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Post by Phaedrus on Mar 17, 2019 20:05:43 GMT -5
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Post by ironhammer on Mar 17, 2019 21:00:30 GMT -5
When I was in high school, I learned somehow (books? Peers? Teachers? Can’t remember...) that you should apply to a couple “super tough” schools, a couple “tough but reachable” schools, and a couple “safety” schools. So I did. My parents didn’t have the means to bribe the parking garage valet, much less a college admissions administrator. I assumed everyone did it this way. So, with 3 kids of my own, we did it the same way, except we expanded to 7 schools — 2 tough, 2 reachable, and 3 safety. I helped my kids but ultimately, I allowed them to make the final decision because I held them accountable for everything. My son was going to study engineering w/ a possibility of changing majors to biology or physics. He ended up at one of the “tough admissions” schools at Duke but he (and I) would’ve been just as happy if he chose one of his safety schools, like Cal Berkeley or Texas. I think problems come up when you think of “dream schools” at the expense of all else, just like people who think there’s such a thing as a “soul mate.” You can be enormously happy at one of hundreds of schools just like you could be enormously happy with someone other than your current wife/gf/so. It’s f***ed up to think you HAVE to go to THAT school or find your soulmate and marry THAT girl/guy. Berkeley as a "safety school"? I don't know man, maybe you have very high standards, but Berkeley is right up there as one of the best schools in the country outside the Ivy League (in fact it could rival some Ivy League schools in certain faculties) along others like University of Chicago, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, Northwestern, John Hopkins, Duke, Caltech, UCLA, etc. Stanford is another obvious top non-Ivy League school, although it is pretty much the West Coast's version of Harvard...so I guess you can consider it the same as an Ivy League in some ways.
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Post by mikegarrison on Mar 17, 2019 21:04:02 GMT -5
I would definitely rank Berkeley above Duke. But hey, I wasn't the one making the decision.
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Post by Wolfgang on Mar 17, 2019 21:11:49 GMT -5
When I was in high school, I learned somehow (books? Peers? Teachers? Can’t remember...) that you should apply to a couple “super tough” schools, a couple “tough but reachable” schools, and a couple “safety” schools. So I did. My parents didn’t have the means to bribe the parking garage valet, much less a college admissions administrator. I assumed everyone did it this way. So, with 3 kids of my own, we did it the same way, except we expanded to 7 schools — 2 tough, 2 reachable, and 3 safety. I helped my kids but ultimately, I allowed them to make the final decision because I held them accountable for everything. My son was going to study engineering w/ a possibility of changing majors to biology or physics. He ended up at one of the “tough admissions” schools at Duke but he (and I) would’ve been just as happy if he chose one of his safety schools, like Cal Berkeley or Texas. I think problems come up when you think of “dream schools” at the expense of all else, just like people who think there’s such a thing as a “soul mate.” You can be enormously happy at one of hundreds of schools just like you could be enormously happy with someone other than your current wife/gf/so. It’s f***ed up to think you HAVE to go to THAT school or find your soulmate and marry THAT girl/guy. Berkeley as a "safety school"? I don't know man, maybe you have very high standards, but Berkeley is right up there as one of the best schools in the country outside the Ivy League (in fact it could rival some Ivy League schools in certain faculties) along others like University of Chicago, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, Northwestern, John Hopkins, Duke, Caltech, UCLA, etc. Stanford is another obvious top non-Ivy League school, although it is pretty much the West Coast's version of Harvard...so I guess you can consider it the same as an Ivy League in some ways. I have 3 kids. I can't remember which is which. I think my oldest one had Cal and Texas as his safety schools, but they may have been on my other 2 kids' respective "reach" lists. Can't really remember. Honestly, the only reason I can remember stuff is a bevy of fading Post-Its on my computer. One of them has my kids' birthdays, my wife's birthday, and our anniversary date. I do remember that my oldest had Duke and CalTech as his "tough" schools. He got into every school except Cal Tech. Didn't break his heart. Didn't break my heart. It broke no one's heart. I think he was kind of looking forward to going to Texas and finally, he just decided Burnt Orange just wasn't his thing. Or maybe that was my second son.
