely on my own getting letter of recommendations, etc. The housing at Berkeley is also problematic. Despite the fact that this city is inherently a ghetto, rental prices are extremely. For 1000 you can barely find a place, let alone have it be decent. The buildings are also ridiculously old and rat infested, especially if you want to live near campus.
If I could turn back time, I would have gone to a private university on the East Coast instead. I did academically well at Berkeley (3.8 GPA), but it's not worth it. I have learned nothing useful. I have always wanted to go to graduate school too, and Berkeley is NOT the institution to help you get there due to bureaucracy and impersonal nature. | Scholastic Success: A-, Individual Value: D- | | | |
| | Jul 14 2008 | 4th Year Female --
Class 2008 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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| Bright | i'm from austin, texas. most of the time, it's the lecturers who are actually good instructors. alot of the professors are foreigners and speak TERRIBLE english. I go to an American University. Not some university in some foreign country. They really should make it a requirement for the faculty to speak English. If you can find a good english speaking professor, you'll be fine and by all means, try to stick with them, as some of them are really awesome. The race issue is a bit overstated, there's too many useless arguments regarding racial stuff on campus. I'm asian, and i'm from an all white area and i've never felt my race was ever an issue anywhere i've been. I wish the university would just step up to the plate and build that athletic center and ignore the city of berkeley. The city of berkeley has got to be the dumbest city in America, and I mean dumber than Alabama and Mississippi combined (no offense to the south). My favorite day in berkeley will be the day I leave. I can't believe how the city of Berkeley is proud of its stupidity during the 1960s. At least the deep south acknowledges their mistakes in the past. The football stadium is also pretty crappy. Even my high school had a better stadium. what's even more annoying is u can't use ur credit card anywhere without incurring min purchases or surcharges, except at the big chain stores. People's park is completely run down and should have something built onto it. The way they treated the Marines was absolutely despicable, sure most of us hate the war, but that's no way to treat the brave souls who have to go fight.
being from austin, yeah, i know austin is pretty liberal, but it's very sensibly liberal. it's one of the most balanced cities in america and does a great job at blending mixes of everything together. berkeley on the other hand is just an example of how not to run a city. Housing costs are sky high, parking is incredibly steep. $1500 gets u a low end apartment. same amount in austin gets you a top of the line luxury apartment. Austin is just a better place. honestly, i'd rather live in alabama than live in berkeley. on a side note, if ur a big rugby fan, Cal is pretty good in Rugby. the football team is like the rest of the pac 10, can play offense, doesn't have a clue about defense. | Education Quality: B+, Surrounding City: F | | | |
| | Apr 29 2008 | 3rd Year Male --
Class 2008 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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| Not so bright | | if you dont want to military in your town then go and live out side of the usa you piggs | | Feb 01 2008 | 4th Year Female --
Class 1992 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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