Berkeley vs Carnegie Mellon Economics

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
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<p>After an intense stretch (and many rejections), I got accepted to and narrowed my choices to:</p>

<p>1) UC Berkeley (undecided social sciences)
2) Carnegie Mellon (economics)</p>

<p>BERKELEY PROS</p>

<p>-high prestige
-strong academics
-amazing campus
-good weather
-feels "different," fresh smell of salt from the ocean, yet still west coast
-San Francisco WOOT</p>

<p>BERKELEY CONS</p>

<p>-extremely competitive (i'm trying for econ)</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon PROS (haven't visited yet)</p>

<p>-high prestige, although arguably lower than berkeley
-strong academics
-east coast
-specific major already decided (not undecided)</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon CONS</p>

<p>-bad weather
-low endowment?
-from what i heard from my friend, pittsburgh isn't that welcoming</p>

<p>About myself:</p>

<p>I'm really into astronomy and chess (club presidents for both at my school) and badminton (team captain). I'm also really into road biking, which is pretty much 90% of my work out.</p>

<p>I'm decently social, nobody really hates me in high school and I have my "groups" that I hang out with. Not sure if it makes a difference, but I'm really sarcastic. I also like smart people who aren't cocky.</p>

<p>I'm really laidback in high school but maintaining straight As isn't hard if I keep one eye on my academics. Our school is supposed to be pretty hard (best boarding school in the west). The only thing stopping me from registering at Berkeley immediately is the fact that I heard there's a huge cutthroat attitude there, even more predominant than in schools like Northwestern, the Ivies, or like schools.</p>

<p>I change my mind a lot, must've changed my major like three times before deciding on econ (hence the undecided on my earlier UC apps) but I intend to major in econ if going to Berkeley. As of now, I plan to get an MBA sometime after graduating but I wouldn't say it's a completely decided matter since I'm somewhat fickle.</p>

<p>Not to be arrogant or anything, but I'm fairly smart. No Einstein or anything but I can hold a conversation =)</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

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<p>UCBerkeley.</p>

<p>Pittsburgh got hills and narrow streets. Very dangerous for biking.<br>
CMU is not a bike friendly school.
The cohort at CMU Economic will clean your wheels.
Heavy math requirement for economics.
The cohort also know pretty much what they want, just a few will change majors.
No astronomy even though Carnegie and Carnegie Foundation funded Palomar and CalTech.
Its not East Coast, only an Eastern State.
The state where CMU resides is not relevant. Most students are not from PA.
Endowment is also not relevant. If you have financial need or if you are awarded a grant, does the endowement matter.</p>

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<p>While the streets of Pittsburgh aren’t that great to bike on, I know there’s a decent amount of people that do lots of offroad/trail biking in the area. When I was at CMU there was a fairly active group that I heard talking about tons of trails in the area (CMU is also adjacent to a very large park, so there’s plenty of biking on paths there).</p>

<p>I remember there also being an astronomy club, and they’d go up on the roof of Ween hall for stargazing and whatnot.</p>

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<p>thanks for your replies</p>

<p>how are the respective econ programs?</p>