<p>If you're to advise an affluent (rich) International Student who (assuming) got into Duke engineering as well as Berkeley engineering, Cornell engineering and CMU engineering, which school would you recommend and why?</p>
<p>If I had money I would not go to a public university. Horrible services. You’ll have to deal with some of the most ridiculous things. If you grew up used to being pampered, go to a school where they will take care of you. EECS might be good in Berkeley but think about happiness first.</p>
<p>I would have liked to go to CMU or MIT 
But I’m instate and not rich.</p>
<p>Berkeley is definitely the toughest choice for EECS program, but you get the most out of it.</p>
<p>Has our EECS department been affected by the budget crunch at all? I mean, I just look at Sutardja Dai hall and think otherwise…</p>
<p>Eh, in better times I would recommend Berkeley but many departments are forced to cut back on classes, so CMU it is.</p>
<p>The kid will graduate from a special science high school, which has an extremely competitive academic atmosphere, and will graduate in the top 10 of his batch. His high school is so competitive that at one time, a schoolmate (and her parents) sued another classmate for trying to poison her because she’s gunning for valedictorian and has a GPA pretty identical to the accused. lol</p>
<p>Historically, his high school sends 1 to MIT every year but about 2 or 3 actually received offers. (The other MIT admitted students usually go to H or Y.) I have no idea how many from his high school go to Berkeley but so far, I have not known any. He’s the first one I think that’s thrilled and determined to get into Berkeley and enroll, if and when accepted. But if you were to advise him, would you recommend Berkeley to him than any of the his other options? The kid is 101 percent sure to become an engineer. He doesn’t mind attending a large or small school.</p>
<p>Chairman Meow, how bad is Berkeley now in terms of “cutting back on classes”?</p>
<p>I don’t think I’ve actually been adversely affected by cutbacks but I mostly take classes in the EECS department (that’s why I was wondering how EECS was affected) so I don’t have any first hand experience with it. All I hear are stories from my friends who complain about lack of GSI’s, not enough discussion/lab sections, etc. in L&S classes.</p>
<p>Academically, I think Berkeley and CMU (SCS) would be the better choices. He will probably be treated better at CMU, although Berkeley might have more opportunities because of its sheer size. Berkeley might be a bit easier for him but I think most international students do well at places that admit few of them because of higher admission standards. The foreign students I’ve met tend to work hard and diligently, and they’re also smart – they do well at Berkeley, but that’s not too surprising considering the difficulty of getting in as an international student.</p>
<p>On another note CMU is more of a robotics, AI, and HCI school, from what I’ve heard (although I think Stanford and perhaps MIT might be better for AI, and Berkeley’s AI is getting stronger). Berkeley has a history of producing software systems and creating strong ties with industry – perhaps it’s more of an engineering school. I’m sort of fuzzy on this so don’t take this for complete truth but it would be worthwhile to spend some time looking at the research projects at these universities if your friend is planning to go to grad school.</p>
<p>CMU
Berkeley==Cornell</p>
<p>Duke</p>
<p>The kid will graduate from an extremely competitive special science high school in his country and he will graduate in the top 10. He does have any particular liking or preference at this point in time. He does not care about the size of the school. What he cares about is the academics and the strength of the engineering program. He has impressive stats, excellent ECs, football varsity, math club president, and his parents are very wealthy.</p>
<p>If ever he’ll get into Berkeley and enroll, he will be the first from his high school in the last 10 years. Historically, their top students attend MIT or Harvard. (There are probably about 20 from his high school at MIT now and the same number of students at Harvard.) This is like the first time in 10 years or so that a kid who belong to the very top of the graduating batch, and who can afford the US university fees without the need for financial support from the school, is very interested in Berkeley. I’m biased to Berkeley that’s why I’m not giving him a personal advice.</p>
