Hey I was fortunate to be accept into both of these great universities.
The total cost of attendance for four years for each will be:
Duke: ~$285,0000
UC Berkeley: ~$120,000
I want to pursue a degree in CS + Something else, a double major. Currently I’m leaning towards CS + Econ but I might do something else like CS + Bio or CS + (x field im interested in).
Could someone sell me on the advantages of going to Duke over UC Berkeley?
Is money an issue in your family? If not then go to Duke. If yes then go to Berkley. Both are great schools, which I’m sure you already know.
School spirit is high at Duke and closer links to graduate schools (law, medicine, business)
Duke pros: smaller classes (undergrad focus), better peers (on average), more prestige, better post-grad opportunities, much easier to register for classes, bigger endowment = more programs like Duke Engage, less homogenous student body, nicer campus (personal opinion), less grade deflation, great sports teams, not experiencing budget cuts!
Berkeley pros: cheaper, good international reputation, close ties to Silicon Valley, near a big city, great sports teams
Is the undergrad focus really worth 160k? I feel like I can do well in a large and competitive environment.
Only you can answer that question.
What do you care about most? What are you looking to get out of college?
You may not be thinking about this now, but by the time you have kids, it will be important.
Would you like to have your kids attend the same school that you did? Duke gives extra consideration to legacy applicants. I don’t believe Berkley offers any advantage to legacy.
^Choosing a school based on gaining legacy advantage for your children is a new one for me sgopal2! (Not trying to criticize you as I think your posts are by and large really thoughtful and truthful – just think this one particular reason is a bit of a stretch and quite humorous really).
@jundog: It sounds like you don’t have a major preference either way and would be happy at Cal. Berkeley has one of the top CS programs in the world so you wouldn’t be giving up much in that regard. It is totally a reasonable (and good) choice. Having said that, if you received no financial aid at Duke, your parents are probably pretty well off. It’s unlikely they’re going to be giving you $160k cash at graduation for choosing Berkeley over Duke (although if they are, that’d be interesting), so it’s not like it’s a $160k difference to YOU personally.
One of the things to keep in mind is that people change their minds in college a lot. The MAJORITY of people do not graduate in the major/department that they start in. That percentage is even higher in STEM where the coursework is challenging. So, while Cal is top notch in engineering/CS, if you want a university that may offer perhaps a wider range of “prestige,” Duke may afford that opportunity a bit better should you change your mind. It gives you that flexibility. I chose Duke engineering over Illinois and Michigan for several reasons although my finances were very different than yours as Duke offered me financial aid. Smaller class sizes/community, a great academic/social life balance and reputation, the opportunity to learn from and become friends with talented peers from all facets of the university, great weather (vs. IL and Michigan, not as much vs Cal), and a highly united and spirited student body that is proud to call themselves “Dukies” were at the top of my list.
Having said all of that, if you are 100% dedicated to CS and feel that you will be just as happy at Cal as at Duke, then I think Berkely is the obvious choice to save $160k of your parents money (just ask the 'rents to give you a very very nice graduation present…). For me, I thought my opportunity for growth and happiness was higher at Duke (and just found it a better “fit”) than the large-scale engineering powerhouse public universities, so thought it outweighed it in my case (but again, my financial decision was very different too).
You really can’t go wrong with your choice – good luck!
Yeah, the legacy thing is a bit of a stretch!
It boils down to this. Duke will have better teaching, better peers and more undergrad prestige. Berkeley has higher departmental rankings and is cheaper.
If you’re sure about CS, definitely go to Berkeley. Unless that much money means nothing to your family.
Although if you’re planning on double majoring, Duke’s CS curriculum is more flexible (for better or worse). We have a CS+Econ research group as well as a Computational Bio minor for your interests.
@MBVLoveless 40k a year sounds like a lot but there are some families for whom it is not particularly significant
The CS/EECS students at Berkeley aren’t less talented (less smarter) than their counterparts at Duke. The admit rate at Berkeley engineering is around 6%, and EECS being the most oversubscribed program there takes in even lesser percentage of its applicants, obviously. The college turned down thousands of applicants with near perfect SAT/ACT scores, many valedictorians, and those with a near perfect HS GPA. These are – perhaps – students who may be admitted to Duke had they applied (but didn’t due to Duke not being generally considered a powerhouse in CS and/or EECS.)
OP, Duke is surely a terrific school. It is highly respected and is full of very talented students who are very loyal to their alma mater. But Duke isn’t superior to Berkeley as a whole, and its CS/EECS programs are nowhere near Berkeley’s counterpart programs, which by all major ranking league tables put it at number 2/3 in the world. It is not insane to pay 160k more to attend a lesser ranked, less prestigious program. But if you have to pay more to get a much better deal, go for Berkeley. You’ll have an amazing time there. Your career opportunities would be better. You’ll have a much easier access to SV – the Meccah of IT, tech, engineering and entrepreneurship. The average starting salary rate for Berkeley’s CS grads is 100k and 108k for EECS.
Yeah, if OP is SURE they want to do CS, then Berkeley makes sense. However, Duke would overall give OP more opportunities should they decide to switch. I came into college thinking I wanted to do CS but I’m bailing after 2 courses.
Berkeley is well known for its EECS not for CS under L&S. If you applied to L&S you were admitted as undecided.
If you feel you will do well in large competitive classes most folks will say stay in State and save 160K. I know lots of kids of Duke parents who did not get into Duke so the “legacy” thing is not what people think it is. Also, Duke severely limits applying AP credit , I’m not sure about Cal. So look ahead at general ed. requirements at each place to see how easy it would be to double major.
It’s May 1. Just curious, what is the decision?
Ended up choosing Cal. Completely satisfied with the decision and looking forward to the next 3-4 years 
Congrats on your decision! Considering how big the tuition differential is, you made the right choice imo.
Definitely a great choice, but there was no bad choice in this scenario! Congrats!