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Post by Wolfgang on Mar 17, 2019 21:12:15 GMT -5
I would definitely rank Berkeley above Duke. But hey, I wasn't the one making the decision. I live in Northern California so our family sort of take Cal Berkeley for granted. It's nothing special.
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Post by ironhammer on Mar 17, 2019 21:15:32 GMT -5
I would definitely rank Berkeley above Duke. But hey, I wasn't the one making the decision. I live in Northern California so our family sort of take Cal Berkeley for granted. It's nothing special. So it's more of a location thing then. Although that would not change the fact the actual standard of Berkeley is really way up there. Northern California...I like it. Napa Valley have great wines...and reasonably close to the Bay Area so you can there within a few hours. I knew someone who once lived in Eureka as well as Redding, what's that place like up there? People usually just focus on Southern California (Greater LA, San Diego etc) and the Bay Area, the entire northern half of the state is sort of a like a mystery. I always imagined it s as sort of a more sunny and milder version of the Pacific Northwest? I also always wanted to hike around Mt. Shasta, that's kinda like the California version of Mt. Rainer, right?
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Post by Wolfgang on Mar 17, 2019 21:21:19 GMT -5
I live in Northern California so our family sort of take Cal Berkeley for granted. It's nothing special. So it's more of a location thing though, although that would not change the fact that the actual standard of Berkeley is really way up there. I'll just say this. No one in my entire family from my parents, my siblings, my cousins, and my kids ever got REJECTED by Cal Berkeley. From this group, only my sister attended Cal Berkeley, but only for her Ph.D. She lived right off Telegraph in Oakland and heard gunshots every night. Also had her car broken into a few times.
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Post by Wolfgang on Mar 17, 2019 21:23:29 GMT -5
I live in Northern California so our family sort of take Cal Berkeley for granted. It's nothing special. So it's more of a location thing then. Although that would not change the fact the actual standard of Berkeley is really way up there. Northern California...I like it. Napa Valley have great wines...and reasonably close to the Bay Area so you can there within a few hours. I knew someone who once lived in Eureka as well as Redding, what's that place like up there? I also always wanted to hike around Mt. Shasta, that's kinda like the California version of Mt. Rainer, right? We've driven up to the Redwoods in Northern California in Eureka and Crescent City. I hated the drive. Winding roads. Apparently, it gets very cold and rains a lot. There have been many many floods up there. Walked around Humboldt State U.
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Post by ironhammer on Mar 17, 2019 21:24:14 GMT -5
So it's more of a location thing though, although that would not change the fact that the actual standard of Berkeley is really way up there. I'll just say this. No one in my entire family from my parents, my siblings, my cousins, and my kids ever got REJECTED by Cal Berkeley. From this group, only my sister attended Cal Berkeley, but only for her Ph.D. She lived right off Telegraph in Oakland and heard gunshots every night. Also had her car broken into a few times. Ok, so it's near Oakland, the sh*thole of the Bay Area, as I like to call it, but the actual teaching and research quality of university is still very good, one of the best, objectively-speaking. Kinda like how USC is located in a nasty part of LA, although as I am sure someone will jump in here and say the area is a lot safer now with less crime.
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Post by mikegarrison on Mar 17, 2019 21:39:46 GMT -5
I always imagined it s as sort of a more sunny and milder version of the Pacific Northwest? I also always wanted to hike around Mt. Shasta, that's kinda like the California version of Mt. Rainer, right? No and no. Or maybe, "only in a really expansive vision of 'Pacific Northwest'" and "only if you don't really know much about mountains".
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Post by bayarea on Mar 17, 2019 21:44:33 GMT -5
Who writes this stuff? The photo with the article has the shocking caption that 65% of Div I water polo players are WHITE, which is a larger percentage than D1 sports overall. Hello. Has anyone here ever gone to a high school water polo game? I'm truly shocked that there are 35% non-white water polo players in Div. I, and I have no idea where they are hiding. Certainly not in those elite inner-city water polo clubs! This is stupid, sensationalist journalism. Write something meaningful. This is just churning up stories to get people outraged.
