<p>Well, this thread got bumped from so long ago, but I’d like to give my input anyway.</p>
<p>My best friend, who was always regarded as the “genius” of our school, now attends Stanford as an Materials engineering major. His view on the academics are that the material tends to be very difficult, but overall it is not very difficult to do well. He said he spent a large portion of time partying and still ended up with around a 3.5 this year. Of course, he had to put in a lot of hard work, but not nearly as much as some of my friends who are engineering at Cal. </p>
<p>My friend also said that he is confident that anyone who got into Stanford through the actual admissions process (they didn’t buy themselves in, or athletics or something) could definitely get a 3.8+ as long as they put a lot of effort (in almost any major, as well). From what I hear, this is not the case for UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>I personally can’t say, as I haven’t attended either school, just info I gathered from friends.</p>