<p>I don’t feel I have run into problems at Berkeley really because of the way the school is run. I somehow don’t hear much of a complaint from my engineering (generally EECS) acquaintances. They get into classes they want to, and often there’s enough space that * a huge number* of my own acquaintances are in the same class taught by a famous professor known and loved for his teaching.</p>
<p>For an affluent student into engineering, I don’t think the budget issues are really going to be an issue, and the weather and surroundings really make it sound like Berkeley would in general have more appeal than Cornell. The appeal of Duke is probably different. Among CMU, Berkeley and Cornell, my bias is extremely strongly towards Berkeley for this particular student.</p>
<p>Also, the nice thing is a strong student like that would have no trouble switching among the engineering departments (or for that matter any department) if his interests changed.</p>
<p>EECS? Cal is a no-brainer for an international (on the Pacific side). Cornell would be my second choice (or first for an international on the Atlantic side). Prestige is REALLY important overseas, and I think these two would travel better.</p>
<p>I can understand that from a standpoint of name recognition and prestige (especially internationally), there may be a lot of difference between the schools. </p>
<p>But in terms of what the student can get out of the program, isn’t it fair to say that for most schools at this level the limiting factor is the student himself and how much he takes advantage of what’s available, rather than the shortcomings of the school? My S is a soph at CMU, started off in SCS and changed to dual degree in ECS, and my impression is the school has so much more to offer than he has the time and ability to absorb. Wouldn’t this basically be the same with the Cornells and the Dukes?</p>
It depends on what you mean by “get out of the program”. If you are talking about access to professors, research opportunities, student services, clubs, etc, then you are right. All these schools have probably more to offer than any student can absorb and it depends on how proactive one is to go get these opportunities. I would say thatEECS at Berkeley is on par (at least) with most of the privates. I had have access to all my professors, tons of research opportunities, EECS job fairs all the time, tutoring widely available and great TA’s (Cal’s graduate students are without a doubt among the best in the world, if not the best. I think everybody here agrees.)</p>
<p>But what if what you want to get out is simply having a good time while getting your degree with a nice GPA? I don’t think Berkeley or CMU is the right school for that. I can imagine that a rich and affluent kid will probably hate the Berkeley environment/city and would be happier at Cornell for example.</p>
<p>What if you want to get the highest GPA possible to go to grad school or med school? I don’t think Berkeley or CMU are a good choice in that case either since (I might be wrong about CMU but that’s my image) grade inflation is much higher at Cornell/Duke.</p>
<p>No, don’t be mistaken…Grade inflation in engineering at Cornell is nearly absent. If you care about a high GPA, neither Berkeley nor Cornell are good choices. Not sure about CMU though.</p>
<p>The kid comes from a wealthy family but he lives like any normal, average kid. Money has not gotten into his head, so he’s not elitist, though he’s quite elite, if you know what I mean. No special treatment is given to him as what the parents would want for their child. It’s the reason why his parents are sending him to America - to learn to adapt to the real world. The parents don’t want their son to attend a school whose environment is superficial. </p>
<p>The kid has been to UCLA and USC before and said he loves both campuses, but he didn’t apply to either school. He has never been to Berkeley but he has heard and did extensive research about the school. He loves it very much and he’s thrilled to attend there someday. But the stories here due to budget cut are just too scary. It looks like the Berkeley empire will fall in a few years.</p>
<p>berkeley isn’t falling any time soon lol. It has been lasting for over 100 years as a prestigious public school.
Even with the budget cut, its gonna find a way out anyway by accepting more out of state/international applications, which would make ucb even better.</p>
<p>that kid coming to ucb doesnt affect the school at all. Let him be at a school that he likes.</p>
You’re right, but I wasn’t actually talking about rankings only.
I was more talking about the school experience. People at publics like Berkeley always complain about
not getting personal attention
not enough help with classes when struggling
not having enough access to professors and classes taught by TA’s
not having enough sections due to budget cuts
not having enough research opportunities, job opportunities
etc…</p>
<p>Thus I was saying that EECS in Berkeley offers all of this and I don’t miss anything here that I would get at private schools. EECS might be different from other majors and the “general conception” of Berkeley.</p>
<p>If I was given the choice between Cal/CMU/Cornell/Duke I would without a doubt chose Cal again. For me, the only reasons not to chose Cal for EECS would be:
Stanford or MIT
City of Berkeley and environment. I really hate it here. There are people who like it though.
Needing a high GPA for grad/med school</p>
<p>I’m international, so recognition was also a big point for me.</p>
<p>In terms of computer engineering and international prestige, I <em>think</em> Berkeley is at the top of those four. Next I would say CMU, which is very well-known for it’s contributions for computer science. As I said before, the job prospects from those two are probably better.</p>
<p>The GPA issue shouldn’t be too big of a deciding factor. Maybe it’s harder to fail at some of the schools but the difficulty of doing well is probably comparable across Berkeley and CMU for sure, not that I’m saying Cornell or Duke is a walk in the park. An international student has already “beaten the curve” just by getting into Berkeley - I would not be surprised to see him perform in the top 10% of the class if he continues to work hard.</p>
<p>I’m fairly sure for grad school, distinguishing from professional (AKA law, business, medical) schools, the wealth of top opportunity offered in EECS here more than compensates for the GPA knocks one may take. Cal may be bad for people who’re struggling to stay afloat, but for those who want to thrive in a good graduate school, likely they should be able to achieve a good enough (which hardly need imply perfect) GPA and do enough other things, take lots of interesting courses etc, leading to entry to a good graduate program.</p>
<p>The kid’s parents own a giant construction and real estate company in Asia, which has projects in more than 15 countries. The parents, as well as, the kid himself is dead set on pursuing and becoming an engineer. His other option is business or finance. But as what his parents are saying, there’s always MBA. The kid’s cousin, who was the valedictorian of her high school in an expensive, exclusive school, is a senior at Cal majoring in economics, and will graduate this year with top honors (dean’s lister). The cousin (very attractive Asian girl, extremely smart, very rich too, down to earth) is a die-hard Cal student who’s turning down Stanford Law for Boalt Law. I’m not sure if they’ve spoken about the kid’s plan on studying in the US, but I’d like to believe that the cousin has a strong influence to the kid.</p>
Thanks for correcting.</p>