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Post by mikegarrison on Mar 17, 2019 21:51:49 GMT -5
Who writes this stuff? The photo with the article has the shocking caption that 65% of Div I water polo players are WHITE, which is a larger percentage than D1 sports overall. Hello. Has anyone here ever gone to a high school water polo game? I'm truly shocked that there are 35% non-white water polo players in Div. I, and I have no idea where they are hiding. Certainly not in those elite inner-city water polo clubs! This is stupid, sensationalist journalism. Write something meaningful. This is just churning up stories to get people outraged. It's true that many college sports are traditionally activities associated with white culture, but they are also (not coincidentally) traditionally activities associated with the economic upper class. I mean, really, field hockey? Water polo? Lacrosse? Even volleyball, to a large extent. On the other hand, the most popular of the college sports are also those that are played or watched by the largest cross-section of the general population: basketball and football.
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Post by ironhammer on Mar 17, 2019 21:53:57 GMT -5
I always imagined it s as sort of a more sunny and milder version of the Pacific Northwest? I also always wanted to hike around Mt. Shasta, that's kinda like the California version of Mt. Rainer, right? No and no. Or maybe, "only in a really expansive vision of 'Pacific Northwest'" and "only if you don't really know much about mountains". Hmmmm.....I don't know about that. Mt. Shasta and Rainer are both stratovolcanoes are they not? Both are part of the Cascade range? Hehehe. As for climate, yeah, you are probably right. Although the very northern coastal part of California does seem to have more in common with say Oregon than the rest of California....
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Post by volleylearner on Mar 17, 2019 21:57:32 GMT -5
So it's more of a location thing though, although that would not change the fact that the actual standard of Berkeley is really way up there. I'll just say this. No one in my entire family from my parents, my siblings, my cousins, and my kids ever got REJECTED by Cal Berkeley. From this group, only my sister attended Cal Berkeley, but only for her Ph.D. She lived right off Telegraph in Oakland and heard gunshots every night. Also had her car broken into a few times. The fact that you call it "Cal Berkeley" is suspicious to me. I went to Berkeley as a grad student, and lots of students from my kids' high school applied there. It has been "Berkeley" or "UC Berkeley" as far as I can remember. "Cal" was a name outsiders used and insiders accepted for sports. It has been a while since my kids were in high school but it was definitely not considered a "safety" school for undergraduates (grad programs are a completely different situation). Riverside, Irvine, Santa Cruz, ok, but Berkeley and UCLA are very popular and the admissions process can be, um, kinda random so are no guarantees of anyone getting in. I lived near Telegraph in Berkeley, a block from People's Park, but I didn't have problems with crime (plenty of amusing street people though). Oakland certainly had its problem, though I think it has improved a lot recently.
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Post by Wolfgang on Mar 17, 2019 22:00:45 GMT -5
I'll just say this. No one in my entire family from my parents, my siblings, my cousins, and my kids ever got REJECTED by Cal Berkeley. From this group, only my sister attended Cal Berkeley, but only for her Ph.D. She lived right off Telegraph in Oakland and heard gunshots every night. Also had her car broken into a few times. The fact that you call it "Cal Berkeley" is suspicious to me. I went to Berkeley as a grad student, and lots of students from my kids' high school applied there. It has been "Berkeley" or "UC Berkeley" as far as I can remember. "Cal" was a name outsiders used and insiders accepted for sports. It has been a while since my kids were in high school but it was definitely not considered a "safety" school for undergraduates (grad programs are a completely different situation). Riverside, Irvine, Santa Cruz, ok, but Berkeley and UCLA are very popular and the admissions process can be, um, kinda random so are no guarantees of anyone getting in. I lived near Telegraph in Berkeley, a block from People's Park, but I didn't have problems with crime (plenty of amusing street people though). Oakland certainly had its problem, though I think it has improved a lot recently. We've always called it "UC Berkeley." I just said "Cal Berkeley" because it's been called "Cal" on this board. The "Berkeley" part is instinct. We considered it a "safety school" because we've historically had no problems. My son's grades and SATs were good enough for 99% of schools in the nation, so we thought it was a lock. My sister got her Ph.D from "UC Berkeley" in the early 1990s. There was a gay bar at the corner of Telegraph and the street where her rental house was.
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