Speaking of differences between Berkeley and Harvard... Remember all the ballyhoo about Harvard grade inflation? Well i got my first semester grades back, and for German I had done quite badly, high 80's or low 90's on most quizes, skipped about a third of the homework, and didn't do particularly well on the final. I was expecting a B, maybe a B+ if i was luck, or a B- if i wasn't. This expectation of getting at least a B in a class I did badly in might reflect poorly on Harvard grading standards. On the other hand at Berkeley I got an A-. And one of my roomates who did even less homework than I got an A. So maybe grade inflation is just worse here at Berkeley or maybe there's something to the claim that Harvard students are really good. I don't know, but grades here are definitely a piece of cake. For comparison I got a B+ in the first semester of French at Harvard and did soooo much better in that class than in this German one.