<p>Woah, not even going to read all the messages in this thread.</p>
<p>As a Berkeley undergrad-alum, this is what I have to say:</p>
<p>1) The undergrad experience at Berkeley was sometimes stressful academically, but socially and personally very rewarding. My years at Cal were some of the best in my life, and if I could do my undergrad all over again and could go to any school in the world, it would be UC Berkeley hands down. </p>
<p>2) The education I received was first-rate, and was of a higher quality than the one i’m currently receiving as a masters student at Stanford. I credit my Berkeley science education with allowing me to score 99th percentile on the MCAT, and with getting me into one of my top choice medical schools (so far).</p>
<p>3) Whether I am walking in the Stanford campus, driving on the freeways in California, or interviewing at top medical schools, I am surrounded by successful Berkeley alums. Get the hint: We tend to do well and there are a lot of us. In one 10-day stretch at Stanford, I had FOUR former Berkeley UNDERGRADS give guest lectures in my classes…including recent Nobel Prize winner Andrew Fire (BA '78). Berkeley will provide you with all the tools to be successful in whatever you pursue. At Berkeley, your aptitude will fall far short of opportunity (ie, your aptitude is the limiting factor)…that’s guaranteed.</p>
<p>4) If you visit Berkeley, be sure to check out North Berkeley and the Hills…it’s beautiful… a lot of people only see the South/West sides of Berkeley and get turned off by the sprawl that comes out of Oakland. Also, try to go up to Lawrence Berkeley Lab + botanical garden area if you get the chance.</p>
<p>5) Please take the time to read up on the history of the rich social/humanitarian movements that have their origins in Berkeley. From the Free Speech Movement in the 60s when students demanded to have their 1st amendment rights back after the McCarthy Era, to the Disabled Rights movement and anti-South African apartheid movement on college campuses (among other noble movements), Berkeley has been at the forefront of promoting much of the civil/humanitarian ideals that are widely accepted today.</p>
<p>6) For those of you who have these crazy fantasies of turning Berkeley into an elitist institution, you don’t understand the point of having public universities to begin with. The UCs try to provide the best possible education for the cheapest price to the GREATEST NUMBER of students…that is their goal. The UCs don’t even try to inflate their students’ SAT scores by adding together the highest individual subscores to get a composite like private schools + University of Virginia do. If you are looking for an elitist affiliation so you can impress some idiots who find value in a certain worthless concept known as “prestige”, please, please, DO NOT enroll at Berkeley. Shoot for Yale like Bush, Kerry, and other such clowns did. </p>
<p>7) If you are a California resident that gets into an “elite” private school (w/o scholarships) and Berkeley, I strongly urge you to go to Berkeley. An undergraduate education isn’t worth private school tuition…especially in this day and age of standardized curriculums, textbooks, and electronic resources…you think most of those grad students and profs that will be schooling you at elite private schools went to HYPSM for their undergrad? Think again. But if you’re more interested in buying an affiliation rather than an education, please, by all means, go to an elite private school. You deserve to have to pay a ridiculous tuition for being so naive.</p>
<p>GO CAL</p>