Berkeley 伯克利大学

Wenbin Yuan

伯克利大学是加州最早开办公立大学。伯克利以发现16个周期表元素（所有已知元素14%）而著称于世。当然她也拥有48个正式属于"伯克利学者"的诺贝尔奖获得者，其中33位物理学奖，外加50多附属的诺贝尔奖获得者，共计107位诺奖，而比她建校时间长一倍的哈佛大学却也只有正式诺奖48个。她的化学计算机和文史也在美国能排到前五名，也是很少能跻身全球前十大学的一所公立大学。
As of October 2019, 107 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with UC Berkeley, and 48 of them are officially listed as "Berkeley's Nobel Laureates" by UC Berkeley for being graduates (obtained degrees), current faculty members, or deceased faculty who retired at Berkeley.[3][4] Among the 107 laureates, 34 are Berkeley alumni (graduates and attendees), and 40 have been long-term academic members of the Berkeley faculty or Berkeley-affiliated research organizations. Subject-wise, 33 laureates have won the Nobel Prize in Physics, more than any other subject. In addition, Linus Pauling is the only UC Berkeley-affiliated Nobel laureate (Visiting Lecturer in Physics and Chemistry, 19291934)[5] to win two Nobel prizes: he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962;[6] since this is a list of laureates, not prizes, he is counted only once.
在开创性领域，清华北大还有若干年追赶。

伯克利在美国不太被承认，因为美国传统上看不起公立大学。在前几名的大学里，伯克利也是最穷的以穷孩子为学生主体组成的大学（很多学生藤校录取但去不起），所以在传统名校中很不入流。另外也在于美国公立大学招生标准比私立要低一些。虽然招生质量比私立可能不高，毕业生质量可都不含糊，因为他们采取的是公立高校的"宽进严出"政策。学生在这里学习其实极为刻苦，因为淘汰率也远比藤校高得多。
另外很大比例的学生是全家第一代上大学，这一点也和"藤校"有很大不同。哈佛等私立藤校大学将近三分之一是"legacy"录取的孩子，因此录取时地位身份和家产都是重要考虑成分，平均家产上千万美元。而伯克利录取时只考虑个人的能力，因此1/3出于贫穷家庭。伯克利老师和学生1/3来自亚洲人或新移民，所以各个极为努力，这几年甚至连排名也开始逐渐得到承认。如果只排计算机，那伯克利就是稳拿前三名：麻省理工，斯坦福，然后就是伯克利。证明在美国穷孩子通过努力也可以比肩富后代大钱养大了的孩子，因此穷学校也可以通过移民的勤奋改变自己的命运。
哈佛大学人数不到伯克利二分之一，但哈佛经费预算却比伯克利高一倍！摊到每个学生每年将近二十万美元。由此可见伯克利的厉害：只用别人四分之一的教育成本，但在办校时间不到哈佛一半的期间里所得到的诺奖数和影响却很接近哈佛，这在私立名校的眼里简直就是个暴发户。哈佛，斯坦福等贵族学校的贵族气质（也叫legacy) 和花大钱的风格也可见一斑。但办学的效率明显有区别！而且这些学校工科毕业生的起薪也都差不多，毕业生也很少有找不到工作的。所以成本高四倍的情况下，产品质量却差不多，让这些"藤校"百思不解。
最近才透漏出的消息证明，前苏俄在计算机方面的研发基金几十年来一直比美国高很多，但最后彻底败下阵来，结果构成以买美国集成电路和计算机顺便剽窃美国软件为基础来提高自己的国防能力的悲惨现实。
钱看来不是万能的，自由的思想也许更加值钱。可惜这一点俄国人费尽心思也不会想出个头绪。

伯克利为啥这样厉害，原因之一带领我们参观的捷克来的女孩子告诉我们：我们伯克利也只有两个党：自由主义党和极端自由主义党。
如果一个年轻人要想寻求自由的思想和学术气氛，这里大概也是最好选择。作为任何一个种族的人，在这里生活也没有任何族裔带来的压力和偏见。每个人都是"外国人"，没人在意你长得啥样子，操什么口音。这是一个有本事就拿出来，没本事就赶快离开的地方。

伯克利的学生宿舍男女厕所都在一个房间，男孩女孩都在隔壁房间，男女界限尽可能冲淡。学校女生53%，其他性别47%。但是女儿的电子工程与计算机专业却只有26%女生。
工程院的院长和她们的系主任都是中国人，学生们中国人占1/3。到处听到大家用中文讲话。加州也是唯一的一个招生时把性别，种族，家庭富裕程度都抛开来招生的州。唯才录取。
加州和美国在很多地方格格不入，所以他们迟早会成为退出美国联邦的第一个州。如果独立，他们会成为世界第一科技强国，经济总量也会是仅次于美，中，德日的第五大经济强国。大家都盼着这一天的早日到来。反正两百年前这片土地也不是什么美国的"固有领土"，当时也没人听得懂啥子英语。

