Which would be harder to get a high grade point average in? I’ve heard stories of the grade deflation at both schools, but which one would be tougher?
I plan on going to graduate school, so I’d prefer to maintain a 3.6-3.8 grade point average at both. If Berkeley’s classes would be harder, would the prestige of the Berkeley name make up for the difference in grades? Thanks!
Berkeley’s classes definitely are harder, but the program is tied at 2nd best in the world. Prestige would be fine.
For grad school, Berkeley will put you into contact with world-class faculty. For instance, several seniors I know in Pieter Abbeel’s lab (http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~pabbeel/) are going on to top grad programs (CMU, for instance), in part because of the research experience they were able to get as undergrads. Programs such as Vanderbilt often have a few star researchers, but it’s more hit-or-miss than at Berkeley, where there are dozens of professors with connections to the top grad programs.
Yes, absolutely.
Imagine you are in ad com of a PhD program, and a candidate has a praising LoR from an old professor of yours.
My D was accepted to 5 of the top 10 PhD programs. In 2 of these 5 cases, the interviewer was an advisee of the professor who wrote the LoR for my D.