Berkeley vs HYP

[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.

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.

It depends on personal preference. If you want to live in a big city with vibrant life outside the campus, things to do, more of a real life feel, then you’d hate the small college town experience.

Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Living off campus has its own advantages for example living with the boyfriend/girlfriend, some of the best parties. Some just don’t like the undergrad dorm/frat experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Yeah, you're gonna need to back up that bare assertion with some evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

It depends on personal preference. If you want to live in a big city with vibrant life outside the campus, things to do, more of a real life feel, then you’d hate the small college town experience.

Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Living off campus has its own advantages for example living with the boyfriend/girlfriend, some of the best parties. Some just don’t like the undergrad dorm/frat experience.

Okay, but we are talking about UC Berkeley, not NYU or Columbia. I wouldn't call Berkeley, California "a big city with vibrant life outside of campus." I would say that most college kids at these top schools do not have a car on campus and are not big partiers anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Yeah, you're gonna need to back up that bare assertion with some evidence.

Within my circle of friends and acquaintances. Or you want a statistically relevant study? Ask around, talk to people, see if it’s a good fit. I say it from personal conversations with people I’ve known for years, and visited all campuses except Princeton. I know people from Yale and Dartmouth that transferred because they didn’t like it there, and it was not the academics. I also bet there are people that enjoy the experience. Why is it so hard to believe that it’s not for everyone?

I couldn’t care less about guaranteed dorm rooms for the full four years of undergrad. For various reasons, many want to live on their own and don’t need a babysitter and dealing with the drama and immaturity of teens.

Weird for posters to pick on the UC Berkeley library, one of the largest research libraries in the country, larger than the ones at Princeton, Stanford, MIT etc. lol at the Disney world comparison, it just shows how clueless some people are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Yeah, you're gonna need to back up that bare assertion with some evidence.

Within my circle of friends and acquaintances. Or you want a statistically relevant study? Ask around, talk to people, see if it’s a good fit. I say it from personal conversations with people I’ve known for years, and visited all campuses except Princeton. I know people from Yale and Dartmouth that transferred because they didn’t like it there, and it was not the academics. I also bet there are people that enjoy the experience. Why is it so hard to believe that it’s not for everyone?

I couldn’t care less about guaranteed dorm rooms for the full four years of undergrad. For various reasons, many want to live on their own and don’t need a babysitter and dealing with the drama and immaturity of teens.

Weird for posters to pick on the UC Berkeley library, one of the largest research libraries in the country, larger than the ones at Princeton, Stanford, MIT etc. lol at the Disney world comparison, it just shows how clueless some people are.

Why did you say so much if you weren’t going to answer their question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

It depends on personal preference. If you want to live in a big city with vibrant life outside the campus, things to do, more of a real life feel, then you’d hate the small college town experience.

Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Living off campus has its own advantages for example living with the boyfriend/girlfriend, some of the best parties. Some just don’t like the undergrad dorm/frat experience.

Okay, but we are talking about UC Berkeley, not NYU or Columbia. I wouldn't call Berkeley, California "a big city with vibrant life outside of campus." I would say that most college kids at these top schools do not have a car on campus and are not big partiers anyway.

You sound like a helicopter parent. It’s fine that you have a personal opinion about what you’d like for your child. It’s just mind boggling that you don’t fathom that others might want something different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Yeah, you're gonna need to back up that bare assertion with some evidence.

Within my circle of friends and acquaintances. Or you want a statistically relevant study? Ask around, talk to people, see if it’s a good fit. I say it from personal conversations with people I’ve known for years, and visited all campuses except Princeton. I know people from Yale and Dartmouth that transferred because they didn’t like it there, and it was not the academics. I also bet there are people that enjoy the experience. Why is it so hard to believe that it’s not for everyone?

I couldn’t care less about guaranteed dorm rooms for the full four years of undergrad. For various reasons, many want to live on their own and don’t need a babysitter and dealing with the drama and immaturity of teens.

Weird for posters to pick on the UC Berkeley library, one of the largest research libraries in the country, larger than the ones at Princeton, Stanford, MIT etc. lol at the Disney world comparison, it just shows how clueless some people are.

Why did you say so much if you weren’t going to answer their question?

