Theme 1 – Declining academic standards & preparedness of admitted students
Many commenters argue that Berkeley (and similar schools) are admitting students who lack basic math skills, forcing remedial instruction and hurting both the admitted and rejected applicants.
- “UC‑Berkeley math prof says she has to teach fractions to calculus students because standards have fallen so far.” – dmitrygr
- “The sooner Cal cleans its act up, the better. College admissions IS zero‑sum and it's absolutely harmful for the students rejected and those enrolled to accept unqualified candidates.” – jazzpush2
- “If some US university just decided to go to an entrance exam model they'd probably instantly have a cohort of students that would be much easier to onboard into university materials.” – rtpg
Theme 2 – CPT/OPT policy changes and their effect on international students
The discussion heavily focuses on Berkeley’s pause of Course‑Credit CPT authorizations, accusations of abuse of the program, and the financial reliance of universities on international tuition.
- “Many from various schools have abused CPT; so, they want to put to close that loophole. Some real ones get affected by this because of others' actions.” – raincom
- “Berkeley is pausing authorizations for Course Credit CPT, which enables international students on visa’s to work in exchange for credits to complete their degree program.” – biotechbio
- “International students are the biggest money‑spinners for universities (to the detriment of everything else at this point).” – southbound
Theme 3 – Fairness, meritocracy, and alleged discrimination in admissions
Several participants debate whether current admissions practices truly reward merit, citing lawsuits, test‑blind policies, and the influence of socioeconomic factors.
- “They ‘banned’ them. This lawsuit contends they don’t actually stop using them. That's the basis of the claims.” – dmitrygr (referring to the racial‑discrimination suit over admissions)
- “UC has banned race considerations in admissions for nearly 30 years. Surely there's more to this story.” – raegis
- “With enough researcher degrees of freedom, you can make the data appear to support almost any reasonable story… unless you have a pointed issue with the methodology…” – jazzpush2 (questioning the evidence used in the debate)