Berkeley vs HYP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another reason why Berkeley is on the same level with HYP, this years Nobel Prize in Physics is shared between UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara.

A top tier place to be a professor, for sure. Doesn't have much to do with the undergrad experience, unlike at HYP where the prestige trickles down mich more regularly

What people don’t understand about prestige, it’s in the eye of the beholder. In some circles like specific industries and majors, the popular prestige metric doesn’t hold anymore. Berkley is a valid choice among HYPSM and I’d add here Chicago and Caltech. Also in the job market it’s a threshold you need to pass not a raking, a degree from Berkeley will get you in the door just as any other from top schools, the rest is on you.

I see in state kids that are sensitive to cost choosing Berkeley and I know many that went to HYPSM for grad school.

[Anonymous]

HYPSM is likely to be the enjoyable/fun undergraduate experience though. Berkeley may be nearly or on par academically, but the campus/living experience seems less than ideal.

[Anonymous]

I have met MIT , Cornell Engineers. Never met a Princeton engineer . What say you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another reason why Berkeley is on the same level with HYP, this years Nobel Prize in Physics is shared between UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara.

A top tier place to be a professor, for sure. Doesn't have much to do with the undergrad experience, unlike at HYP where the prestige trickles down mich more regularly

What people don’t understand about prestige, it’s in the eye of the beholder. In some circles like specific industries and majors, the popular prestige metric doesn’t hold anymore. Berkley is a valid choice among HYPSM and I’d add here Chicago and Caltech. Also in the job market it’s a threshold you need to pass not a raking, a degree from Berkeley will get you in the door just as any other from top schools, the rest is on you.

I see in state kids that are sensitive to cost choosing Berkeley and I know many that went to HYPSM for grad school.

In state kids going there for cost reasons is one thing (similar to UVA). It is something altogether different to claim you are also going to an equivalent school. Nobody would choose Berkeley oos over these schools unless something is wrong with them or they are internationals who don’t know any better because they conflate international grad school rankings with undergrad study.

[Anonymous]

Berkeley prestige is entirely due to its graduate programs.. undergraduate is akin to a sweat shop

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saw the thread
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1264204.page
in the San Francisco forum on dcum. Always choose HYP over Berkeley?

What do astute adults on this forum say?

a fat lie and im in the bay area

Bay area parent with fully funded 529. It’s not a lie, if it was down to it my kid might choose Berkeley over HYP. He’s loading up on DE classes that are directly transferrable to UCB, so he could finish an undergrad degree in two years. Then he can move on to doing greater things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Berkeley prestige is entirely due to its graduate programs.. undergraduate is akin to a sweat shop

Are you aware undergraduate rankings exist? That’s if you want to measure prestige. Berkley stem undergrad programs are very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM is likely to be the enjoyable/fun undergraduate experience though. Berkeley may be nearly or on par academically, but the campus/living experience seems less than ideal.

What? Have you ever visited Yale? No way the “living experience” in New Haven compares to living in the Bay Area. I don’t love Princeton, NJ either.

Cambridge is great, not that different from Palo Alto or Berkeley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saw the thread
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1264204.page
in the San Francisco forum on dcum. Always choose HYP over Berkeley?

What do astute adults on this forum say?

a fat lie and im in the bay area

Bay area parent with fully funded 529. It’s not a lie, if it was down to it my kid might choose Berkeley over HYP. He’s loading up on DE classes that are directly transferrable to UCB, so he could finish an undergrad degree in two years. Then he can move on to doing greater things.

Reasonable opinion but most in Bay Area are obsessed with academic prestige and HYPSM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM is likely to be the enjoyable/fun undergraduate experience though. Berkeley may be nearly or on par academically, but the campus/living experience seems less than ideal.

What? Have you ever visited Yale? No way the “living experience” in New Haven compares to living in the Bay Area. I don’t love Princeton, NJ either.

Cambridge is great, not that different from Palo Alto or Berkeley.

I'm talking about the campuses themselves, not the cities surrounding them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM is likely to be the enjoyable/fun undergraduate experience though. Berkeley may be nearly or on par academically, but the campus/living experience seems less than ideal.

What? Have you ever visited Yale? No way the “living experience” in New Haven compares to living in the Bay Area. I don’t love Princeton, NJ either.

Cambridge is great, not that different from Palo Alto or Berkeley.

DP. I don't think the PP was comparing New Haven to Berkeley, but rather talking about the residential experience. Yale is famous for their residential colleges with wonderful advisors of all types (masters, writing tutors, etc.), dining halls, and guaranteed housing for 4 years. Rice has the same thing - it makes the college a smaller community within the university. Berkeley is huge and does not guarantee housing beyond the first year, so people have to scramble to find off campus apartments. Not unusual for state schools, but it's certainly not like Yale or Princeton or Dartmouth or any LAC where the students are all clustered together on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have met MIT , Cornell Engineers. Never met a Princeton engineer . What say you?

They,.along with the Caltech engineers, teach the MIT and Cornell engineers.

There are also fewer of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will depend on the major and the ambition.

Harvard and Yale are non-players in engineering or CS. I wouldn't recommend anyone at all does CS these days. But for engineering, Princeton and Berkeley are much more serious schools than Harvard or Yale.

But Berkeley comes with a lot of annoyances for an undergrad. I don't care for HYP and their stupid, undeserved status for undergrad, but I'd still suggest them over Berkeley today - even in the STEM majors for undergrad. Berkeley is not great for undergrads. Yale and Harvard may suck in engineering, but they have the means where a bright, motivated student can find a space and opportunities. Whereas Berkeley is a factory assembly line for every undergrad.

Harvard is a beast at cs and outplaces Berkeley at google

Capitalization, learn how to use it. Don't worry I fixed it for you.

San Jose state is the school for any bay area FAANG. The idea that any school is actually special for the FAANGs is foolish.....if you can code you can code. But if you want a school which has an actual edge go North to Waterloo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HYPSM is likely to be the enjoyable/fun undergraduate experience though. Berkeley may be nearly or on par academically, but the campus/living experience seems less than ideal.

What? Have you ever visited Yale? No way the “living experience” in New Haven compares to living in the Bay Area. I don’t love Princeton, NJ either.

Cambridge is great, not that different from Palo Alto or Berkeley.

I'm talking about the campuses themselves, not the cities surrounding them.

I think the PP was referring to how the campus environment is so intensely crowded. It’s lively but going to the library or dining halls or office hours is like going to Disney on its most crowded day. It has the reputation of being very divided, intensely competitive, stressful and lonely. The grading policies with deflationary curves leads some kids to sabotage others. Berkeley’s weird admissions leads to a hefty number of unethical, cheaters being admitted.

The surrounding town is awesome IMO but Berkeley is surrounded by the highest poverty areas in the Bay Area. There seem to be more drug addicted aggressive homeless people around than in San Francisco where the homeless are more chill. Berkeley’s wealth attracts muggers and robbers from nearby Oakland and Emeryville etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have met MIT , Cornell Engineers. Never met a Princeton engineer . What say you?

I think those kids usually end up consulting or Wall Street