I made the biggest switch that can be made. From East bay to South bay. Public to Private. Blue and gold to Cardinal red. I transferred from Cal to Stanford after my sophomore year in college. While the memories of both institutions are still fresh in my mind, I have decided to have four rounds, one point each, to decide which school is truly better.
The Rivalry: Cal embraces this rivalry, proliferates it, and engrains it from the moment you step on campus and begin student orientation. It helps build a sense of Berkeley nationalism, gets that fire in your stomach going, and makes you proud to be a Golden Bear. But this all comes at the expense of an ?out-group? called Stanford Jr. University.
Stanford is much lower key about the rivalry. While it is mentioned at orientation, it is not the cornerstone of your Stanford pride. Sure we get the buildup during big game week and the hype that accompanies a storied rivalry between two of the best universities, but we don?t have that year-round spewing of vitriol when we see the colors of an opposing university?s sweatshirts. For us here at Stanford, life exists outside of the rivalry. Dignity and point to Stanford.
Life outside campus: Stanford resides near the city of Palo Alto. I say near because it has basically built a 360 degree buffer zone separating our campus from the rest of civilization. And unless your idea of fun is browsing around downtown Palo Alto looking for an oversized Persian carpet for your dorm room or dropping $20 a plate for lunch, the surrounding city has nothing to offer a college student. Don?t get me wrong, I would LOVE to be able to afford those things (did I mention I?m Persian and we average more carpets than people in our houses?), but that type of ballerific behavior lays on the horizon for a guy like me.
In contrast, Cal offers a campus that feeds right into the city. As a Berkeley student your bus pass can take you from the heart of the campus into Oakland and San Francisco without a penny lost, and there?s the BART (think Caltrain, but better in every way). The campus is surrounded by an array of ethnically diverse restaurants for around $7 a plate, able to satisfy even the most demanding of taste buds. On the negative side, homeless characters and weirdoes on the streets of Berkeley are as copious as rich 40-somethings are on the streets of Palo Alto. Ladies that get ?hollered? by bums and hoodlums in the middle of the night will attest to how uncomfortable it can be. However, at the end of the day common sense practically ensures safety.
The vibrancy of Berkeley makes me smile as I think of it. Cal gets the point. EASILY
Academics: UC Berkeley is ranked third according to the most prominent world rankings. Stanford is ranked second. Both boast highly accomplished faculty, of the best in their field, who are world-class professors. The only difference is that at Stanford, there are about 20,000 fewer students competing for these professors’ time. Imagine trying to get that internship or research job if there were nearly three times as many applicants. Reasonable class sizes and the ability to build a more personal relationship with professors, as well as fellow classmates, make learning at Stanford that much more enjoyable. Plus, Stanford has Condoleezza Rice. I got into her class. Point Stanford.
The Intangible: Berkeley kids (including myself when I was there) always accuse Stanford students as being bourgeois and entitled. After one quarter at Stanford I know that the allegation is completely false. But something else is true. There is subtle lavishness about life at Stanford: it?s the ability to focus solely on our studies that can be perceived as a luxury. To be honest, it is the way learning should be.
But Berkeley doesn?t have this luxury. A student there engages with the cold world: fruitless searches to find a place to live, dealing with a landlord, paying bills and buying groceries, the threat of crime, losing your way in a school with too many students and not enough guidance, and severe school budget cuts, all on top of the stress of being a full time student. This truth is best manifested by the exorbitant increase in tuition costs and the subsequent protests and police clashes that occurred on campus last semester at Cal. Such a thing would never occur at Stanford and I think all of us are glad it doesn?t. But such events serve as a reminder of what lays beyond our four years of undergraduate learning. The real world is a hard place. Conditions for your success will never be ideal. If you want something, having the skills may not be enough; you will need to be able to manage the many moving aspects of your existence. These experiences, this adversity, though they can complicate the learning process, enrich the lives of UC Berkeley students. The struggle is beautiful and for these reasons Berkeley gets the point in this round.
The score is tied!
It is too simplistic and frankly ridiculous for me or anyone else to attempt to classify one as ?superior to the other.? At the end of the day they are both amazing schools that anyone should be honored to attend; if someone disagrees, know that it is ignorance that blinds their judgment. While my decision to transfer may be the most telling sign, declaring a winner just feels wrong. That in turn will make me the most divided Stanford student that ever attended the University.
Farbod Faraji ’11