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<p>I don’t think I’m oversimplifying the situation at all, actually. When I say academically qualified, I mean to succeed in the given major. College, let’s face it, ain’t about getting A’s in breadth requirements. Hell, I take my breadth requirements Pass-Fail, even though aside from mathematics, English/literature classes were probably the ones I was best at. Once I got to college, I really started focusing on my major, and I meant that COE students generally are well-equipped to succeed at their school. </p>
<p>OK sure, the ones that don’t really speak English may have a bit of an issue – but other schools probably have accommodations for those like this. But in all seriousness, amusingly enough, a lot of engineers at Berkeley will actually be more well spoken than some of the humanities majors who’re doing their majors because they’re not very motivated. Engineering friends of mine and I have sat in upper division literature classes and gotten A’s on essays with no effort while gaping at how deficient some of the students there were.</p>
<p>Now granted, these weren’t the HARDCORE literature majors, but it’s just an example of the disparity. I actually think to a somewhat lesser extent, the same kind of disparity exists in the math department.</p>