<p>I suggest that he visit all these schools. Academics should be his top priority but what about how he feels living in these different environments for four years? Every school has its own characteristics and you can’t really understand them until you personally feel it for yourself. I visited every single college that I got accepted to. His affluent lifestyle may make him feel uncomfortable at Berkeley. A lot of spoiled children that I have met had a very very hard time at Cal both academically and socially. I wonder how a student feels being in a lecture hall with 500 other students after coming from a financially well-off private high school that had 15 to a class with personalized attention and support. I don’t think Berkeley is right for a lot of kids. For poor Cali kids like me, Berkeley’s my best choice because I get to pay in-state tuition. It’s not as big of a shock to me when Cal has this huge budget issue because I was so used to it coming from a HS that had financial issues. Most kids like me wasn’t provided with as much opportunity as the kids from private schools. Plus I do not have the money to pay for private colleges. If someone had that opportunity, he/she should make the most of it. Berkeley’s EECS program might be very good, but academics does not completely define college. Berkeley’s not a right place for everybody.</p>
<p>i second clear my mind. Berkeley is a great school, but i hate dealing with all these ****ty telebears/appointments and there are so many people in lectures that it is just insane.</p>
<p>I think if you have enough AP/IB credit to bypass the introductory courses and requirements so that you may concentrate on taking upper division/grad courses, Berkeley is actually pretty attractive. Of course, you also have to be fairly self sufficient and have a real tough Do-It-Yourself mindset to fully take advantage of what Berkeley has to offer.</p>
<p>Also, the weather at Berkeley is probably far better than CMU/Cornell.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. Berkeley if now out of the list for him. </p>
<p>Cornell, Duke and CMU would now be his top choices. If you’re to advise him, which school would you recommend for engineering (amongst Duke, Cornell and CMU)?</p>
<p>Duke, Cornell, CMU all pretty much are below Berekley in terms of Academics.
Duke would be better, but i personally like Cornell</p>
<p>^ But how can those 3 schools be “below Berkeley for academics” when - as everyone here except you is saying - Berkeley has loads of problems that any affluent, extremely smart student would have a hard time at Berkeley?</p>
<p>The quality of the courses are not affected by the bureaucratic difficulties. Sure, it may take a little while longer for someone to be “officially” enrolled in a class because they’re on the waitlist, but that does not mean that their EE120 class is any less rigorous or their CS61A class suddenly less enlightening. In that sense, Berkeley’s EE/CS courses are academically more rigorous than CMU (except in a few specific fields), Cornell, and Duke. For engineering in general, I believe Cornell is about the same as Berkeley with Duke and CMU being slightly less renown. Of course, MIT is definitely on top for engineering, but that’s not the say that Cal students cannot hold their own against MIT undergrads…especially in CS.</p>
<p>CMU >> Cornell > Duke for computer engineering. For EECS, Berkeley, Stanford, and MIT come to mind as the strongest graduate schools, and CMU is usually ranked very close or equal in some cases. CMU might not be strong with regards to breadth (it does have humanities and business majors, of course) but its School of Computer Science is the crown jewel. From a purely academic standpoint, Berkeley and CMU are probably the better universities for a computer engineer. (From my experience, tech companies also look to these schools more.)</p>
<p>There’s no hand-holding at Berkeley but I don’t even know what hand-holding would be. This guy is not the type to need it anyway – if he’s in the top 10 of his class he knows how to work hard and be smart.</p>
<p>As for the bureaucracy, you know how it is. That’s probably the worst part. You can judge.</p>
<p>As for budget cuts, EECS doesn’t seem to be affected that much. Also, for my major classes (EECS) I never had a problem getting into the ones I wanted. In terms of the lower division
CS classes (61A, 61B, 61C), you are even GUARANTEED enrollment. If the class is full, they will add more sections, period. For upper division it then gets easier.</p>
<p>I don’t know how much the rest of Berkeley students is affected by budget cuts and enrollment problems, but as an EECS major I haven’t dealt with it at all yet. However, I didn’t take lower division math/physics here so I don’t know about that. I heard that EECS students get priority though if they have declared their major (which, as far as I know, you need to do from the very beginning for EECS).</p>
<p>But I can see how a rich, affluent kid would have difficulties at Berkeley.
Between Cornell, CMU and Duke it would definitely be CMU for me. No question.</p>
<p>Berkeley/CMU (Only for EECS though, in general CMU may be better for undergrad)
Cornell
Duke</p>
<p>One thing to consider though is that CMU is not very renown worldwide. I don’t know where your kid is from but Berkeley and Cornell have a stronger name in many countries than CMU or Duke, regardless of how good the academics are.</p>