berkeley is a veritable shithole close to oakland with homeless everywhere. i question if those on here have even visited. |
cs is eecs you dumbass |
Berkeley is not a nice place except in North Berkeley which is not really the campus area. It's urban and rough. There are lots of odd people who live there because it's very eccentric and has many different subcultures. This weird environment surrouds and comes into the campus. The bureaucracy is real, the place is huge abd super serious and there is no hand holding. You can make it if you're strong but it's not an easy place to live. Some people really, really love it but I did not. It's the place to go for the good academics, the prestige and the proximity to tech. But be aware it's challenging. |
I visited both with my daughter and felt much safter about her walking around Berkeley than I would have about the JHU area of Baltimore. We have friends who live in Baltimore who finally moved from the JHU area because of crime, even though they had loved it. Of course, everyone may have a different experience. |
Not buying this, the Home wood campus is in a safe area. Perhaps your friends lived near the medical school/hospital which is in a less safe area. |
Berkeley seemed bohemian but absolutely fine (it honestly looked like I imagined it would). I don't get how being "close to Oakland" matters much. Bronxville is about the same distance to the Bronx as Oakland is to Berkeley...but it's perfectly safe as well. |
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Op.
Thank you for all your input. It is clear that college experience will be better at JHU given the size and investment from JHU. One strong reason for Berkeley is that job prospects will be much better given the location and reputation. I'm wondering if anyone has a first hand experience about this claim. I looked at graduate survey from Berkeley and about 20% of CS majors did not find the job at graduation compared to 2 percent of JHU CS majors. This seems to suggest that even at Berkeley, you have to do well to get good jobs and I'm not sure if the students at JHU have any disadvantages in getting same opportunities with similar efforts. I started this deliberation thinking that Berkeley is the most obvious choice but thinking through many issues, I'm getting closer to 50/50. He seems also closer to 50/50. Maybe we will have to flip a coin in two days. |
go to linkedin and search for Hopkins grads at google/meta around california or DC. Plenty of them. |
this is laughable. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/us/uc-berkeley-private-security.html#:~:text=U.C.-,Berkeley%20Parents%20Hired%20Private%20Security%20to%20Patrol%20Near%20Campus,to%20its%20own%20police%20force. I dont think you’ve actually walked around telegraph ave and seen the homeless, crime, or businesses closing. |
| A genuinely tough choice. CS is a difficult major at this moment in time. But I think this is where Berkeley has all the advantages - provided the kid is a go-getter and good with networking and all that. California is where it's at. Whereas Baltimore is... Baltimore. Not exactly a hotbed of innovation. The connections made at Berkeley are going to be so much better - for the student who can take advantage of it. |
im from the bay area and would not send my kid to berkeley due to poor funding and overcrowding/ large class sizes. Stanford is a different matter. |
i genuinely dont think many of the people commenting here either work in tech or are from the bay. Hopkins cs places extremely well in fang as you can see from the student outcomes data. If you come to google mtv campus, in happy to give a tour as a Hopkins alum. |
Eecs is a separate program within the college of engineering with separate admissions process and only accepts around 80. |
| The day to day experiences at these schools will be so different. I am surprised your DC doesn’t immediately have a preference for one or the other. I would strongly prefer Cal, but I can see the appeal of JHU for a certain kind of kid. |
You really shouldn’t base your decision based on this site. Tons of ignorance here and maladjusted posters. Just look at the person who hates capitalization that has posted six or seven times recently. |