Hi guys I am OOS for Berkeley living in Maryland, and I’m deciding between these two great schools but I am torn because both have its pluses and minuses. I hope to eventually be involved in I-banking, financial engineering, and/or operations management in the future.
Berkeley Engineering is top-notch and offers limitless opportunities for internship and research, and would provide a traditional and “fun” college environment and feel because it is such a large public school. But because of that, I would just be “another one” of the kids in engineering. In addition, the cost is a little more than double for JHU.
On the other hand, JHU is a tight-knit community and offers a great AMS program but I’m not sure I will get the same amount of opportunities than on the west-coast. I like JHU because it will probably be a better learning environment as a private school, and would be significantly cheaper for me to attend.
Basically, is the cost for the prestige of Berkeley Engineering and a change of scenery (I am a Maryland resident) worth giving up a decent engineering education and a generous financial aid package in my home state at JHU? At Berkeley, I would pursue employment in the tech-heavy Bay Area, while on the East coast at JHU I may lean towards a career on Wall Street.
Thanks for any help! This decision will definitely change my life.
It’s not clear how much you will save from attending JHU with their financial package. But home state generally only applies to public schools, and those who would benefit from in-state tuition; I don’t see why it would matter much for a private, unless it has to do with your comfort zone. The aid matters, however. If significant, go to JHU. If the cost difference is minor, I might favor Berkeley, though there may be more difficult competition there. And I’m also not clear if applied math is the same as an engineering degree (that’s something I don’t know). If you are taking an engineering degree, I don’t think it would matter so much which school you choose. For a mathematics degree, it could matter a little more re: graduate school admissions, etc.
Sorry I didn’t make it clear. JHU would be about 20k while Berkeley would be around 45k. Berkeley Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) is essentially engineering + business, and would give a more direct approach to the workforce. At JHU, I may do a 5 year MS program that gives me a master’s in Financial Mathematics/Engineering, which I could use for investment banking.
If those are per year costs, I don’t think an extra ~$100K is worth it, unless you could do that without taking any student loans. The career tracks are very different, so a little difficult for me to advise. It sounds like the JHU opportunities are a much better deal, and highly regarded; for personal reasons, I have a little difficulty recommending investment banking when a career such as the IEOR track may be possible for you. That does not mean you won’t be successful.
$100,000 difference in favor of JHU makes a strong argument in favor of JHU, which has a good math department. JHU’s applied math and statistics department does have an ORish/finance flavor in some of its offerings. However, Berkeley’s economics department does have more math-heavy options.
JHU class sizes may be smaller, but not necessarily small, based on the on-line class schedules.
Assuming that your goal is finance, rather than actual industrial engineering where an actual IE degree would be desired, it seems like your first finance problem is to consider the $100,000 difference.
Talk on these forums and elsewhere seems to think neither school is a fast track to Wall Street like HYP are, though each may see minor amounts of Wall Street recruiting.