<p>LMY was accepted to Cambridge and Berkeley. At Cambridge, LMY will have to study geography with virtually no chance to change majors while at Cal, she can choose to major in economics, business or CS. LMY thinks that the majors and knowledge acquired at Cal will have more vocational benefits than a geography degree in Cambridge. LMY thinks that Cambridge is more prestigious than Cal but the Cal experience may be more well rounded.</p>
<p>I would appreciate if you share your thoughts.</p>
<p>What’s LMY?</p>
<p>Anyways I wouldn’t study geography at Cambridge (unless geography was my passion).</p>
<p>Seems like Cal is what you’re looking for!</p>
<p>Flexibility is very important and there aren’t many limitations to what you can major in at Cal. A lot of people double major here, few even triple major. And Berkeley is extremely well-known around the world and will get the attention of academics everywhere. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.</p>
<p>So I have a friend at University of Edinburgh (He’s a 4th year now) and it seems like cambridge has a similar thing where they basically give a pretty strict limit on what majors people can do. As a result, my friend was forced to started off as an Astronomy major or history major (basically, something pretty useless compared to what he wanted), but was able to switch and is now a CS major, but he basically studied random astronomy courses for one year because he had too. So if your child (LMY?) really likes geography, I guess go for it.</p>
<p>As for The Prestige, I would say that American Universities are probably the best - particularly Berkeley (which is great for American standards too). </p>
<p>I may be biased to say Cal becaue I go here, so you may want to take that into account, but that is what I’ll say here. </p>
<p>Plus, USA>Europe, come on.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for your inputs. LMY is my kid’s initial. I have similar feelings.</p>
<p>My two cents, having known kids who go to Cambridge:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The tutorial system is unrivaled anywhere in the world. It is completely unique to Oxbridge and invaluable. You alone, or you and a couple of other students, sit with a PROFESSOR every week and discuss that week’s readings and the 20 page papers – yes, 20 – each of you will have written on that week’s research. Iincomparable one-to-one education.</p></li>
<li><p>If you get into a subject that you hate after the first term, you can change. It is a myth that you are stuck with what you first choose. The school would rather have you there and paying than not. The trick is, you can do this with liberal arts (switching from english to history), but probably not switch from liberal arts into the sciences.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Also, if I may point out and withstand the flamers, Berkeley is more than 50% Asian these days – Cambridge is far more diverse.</p>
<p>I totally agree that the tutorial system at Cambridge is highly regarded and unique in addition to its brand value. It makes a Cambridge education very valuable. My concern is the chance of changing from geography major to Economics or CS. According to the info that I’ve gathered recently, it is a extremely low possibility. Of course, switching to a history or English major may be a distinct possibility after one year, I guess. If we consider Cambridge doesn’t have a notable prestige over Berkeley, Berkeley is more flexible.</p>
<p>" If we consider Cambridge doesn’t have a notable prestige over Berkeley"</p>
<p>Well…as a fact of matter, it do have a notable prestige over Berkeley; 98% would agree with that. Berkeley is not Stanford… Nevertheless the case in point is that Cal is a great school for graduate studies, but not necessarily for college experience; larger classes, etc. Sure, it’s not bad at all, but not comparable with the Cambridge tutorial and college system. On the other hand, the British system is indeed more narrow; some love this, some hate.</p>
<p>Hey placido240 - Your comment deeply offends me. How can you say that being over 50% Asian is not diverse when Cambridge is over 75% white? Why is it that you group all Asians together, rather than see the diversity among them? Is it ignorant of me to say, for example, that all white people are the same? </p>
<p>Looking at the numbers, Berkeley has a larger student population and despite the low percentages, there are actually more students of different ethnic backgrounds. As a student here at Berkeley, I feel that if you can make the effort to know people of different backgrounds, instead of sticking your own group. </p>
<p>Let’s be honest here, placido240, you feel uncomfortable being a minority, especially among Asians. </p>
<hr>
<p>With regards to the original question, my time at Berkeley has definitely allowed me to grow and experience the real world. Berkeley has a much bigger socio-economic diversity when compared to Cambridge. I personally feel that Cambridge is in its own bubble where the students are pampered. Adjectives that come to mind are “pompous” and “frivolous”, (maybe that’s just me or the impression of British tradition). Berkeley toughens you up for the real world, where no one is there to hold your hand and guide you. You get what you put in, nothing more and nothing less.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Cambridge probably allows you to make pretty good connections.</p>
