<p>Ok so I was admitted to both Caltech and UC Berkeley (Regent's Scholar) engineering.</p>
<p>I know that a degree from Caltech would be very appealing in terms of giving me the ability to tackle the most difficult problems of the world. But I also know that by going to Berkeley I can have more opportunities to pursue top programs in other fields, such as business.</p>
<p>I know that where ever I go I am going to pursue a double major whether it's in Engineering and BEM (Busienss, Economics, and management) from Caltech or a Engineering and Haas Business degree from Berkeley. Here are the pros and cons that I see it.</p>
<p>Caltech:
Pro: Top Engineering school that could open basically any doors to any graduate school in the country. Ranked 4th overall in the Nation for undergrad. Definitely more intimate and more freedom to do research.</p>
<p>Con: Small student body. Very focused in terms of subjects. EXPENSIVE. Feels very isolated and anti-social when I visited.</p>
<p>Berkeley:
Pro: Ranked higher in Engineering that Caltech (US News & World Report) and definitely higher in business. I have tons of AP and college credit that would allow for me to graduate at the most 3 years. Better social scene. I also feel like Berkeley would connect me more to Entrepreneurship than Caltech could ever do. Much less expensive as well (I am in-state and do not qualify for finaid)</p>
<p>Con: HUGE student body and less attention to each individual student. Less prestigious school overall than Caltech. But I am a Regent/Chancellor scholar so would that really make me have better standing than the average Cal student?</p>
<p>I consider myself a very academically determined person. I've scored a 1540/1600 (2340/2400) on the SAT and ranked 3rd out of 548 kids in my class. I did tons of activities and awards from my high school career. I always dreamed of going to a MIT or a Harvard, but was only able to be admitted into Caltech and Berkeley. </p>
<p>The no brainer was Caltech initially of course, but now that I think about it more and more, I am starting to feel like Berkeley would be a fun place to be studying even if I am not surrounded by the creme-of-the-crop students who have won major national competitions or something.</p>
<p>Berkeley has the 2nd best engineering program according to 2010 USNews, while CalTech is rated 4th(to further specify the comparison you listed).</p>
<p>However, I’d probably go with CalTech, especially if you want to double major. Berkeley has a reputation for grade deflation, and this may wreck your chances for grad school especially if you are considering a double major.</p>
<p>Berkley isn’t looking good with the current budget cuts and the likewise. I expect their inflated ranking to go down soon. Berkley is definitely NO social scene, so i wouldn’t chose based upon that.
CalTech is the school for better opportunities in engineering. CalTech’s degree carries far more into the real world, instead of a UCB theoretical degree.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say Berkeley doesn’t have a social scene either, from what I’ve read about it. It all depends on what you make out of Berkeley. If anything, I’d feel the lack of a social scene coming from CalTech, considering it’s a small private.</p>
<p>I guess social scene shouldn’t be a factor when deciding the college, i mean as long as you’re willing to go out and know people, people wouldn’t turn you down, would they? As for which college, i might be biased, but i prefer a smaller school where there is individual attention to the student, you are surrounded by people who have the same interests as you, and definitely the research opportunities at caltech is unrivalled.</p>
<p>many of berkeley’s graduate programs actually rank higher than caltech’s because caltech has such a small, focused faculty in many programs. </p>
<p>however, for an undergrad, i would probably choose caltech for the smaller class sizes… otherwise the undergrad programs are basically equally good and you can’t go wrong. go where you think you’ll have the best quality of life, or where you get the most aid, or where there’s a prof you’d like to work with, or whatever it is that you value the most. </p>
<p>there’s really no difference in reputation. berkeley is /not/ inflated, i think it has more top-5 grad programs than any other university. it’s deflated if anything, because public U’s don’t fare well in undergrad rankings.</p>
<p>I would say it would depend on your chosen field of engineering, but I think if you’re actually planning on double majoring in engineering and business, the school with the higher ranking in whatever engineering you’re doing won’t have much affect on your career choices. I just assumed that because of the fact that you’re planning to double major… so it seems as if you’re not planning on the normal engineering career path.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, CalTech is a world class world famous university, and to be honest, it’s foolish to pass up that sort of opportunity. Your argument for not wanting to be around the creme-of-the-crop students is lacking; it’s not like you won’t find such caliber of students at Berkeley either.</p>
<p>I think it all depends on your goals really, though I personally would think choosing Berkeley over CalTech is a shame.</p>