伯克利大学的一位计算机专业的学生为未来的孩子写了有关伯克利想学计算机但没有把握完成学业的学生"宽进严出"，weed out过程的如下切身体会：
Is it hard to get a 3.3 GPA for Computer Science at UC Berkeley? 入学一年后拿到B+然后被计算机系接收容易吗？
Varun Murthy, Bachelor's Degree Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley (2020)Answered August 16, 2018 · Upvoted by Angie Drexler, studies Cognitive Science at University of California, Berkeley (2020) and Wilson Lee, studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of California, Berkeley (1984)Originally Answered: Is it hard to get 3.3 GPA for CS in UC, Berkeley?
Hey there! Im rising sophomore who recently declared the L&S CS major after meeting the GPA threshold. 嗨，我是伯克利二年学业优秀后（伯克利只有第一年成绩优秀达到3.5以上才能成为计算机专业）成功进入计算机专业的学生，听听我的感慨吧！
This is my story. Hang tight.
I entered Berkeley in Fall 2017 fresh out of high school. Like most of my friends, I was quite certain about what I wanted to major in, Computer Science. Probably minor in Applied Mathematics or Statistics, maybe even do a dual concentration in Data Science. Optimism was in the air. I had researched the major declaration policies for L&S CS. I needed to get an average of 3.3 in 61A, 61B & 70.我是2017年高中毕业以优异成绩进入伯克利，当时就一心想一年以后获得资格来学计算机专业。
Sounded easy, right? After all, how hard could a B+ average be? Not so fast tiger.再者说，B+的资格能有多难？
I sat in Wheeler 150 for my first lecture and remember John DeNero introduce himself as an ex-engineer on the core team that built Google Translate and thinking to myself, "Wow, I guess this where Berkeley CS takes you!" Its difficult to quantify your Berkeley experience before your first exam - reality doesnt strike until that point. My first midterm was in Pimentel 1 and I was seated exactly at the center in seat G17. My friends and I had prepped for it for hours in Moffit. We had solved almost all previous exams and had exhausted all online resources we could lay our hands on. We were ready for this, or at least thats what we thought. 考试前我和朋友一起把过去的考题仔细分析，并把能找到的类似考题通通做了一遍。
That exam was brutal.但是真正考试简直太残酷了。
Fast forward to a few days after the first midterm. I remember opening the notification email that a new exam had been added to my Gradescope account, proceeding to check my score & feeling a pit in my stomach after realizing that I was only a little above the mean. 意识到自己刚刚过平均分，我感到胃里翻江倒海的难受。
I was upset that night, not only because I was unhappy with my score, but because for the first time in my academic career I felt a sense of fear. 我在意识到我一生第一次在学习上感到害怕。 In high school I was at the top of my class; I was the one whom teachers lauded and my friends looked up to. 高中时我是学校尖子，习惯于老师的表扬和同学的赞赏。Suddenly, I felt worthless, humiliated & defeated. 忽然我意识到自己原来啥也不是，并且深感羞愧。I was powerless in a system that was so well-defined that the only way for me to succeed was to give up everything Id pedagogically known and adapt to this new way of life. 我意识到我需要放弃初学习以外的任何活动来适应新的生存现实。
Lower division classes are notoriously difficult because the EECS department needs to weed out underperforming students - not because their academic capability is inferior in any way, but because there are only a fixed number of seats in upper division classes that need to be regulated for administrative reasons. 高年级只有那么多位置学校可以管理，所以低年级的大批不够优秀的学生只能被淘汰。The department cant afford to have over-enrolled lower division classes because there simply arent enough resources to handle that large a number of students. Coupled with the likelihood that every Berkeley student takes at least one programming class in their time here, this issue gets of out of hand when students try to repeat classes they fare poorly in. This is why the department has made guidelines for declaring the major stricter every year since 2015. Essentially, you get only one chance to attempt 61A, 61B & 70 and score at least a 3.3.
If youre like most international freshmen, youll have a mediocre programming background compared to the average American whiz kid simply because education systems outside the United States are tailored towards mechanical calculations and memorization. Thus, youll need to work harder to compensate for your weakness in analytical reasoning and dynamic thinking. Thankfully, 61A and 61B are graded on a binned system - your grade depends only on your performance, not anyone elses. Take full advantage of all the resources the EECS department has to offer. Everyone here truly wants to see you succeed and is prepared to help you in whatever capacity they can. I couldnt have made it so far without the countless late-evening drop-ins to UPE and HKN when I needed help optimizing a depth-first search for a project or help to analyze the amortized runtime of a hash table.很难想象对语言不熟悉的国际生是如何生存。
You will be competing with some of the best and brightest students from around the world, many of whom turned down Ivy Leagues to attend Berkeley for its technical prowess. Dont get discouraged when youre set back. Work ethic and determination are definitely needed, but what matters more is dedication.
I believe in you. Good luck!