<p>Having said that, I want to reply to placido240’s point about supervisions. Cambridge’s supervision system is indeed very impressive, and it’s nice because you don’t really have to put in effort to get one-on-one sessions with professors. However – you can also get that here, but it requires you to be much more proactive: going to office hours, choosing small classes, or better still, taking a graduate seminar.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t immediately discount Cambridge just because of reasons of flexibility (though it may very well be your turning point). Another thing that should be considered is the assessment style. At Cambridge you regularly write long essays but they don’t affect your grade, since what really matters is your performance in the end-year examinations. And if I recall correctly, the eventual class of your degree is determined solely by your performance in your final exams at the end of your third year. Talk about stress! Whereas Berkeley has a GPA system that basically means that every assignment, every midterm, every final, every class is important – and this constant pressure can also be pretty intense. Which would your kid prefer?</p>
<p>Awesome thread . . . why- I cant wait for RML to arrive</p>
<p>Berkeley’s diversity problem isn’t necessarily an ethnic one. It’s that almost all the in-state students come from the same high-performing 15-20 public high schools in California, which are all located in well-to-do, suburban, white/Asian high schools with good teachers, located with 35 miles of San Jose, Los Angeles, Irvine, or San Diego. In terms of “life experiences,” or perspective, I’d say Berkeley is one of the least-diverse schools in America.</p>
<p>That being said, it’s criminal how under-represented African American students are. ~2%?? Outrageous. And Hispanic students have something to complain about as well. But that’s another topic entirely.</p>
<p>I appreciate all these thoughtful inputs. I have the same impression that Berkeley resembles the real world while students at Cambridge may be pampered… We’re still deciding however.</p>
<p>placido240 wrote "Also, if I may point out and withstand the flamers, Berkeley is more than 50% Asian these days – "</p>
<p>It seems this dude ‘placido240’ got serious issues with Asians.
Too bad, at Berkeley they are a majority and there’s nothing you can do about it.</p>
<p>Well seeing as Asia has the largest population out of all the continents, isn’t it natural that Asians will have the largest representation at a school where affirmative action is banned? Common sense, isn’t it?</p>
<p>make sense!</p>
<p>speaking of connection, how is the Berkeley alumni connection?</p>
<p>@triplectz – since UC Berkeley is a public university, of course it will give priority to in-state applicants whose parents pay taxes to the state. Regarding your faulty statement of most students coming from top high schools in wealthy suburbs, a bulky 33% of its student population qualify for need-based financial aid. and how is it “criminal” that African Americans and Hispanics are under-represented at Berkeley? is it “criminal” that UC Berkeley admits students based on MERIT? Berkeley exists for students who want to succeed in life with world-class education. so what good does it serve if you allow students from all kinds of random backgrounds just so the school can boast that it really has a diverse population? so stop your biased and faulty assumption that only wealthy Asian and white kids attend Berkeley. the stats prove against you. there are lots of high-performing kids from low-income backgrounds who are attending Berkeley now.
another fact that you need to know and for that matter most people need to know about UC Berkeley is that it is a research institution and NOT a school and in order for it to fuel this reserach engine, it will weed out the best of the best.</p>
<p>@pratyush795</p>
<p>wat.</p>
<p>OP, may I ask where are you from? I would say this choice would absolutely boil down to very different systems of education and your child’s personality. Is he undecided on what he wants to do and willing to explore or zeroed in on getting a good degree and a job thereafter? I was educated under the British system in my high school years and when I came upon the American liberal arts, it was enlightening because I was able to take classes in things that I never even considered taking. It was enlightening compared to my friends who went to universities in the UK but if your kid is not the kind to take initiative like most students in the secondary school system that I know of that has one big exam at the end of the semester usually are and if he knows absolutely what he wants he would be better off at Cambridge.</p>
<p>Also to note, it would probably be better for your child in terms of finding employment opportunities in the UK (if he goes to Cambridge) than if he were to find employment in the US (Cal) if he has any plans of working abroad (if he’s international in both countries).</p>