Just the Facts, Please

1. UC Berkeley lecture on What will it take to be elected in 2008?

2. Chicago MBA lecture on Thaler’s new book Nudge.

I don’t think I could have attended two dorkier schools…with the exception of MIT and Cal Tech. Those people can barely carry on a conversation.  I know.  I have friends who went there.

But back to me.  I’m not that smart.  The only reason I got accepted to Cal or Chicago was because I studied hard, worked hard, did everything I could to get there.  So I’m not your typical nerd. But I am nerdy in that I like to read a lot, I’m inherently introverted, and I truly enjoy my alone time. I’ve had to develop my social skills.  I had to push myself to work up the courage to say hello and network with others.  I hate networking!  But eventually (I wouldn’t say I’m good at it), I got the hang of it.  It’s a basic MBA skill!

So I start out at the Chicago MBA event and no one is really talking to each other.  Even the people I do talk to…end up being quite awkward.  It’s painful carrying on a conversation with these people.  

I head on over to the Cal event just in time for the lecture and I sit next to some guy who has Tourette’s!  He can’t stop rocking back and forth, and clearing his mouth every 10 seconds.  It was extremely aggravating.  Now, I know these people can’t help it.  Maybe I’m being insensitive, but I really had to focus and concentrate on what the speakers were saying.

I’m proud to be an alum of these schools, nonetheless—even if we are a bunch of socially-awkward dorky geeks.  So here are the facts, just the facts (and not my jaded impressions) on my beloved alma maters.

UC Berkeley

#1 public university

Founded in 1868 as the oldest of the ten University of California campuses

34,000 students

20 Nobel laureates over the years

31% of freshman come from families in which neither parent has a college degree

1/3 of all undergrads are eligible for Pell Grants, meaning their family incomes are less than $45,000/year

Berkeley serves more economically disadvantaged students than all of the Ivy Leagues combined

4.26 average high school GPA for freshman

99% of whom are in the top 10% of their graduating class

64% of freshman have at least one immigrant parent

75% of all undergrads receive some form of financial aid

University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

#1 business school

Founded in 1898

Second oldest b-school in the world

1,100 in the full-time program

41,000 alumni

I’m sure there are more fun facts, but I am done with staring at the computer for the day.  Off to read Love in the Time of Cholera before beddy.