Hi friends,
Can you please help me to pick between Berkeley Vs Duke (Major :Computer Science/Data Science ). Cost of attendance is same. We live in NJ.
Two great schools, very different experiences. You know you: where are you likely to shine?
Can you please be more specific about “very different experiences”.
Also , If someone My son like to do future study , Not like to start job right after undergraduate, which one is better.
Also , we are international. so please consider that aspect too.
UC-B is a large state university and Duke is a medium sized private university. If you are international, UC-B it is probably closer to what you are used to than Duke. At UC-B ~75% of students live off campus, and Duke is almost the opposite- about 85% of Duke undergrads live on campus.
I am not a CompSci expert, but as I understand it, CompSci is an ‘impacted’ subject at UC-B and it may not be as easy to get the classes you want when you want them. Some resources, such as advising, may be more limited as well. Duke, as a wealthy private school, will have some nice ‘extras’.
For getting into graduate school they are comparable.
Does he have an opinion? If he feels strongly about it, I would be inclined to let him go where he thinks he will do best. There isn’t a ‘wrong’ choice here
Mostly, they just make the CS classes bigger, but also limit the number of students into the CS majors to control enrollment in upper level courses, where EECS and L&S CS majors have priority to enroll in them. Lower level courses prioritize declared EECS majors and L&S undeclared first and second year and recent transfer students.
https://eecs.berkeley.edu/resources/undergrads/cs/degree-reqs/enrollment-policy
EECS students are directly admitted to the major, but L&S students (all of whom are admitted undeclared) need a 3.3 GPA in the first three CS courses to get into the major (these CS courses are not graded on a curve).
https://eecs.berkeley.edu/resources/undergrads/cs/degree-reqs-lowerdiv
So joining in L&S doesn’t guarantee for CS upper and it is B+ in 3 subjects.
But i think with B+ also , may seat limitation also there . DO you have any idea. How many they actually allow for upper level classes.
You can look in the class schedule.
They do allow the upper level courses to get quite large. For example, the machine learning course had 728 students for spring 2020.
https://classes.berkeley.edu/content/2020-spring-compsci-189-001-lec-001
With the uncertainty of major at Cal, I would go with Duke. More resources per capita undergrad there in any case.
The fact that Cal puts limits on admission to the major is enuf to swing my rec to Duke. (assuming CS in L&S and not EECS.)
Both schools are excellent and either would prepare one well for grad school (or a job).
I’d go to wherever you can get more personalized attention, which will almost assuredly be Duke. Berkeley is great for grad school, but I consider it to be like other big, state flagship for undergrad.
If you are really interested in CS/DS and are willing to put in the work, go to Berkeley. There is no comparison between Berkeley and Duke as far as CS/DS is compared. But be prepared to work hard. You need a B+ average in 3 courses (61A, 61B and 70) in order to be able to declare CS as your major at L&S in Berkeley. DS can be your back up major and the GPA threshold is lower. The proximity to silicon valley means that there are much better internship opportunities at Berkeley. As others have pointed out, you will get a lot less hand holding in Berkeley, compared to at Duke. In Berkeley, you are very unlikely to be able to live on-campus after your freshman year - there just isn’t enough housing and most upperclassmen stay off campus. The quality of housing at Duke will be much better. As a campus, Berkeley will be a lot more vibrant than Duke.
^ Eh, plenty of Duke grads go work in Silicon Valley. At the undergrad level, it’s actually not clear Cal is better. You’d have to provide details.
As for campus vibrancy, if anything, Duke has more school spirit.
Have you already been accepted by Berkeley EECS? If so, I’d pick Berkeley. Duke will offer more personal attention and better college experience, but for CS, Duke just doesn’t offer a product comparable to Berkeley’s.