<p>Princeton is costing me 2K more a year...which would you choose? I know berkeley is #2 for ChemE, but Princeon is #8 so they are both pretty good. I didn't really like berkeley's atmosphere, but it is very close to home, so that's why im seriously considering it...haven't visited princeton yet, but people say its nice!</p>
<p>I know it seems like a fairly obvious answer, but being close to home is an issue for me as is receiving a world class undergraduate education. I have also heard berkeley has a better international rep. than princeton, especially in asia</p>
<p>Princeton’s only costing you 2k more a year? I would go there then. Berkeley does have a really good international rep, but I wouldn’t say better than Princeton’s.</p>
<p>I would say that Berkeley’s reputation in Asia is better than Princeton’s. However if you already don’t like Berkeley’s atmosphere, do you think you will be able to stand it for 4(!) years? If you end up unhappy at Berkley (which is very likely) you will always be thinking to yourself “Oh, if I only would have gone to Princeton”.</p>
<p>I mean, it depends. If you vastly prefer the atmosphere at Princeton, take it. Berkeley is big though, so you should be able to find things you like, and people who get along with you – and if that together with the proximity is enough to make you happy, that’s an option too. </p>
<p>Do what makes you happy in this case, unless you have something specific about Berkeley’s stellar chem program you want that you really don’t think you’ll find at Princeton.</p>
<p>There are a lot of bad things I can say about my one introductory chemistry class at Berkeley. I ended up doing well in the class because of great midterm grades, but that class was difficult for all the wrong reasons. To put it mildly, the textbook was crap. If there was a useful physically intuitive way of explaining an equation, it would be ignored or revealed in the most roundabout way. Labs made up 35% of the grade, but the grading was inconsistent and points would be docked for the dumbest things. For example, I was repeatedly docked points for using active construction on my lab report. As if truth in chemistry is dependent on whether I write “the sample was measured” and not “I measured the sample”!!! Dirty labs, cluttered lab drawers, equipment in need of replacement, etc. I could go on.</p>
<p>Maybe it gets better in the upper division courses. I wouldn’t really know. Again, I have only taken one chem class at Berkeley so the scope of this critique is limited.</p>
<p>^ It gets better at least for chemE, as I know from people who actually did the major. I’m sure it does for pure chemistry too. What Cal does badly in a lot of the lower division, it really often makes up for in the upper division.</p>
<p>Please don’t judge the Berkeley Chemistry Department by just one class (Chem 4A). The 4 series is a nightmare for most people, but if you truly like Chem (E), it gets much better as you go along. The more chem classes I take here, the more I am convinced that doing chem was the right decision for me. The introductory gen. chem. is a bit of a pain to go through, but trust me on this: the access to world-class faculty and resources as you get into the upper division more than makes up for that in the end!</p>