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<p>That isn’t a reason. You want to let the data show something about the school, not assume that by definition publics aren’t as good. Cambridge University and Oxford University are both publics. And they’re generally in the top 10 (often with Harvard, etc.). Same goes for Berkeley.</p>
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<p>Again that’s conventional wisdom. And it’s clearly not true.</p>
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<p>The “lower-scorers” still score high regardless. The superstars tend to be the ones who get into Berkeley OOS.</p>
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<p>That’s a stereotype. Only about 5% of its courses have more than 100 (I think Stanford’s is 4%). Every large class (usually those over 50) is supplemented with small discussions, usually <20.</p>
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<p>No, it doesn’t. I used to think that too. But when I investigated it, I saw it was far from true. For one, the only time there’s a large class is in a lecture. The lecture is just the professor teaching the material. You don’t ask questions. You don’t discuss. It’s a lecture; this is how it works at Stanford, Yale, etc. So, does it matter whether there are more people listening to the lecture? No. The professor will still teach; his/her abilities with teaching aren’t hindered by the fact that there are more people. The small discussions are where you ask questions, converse, interact – and Berkeley, as well as Stanford, ensures that there are small discussions to supplement any large lecture (though the majority of lectures aren’t large). You also usually meet with your discussion group more times per week than your lecture class.</p>
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<p>I believe it should be higher. And in fact, most rankings seem to agree with me.</p>
<p>The US News ranking is obviously biased toward private schools – faculty resources, alumni giving, etc. Berkeley’s ranked graduation rank is 25, even though its grad rate is the same as schools like Chicago, WUStL, Vanderbilt, etc. and higher than schools like Emory. The reported student:faculty ratio for Stanford and Berkeley uses different methods for each (Stanford includes total faculty and only undergraduate students; Berkeley uses total faculty and undergrad+grad students). Berkeley doesn’t superscore the SAT, while privates do. Look at MIT’s class sizes: 61% under 20; 14% over 50. Berkeley’s? 61% under 20; 14% over 50. For more discussion on the private-school bias, see this:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/383429-review-usnwr-approach-what-valuable.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/383429-review-usnwr-approach-what-valuable.html</a></p>
<p>I don’t mean to be defensive (nor do I think I am) – but I dislike it when students keep certain misconceptions (or rumors) alive.</p>