<p>With the large population and (rumored) cutthroat competition, I’m guessing it may be pretty difficult to distinguish oneself at Cal. I intend to major in English and/or Philosophy, and wonder if I can distinguish myself enough at least to get into a prestigious graduate school.</p>
<p>How does one go about distinguishing oneself at Berkeley? And additionally, what kinds of graduate schools do most Cal students attend (preferrably English and Philosophy majors)? </p>
<p>I would greatly appreciate any/all advice!</p>
<p>By the way I am currently choosing between attending Cal or NYU; since NYU has smaller classes being able to distinguish myself–without being horribly cutthroat or working intolerably hard–is a large factor in my decision.</p>
<p>I heard that NYU doesn’t have much smaller classes. I mean i guess they would but the classes are still big for lower division. not AS big but still big. also, i think the classes are just as hard. or at least that’s what i heard when i was looking into it. but u might want to double check on that.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve heard that too. But doesn’t Berkeley have a very large student population overall? I’m just worried I’m going to have to overexert myself or ‘bite off more than I can chew’ or any of those other cliches concerning overachieverism just to distinguish myself if I attend Berkeley.</p>
<p>Honestly, competition at Berkeley and NYU is going to be about the same. And as long as you like what you do, it’s not exactly hard to distinguish yourself. </p>
<p>It’s a large school, so there’s a lot of opportunities. :)</p>
<p>If you’re talented, you’ll have no trouble distinguishing yourself. Both departments are looking for stars to push forward onto graduate school. The problem is that if you’re not too talented, you won’t get any attention. I doubt if it would be any different at NYU, though.</p>
<p>From a broad perspective, if you go to NYU you will miss out on a lot of the ‘college experience’. You’ll be a speck in a big city. My friend who goes to NYU described it as ‘a real estate company that offers classes’.</p>
<p>Berkeley on the other hand, is isolated (~25 mins away from San Francisco). It has a large campus, amazing band, top notch academics, lively student body and some real school spirit. The weather is amazing for half the year too. You are going to have the time of your life.</p>
<p>yeah i’ve heard the social aspect at nyu isn’t that great. but i mean if you are independent, then i guess that would be good. i think with ur reasoning, berkeley shouldn’t be a problem. the amount of students doesn’t matter too much. the only problem i’ve run into is that i haven’t been able to get a leadership position in a club. does that matter? no. i can start my own club, or find other ways to be “leader”</p>