<p>“Cal’s College of Chemistry totals ~750 undergrads. Great student-faculty interaction. Yes, the Frosh classes can be large, but they get small really fast.”</p>
<p>And that is a huge disadvantage for Cal compared to other physics schools notwithstanding its great ranking. Cal weeds out a lot more applicants in the sciences than the private schools who are much more invested in keeping students in their chosen fields (with the exception of some pre-med programs) to justify the private advantage.</p>