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<p>Uhh, no, we have crazy fantasies about turning Berkeley into an ELITE institution, not an elitist institution. What’s wrong with wanting to see Berkeley get better? Would it satisfy you if we wanted Berkeley to get worse? Doesn’t make much sense to me.</p>
<p>Look, I’m all for providing a prestigious, quality education to as many people as possible, but the question is, can UC Berkeley handle all the students it takes in. I look at UC Berkeley and often times, what do I see? I see student after student trying to get into impacted majors because the departments can’t fit all the students who want to declare that major. I see students with 5, 7 units at the start of the semester with 2-3 classes waitlisted. I see students who would rather give their left pinky to get into a med school (their words, not mine) while the guys on the other side of the bay are having a much easier time. I see a poor 58% graduation rate and I see students weeded out. I’ll give you a simple example: the Chem 1A class this semester just had a midterm, and the average was 63%, not curved.</p>
<p>The point is this: I would love to see Berkeley have 23,000 undergrads, or even more, IF THEY CAN SUPPORT IT. Right now many things tell me that they can’t, or struggle to. How is it good for the students and for the university if the university admit students but then fail to provide them with proper support, ending in a poor undergrad experience or in some cases, flunking out and not even getting a degree? If every student has an experience similar to your I would have nothing to complain about. But as I see it, there are many students like you, and quite a few students who aren’t having a good experience at Berkeley. I’m worried about the latter.</p>