<p>My impression from reading this board is that many posters believe the world begins and ends with the elite privates. Some acknowledge the superiority of Berkeleys graduate departments but denigrate, unjustifiably in my view, the undergraduate experience. Professor Filippenko, referred to in my earlier post, makes a point of teaching undergrads. I suspect he does so not in spite of his renown, but because of it. He is far from an isolated case. As to your question about admission stats for out of state students, I dont have an answer, though when my kids went through the college admission dance in the 90s, Berkeley was pretty difficult for out of state applicants unless you fit into a special admit category.</p>