What kind of evidence is to your liking, you’d want my friends phone numbers to check for yourself? Sorry, I don’t indulge internet weirdos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

It depends on personal preference. If you want to live in a big city with vibrant life outside the campus, things to do, more of a real life feel, then you’d hate the small college town experience.

Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Living off campus has its own advantages for example living with the boyfriend/girlfriend, some of the best parties. Some just don’t like the undergrad dorm/frat experience.

Okay, but we are talking about UC Berkeley, not NYU or Columbia. I wouldn't call Berkeley, California "a big city with vibrant life outside of campus." I would say that most college kids at these top schools do not have a car on campus and are not big partiers anyway.

You sound like a helicopter parent. It’s fine that you have a personal opinion about what you’d like for your child. It’s just mind boggling that you don’t fathom that others might want something different.

I can imagine different reasons why someone would want their kid to go to UC Berkeley over Yale, Princeton or Dartmouth, but "living with the boyfriend/girlfriend" and "best parties" are not high on my list of priorities for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Yeah, you're gonna need to back up that bare assertion with some evidence.

Within my circle of friends and acquaintances. Or you want a statistically relevant study? Ask around, talk to people, see if it’s a good fit. I say it from personal conversations with people I’ve known for years, and visited all campuses except Princeton. I know people from Yale and Dartmouth that transferred because they didn’t like it there, and it was not the academics. I also bet there are people that enjoy the experience. Why is it so hard to believe that it’s not for everyone?

Way to move the goalposts there.

Your original claim was that "most" people who attended these schools said it's boring and sheltered...not that these schools aren't for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

It depends on personal preference. If you want to live in a big city with vibrant life outside the campus, things to do, more of a real life feel, then you’d hate the small college town experience.

Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Living off campus has its own advantages for example living with the boyfriend/girlfriend, some of the best parties. Some just don’t like the undergrad dorm/frat experience.

Okay, but we are talking about UC Berkeley, not NYU or Columbia. I wouldn't call Berkeley, California "a big city with vibrant life outside of campus." I would say that most college kids at these top schools do not have a car on campus and are not big partiers anyway.

You sound like a helicopter parent. It’s fine that you have a personal opinion about what you’d like for your child. It’s just mind boggling that you don’t fathom that others might want something different.

I can imagine different reasons why someone would want their kid to go to UC Berkeley over Yale, Princeton or Dartmouth, but "living with the boyfriend/girlfriend" and "best parties" are not high on my list of priorities for my kid.

That was in reference to living off campus at any of those colleges. I’m glad you decided to be spokes parent for your kid, who as far as you know is a nerd that recoils at the thought of intimacy with the opposite gender while in college. Feel free to go with the most prestigious college in your circles, and find them someone you approve of in the undergrad dorms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d take any of the ivies over Berkeley

Like Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell over in state Berkeley for stem? Yeah, no way.

Definitely yes. Those ivy schools are miles ahead of Berkeley in prestige. And prestige exists for a (good) reason.

Do you always use the word prestige in every sentence?

Not true, a Berkeley stem degree caries more weight. Yale, Dartmouth and Cornell are in the middle of nowhere. Berkeley is close to Silicon Valley, can get research opportunities at Lawrence Berkeley up the hill etc. Sure the classes are large and harder to get in, less hand holding. If you can’t handle that Berkeley is not a good fit and look elsewhere.

The truth is Berkeley is full of lottery winners who are trash students. They’re definitely not a good fit for Berkeley but they got in regardless. The days when Berkeley cs students ride the Silicon Valley waves will be long gone.

Just because Berkeley is test optional it doesn’t mean it’s a lottery, they still select the top students because they’ll look at AP exams, dual enrollment, grades, extracurriculars, which are all correlated with SAT scores.

I am a CA resident and while it’s too early I’d definitely think carefully between Berkeley vs Ivy if my kid got in. I already have more than the ivy tuition covered in a 529 account, so it’s not only the cost but also top students here take dual enrollment classes worth one year of college credits, so that opens the opportunity to get a BS and master degree in four years. I’d pass Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, and Yale in favor of Berkeley or UCLA any time. Nobody here cares about UVA.

Not sure if you can the difference between test optional and test blind.

Meant test blind, the point still stands.

