What would you choose if you have no problem going either one? It became very tough to choose only one in less than a month now.
Amherst for BA. Berkeley for PhD.
I would say Amherst. The small faculty to student ratio at Amherst would produce a far stronger education in English than at Berkeley since professors will have much less time to spend developing each major’s talents. Furthermore, Amherst is the third best college at producing English Ph.Ds; Berkeley doesn’t even rank in the top 10 http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-colleges-where-phds-get-their-start/