Why should I choose Cal?

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<p>Yep, for exactly the same reason that you conceded. Berkeley is a large school and therefore can’t target itself to a particular undergrad candidate pool the way that smaller schools can. The law of large numbers also works against Berkeley, for attracting a 40% ED population is a lot of students, given Berkeley’s entering class size. Schools like Amherst or Williams only have to attract about a few hundred ED students. </p>

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<p>Actually, I think you’re missing the point. Exactly which schools do you think Berkeley is outperforming that are considered more prestigious? Any of HYPSM? </p>

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<p>Nobody is saying that 40% isn’t quite good on an absolute basis. Considering the fact that there are thousands and thousands of colleges out there, obviously getting 40% of your admittees is better than the average school.</p>

<p>But I don’t think that Berkeley should be satisfied with just being better than the average school. Berkeley should want to be one of the very best schools in the entire country. But that claim can hold water only if you can present a strong yield.</p>

<p>Let’s compare Berkeley to the other two serious contenders for the title of the best public school in the country: Michigan and Virginia. Michigan has a yield of 46%, and Virginia has 48%. Berkeley should at least be able to match that. After all, both Michigan and Virginia are both large schools too - heck, Michigan is even larger than Berkeley is. Yet, Michigan has more students and yields more students. </p>

<p>One possible counterargument is that Berkeley has to deal with intense instate competition from the other UC’s and perhaps the CalStates. But that’s not so much a counterargument as a specific feature of the problem at hand. After all, UM doesn’t face much cross-yield competition from Michigan State or UM-Flint. Virginia has to face intense competition from William & Mary, Virginia Tech, VMI, James Madison, George Mason and VCU, yet still boasts a near 50% yield. So if the issue is that Berkeley is losing students to the other California public schools, then the answer is that Berkeley needs to find a way to compete against those other schools better.</p>