<p>I have some dilema in my decision making that needs your advises. I recently got accepted to both Berkeley and Stanford MS degree in the Structural Engineering programs. Luckily, i got almost full fellowship/funding for both. For Berkeley, it's block grant fellowship of $24k/yr. On the other hand, Stanford appoints me CA/TA with the stipend of $24k/yr in addition to the tuition aid of $9500/yr. Those two offers are pretty appealing; however, i am not quite sure which program will fit better with my interest and personality.</p>
<p>I love to travel and am interested in pursuing an MBA later on in my career. Lately i just found out that a lot of business consulting companies such as McKinsey or Bain & Co hiring qualified engineers with competitive pay to work as Business Analyst. I really love the traditional engineering work; however, i think i would prefer dealing/coorperating with clients rather than sitting in the office and crunching in numbers. </p>
<p>As my research goes, Berkeley arguably has the strongest structural program in the country. However, Stanford grads tend to get higher respected and better paid jobs??? How about the alumni networking?</p>
<p>Anyone have any insight about this? How would you choose if you were in my seat? Any comments are appreciated. Thank you!</p>
<p>Have you visited the colleges, yet? If you have met any professors at either school whom you see yourself working with, base your decision mainly off of that. I hear that the “who you know vs. what you know” rule applies. Location-wise, I would pick Stanford, especially if you want to network in the Silicon Valley. How does Stanford’s tuition waiver of $9500/yr compare with Cal’s tuition? Are you in-state? It might come down to that.</p>
<p>I have visited both places and particularly impressed with the beautiful campus and well-equipped department of Stanford! </p>
<p>I am CA resident, so with generous fellowship offers from both schools, money will not play a big factor here. </p>
<p>I have a feeling that Berkeley heavily favors the admissions to their undergrade students while Stanford attracts more out of state and international applicants. This makes me lean towards S since i would have more networking out of college? Anyone plz confirm this?</p>
<p>Berkeley seems to have a much stronger program due to larger number of facuties and labs. Should I pick B for this reason though i am not interested in doing a PhD?</p>
<p>Well, maybe Stanford MBA is better, but what you are choosing right now is Structural engineering program! There’s no doubt Berkeley is the #1 for last 10+ years. You can always do MBA from somewhere else and build more connections, (doesn’t mean u can’t do this from Berkeley). You can’t go wrong w/ #1.</p>
<p>Especially at the cost of the tremendous networking availability at Stanford. The op’s intent is to get an MBA, and to that end the admissions committees would likely give him boosts for attending Stanford, even over Berkeley. At Berkeley, you’re just another number in the public school jungle. Whereas at Stanford, with limited class sizes and better research opportunities, you’re unique!</p>
<p>I’d definitely go to Stanford. Congrats on getting into both though, especially in the tough economy. ^^</p>
<p>I have spoken with some people who graduated from Berkeley and Stanford. They somehow believe that Master programs in structural engineering from schools over the country are more theoretical than practical. With that being said, one will only learn real designing when they enter the workforce. The amount of knowledge one learns in grad school is only foundational knowledge, and pretty much most of the schools cover the same curriculum in grad programs. If this is the case, i may lean towards Stanford since i may gain more networking and would be able to take classes in finance/MSE courses (due to the quarter system and more open policies) to consolidate my interest for business school. Anyway, i will visit berkeley again this weekend before i make my final decision. Thank you for comments!</p>
<p>Not true. Stanford’s engineering graduate enrollment is higher than that of Berkeley, so Berkeley grad class size may possibly be smaller. From personal experience at Berkeley, I’ve seen grad classes with as few as 5 students to as many as 15-20 students. I’ve audited a few grad courses as an undergrad at Berkeley and the average was about 10 students. If you decide to go to Berkeley, good luck getting noticed in that “jungle” of a class size.</p>