Yeah, but that's a pretty big point. Berkeley won't even look at a 1600 or 36. At least with the test optional schools, there's an opportunity for smart kids to distinguish themselves by submitting scores. I think somewhere during Covid and BLM and all that noise, the UCs really embraced that colleges' primary purpose should be social mobility. And that changes things. There is a lot of mediocrity at Berkeley and admissions feels very random today. And the fact that you can use APs to graduate from Berkeley in a soft major in a couple of years further diminishes the experience and the brand. I don't think HYP are great either for undergrad, but for different reasons. Fortunately, there are more than four schools in America, and people can make their choices.

I agree test blind is wrong, but that doesn’t mean Berkeley is all of a sudden a lottery of undeserving students. I bet the students chosen in the test blind process have high standardized scores even if not considered.

Also, a test score is just a data point, not the absolute best method to select students. It didn’t change dramatically the student profile.

They absolutely do, the SCOIR data at our school shows a very high correlation between SAT score and UCB admission.

This 100%.

[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.

Another UC Berkeley faulty shares this year’s Nobel prize in Chemistry.

The morons comparing UC Berkeley with UVA have never looked more stupid.

But sure, UC Berkeley is an overrated state school with tons of Nobel prize winners.

a great grad school. undergrad not so much

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Stanford is actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d take any of the ivies over Berkeley

Like Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell over in state Berkeley for stem? Yeah, no way.

Definitely yes. Those ivy schools are miles ahead of Berkeley in prestige. And prestige exists for a (good) reason.

Do you always use the word prestige in every sentence?

Not true, a Berkeley stem degree caries more weight. Yale, Dartmouth and Cornell are in the middle of nowhere. Berkeley is close to Silicon Valley, can get research opportunities at Lawrence Berkeley up the hill etc. Sure the classes are large and harder to get in, less hand holding. If you can’t handle that Berkeley is not a good fit and look elsewhere.

The truth is Berkeley is full of lottery winners who are trash students. They’re definitely not a good fit for Berkeley but they got in regardless. The days when Berkeley cs students ride the Silicon Valley waves will be long gone.

Just because Berkeley is test optional it doesn’t mean it’s a lottery, they still select the top students because they’ll look at AP exams, dual enrollment, grades, extracurriculars, which are all correlated with SAT scores.

I am a CA resident and while it’s too early I’d definitely think carefully between Berkeley vs Ivy if my kid got in. I already have more than the ivy tuition covered in a 529 account, so it’s not only the cost but also top students here take dual enrollment classes worth one year of college credits, so that opens the opportunity to get a BS and master degree in four years. I’d pass Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, and Yale in favor of Berkeley or UCLA any time. Nobody here cares about UVA.

Not sure if you can the difference between test optional and test blind.

Meant test blind, the point still stands.

Yeah, but that's a pretty big point. Berkeley won't even look at a 1600 or 36. At least with the test optional schools, there's an opportunity for smart kids to distinguish themselves by submitting scores. I think somewhere during Covid and BLM and all that noise, the UCs really embraced that colleges' primary purpose should be social mobility. And that changes things. There is a lot of mediocrity at Berkeley and admissions feels very random today. And the fact that you can use APs to graduate from Berkeley in a soft major in a couple of years further diminishes the experience and the brand. I don't think HYP are great either for undergrad, but for different reasons. Fortunately, there are more than four schools in America, and people can make their choices.

I agree test blind is wrong, but that doesn’t mean Berkeley is all of a sudden a lottery of undeserving students. I bet the students chosen in the test blind process have high standardized scores even if not considered.

Also, a test score is just a data point, not the absolute best method to select students. It didn’t change dramatically the student profile.

They absolutely do, the SCOIR data at our school shows a very high correlation between SAT score and UCB admission.

This 100%.

+100 Very high correlation at our Bay Area private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

It depends on personal preference. If you want to live in a big city with vibrant life outside the campus, things to do, more of a real life feel, then you’d hate the small college town experience.

Most people that went to Yale, Princeton, or Dartmouth say it’s boring and sheltered.

Living off campus has its own advantages for example living with the boyfriend/girlfriend, some of the best parties. Some just don’t like the undergrad dorm/frat experience.

Okay, but we are talking about UC Berkeley, not NYU or Columbia. I wouldn't call Berkeley, California "a big city with vibrant life outside of campus." I would say that most college kids at these top schools do not have a car on campus and are not big partiers anyway.

+1. You don’t go to Berkeley for “a big city with Vibrant life”. Lolol!