Hi everyone, I paid my deposit to CMU Tepper School of Business a few weeks ago, but I was accepted off the Berkeley waitlist yesterday, complicating matters greatly for me. I am interested in business and entrepreneurship. Which school would you guys recommend?
Remember that business at Berkeley requires a competitive admission process to get into the major during your second year.
Net price difference?
@ucbalumnus cost is not a problem
I’d probably go with Carnegie Mellon for the guaranteed admission to the bschool. I visited Carnegie Mellon and had a great time, check it out. Though if you’re not 100% sure about doing business and would be happy with another major, Berkeley has better weather.
Hi, if i do get into Haas school of business, is Haas better than Tepper?
Also, if i don’t get into Haas, would majoring in economics at Berkeley be a good option?
Berkeley’s undergrad and grad business programs are generally ranked higher than CMU’s. Berkeley is also quite close to San Francisco/Silicon Valley which might be helpful for internships and whatnot. There’s definitely a lot more going on in the Bay Area than in Pittsburgh.
Berkeley’s econ is top tier. Their department has some of the best faculty and is generally ranked in the top 10.
Yes, Haas is better
Which school has better resources for entrepreneurship?
Also, which university has harder academics (i know both are quite hard xD).
Do you guys think the quality of life is better at Carnegie or Berkeley? I’ve seen some really negative posts about Berkeley, which is worrying me a lot.
If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, Berkeley is the better choice. There’s a strong entrepreneurial culture at Berkeley and the students and faculty are deeply involved in a number of entrepreneurial ventures. The students from different colleges collaborate with each other to launch their inventions to the market. There is now a solid support from the administration or faculty and alumni to guide you and mentor you or your group to ensure a very high success rate of your entrepreneurial adventure. The school will fund your projects or will look for companies or alumni to fund your projects. Berkeley is second only to Stanford in terms of the number of startups that have been successfully launched and brought to the market. However, the administration and alumni are not sitting down but are now collaborating and working with each other to beat Stanford, in terms of the number of startups and the amount generated through them, in the next couple of years. The business school (Haas), law school, engineering, L&S, Chemistry and UCSF are very active in promoting the culture of entrepreneurship, hyping up the entrepreneurial spirit in the whole campus and motivating the students to get involed into any entrepreneurial activity, and there clubs and orgs that you can join in where you can share the same interest and passion with your peers.
thx for ur replies. Also, if I am not super extroverted, do you think I can survive at Berkeley (I am not awkwardly shy though)?
Sure you will. There are all types of students at Berkeley and each type has its own group. You will certanly find people at Berkeley who share the same interests, passion, views and characteristics with you, so it’s not hard to fit in if you’ll go there. That said, your exposure and experience at Berkeley will develop your personality and would make you a confident person.
Wonderful choices and you can’t go wrong with either. I imagine that you have visited CMU and Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, tho not quite Palo Alto yet, has become quite the destination for tech firms and recruiting–specifically because of CMU. The quality of life and available housing will be an advantage at CMU. CMU is not a party school, kids who like to party seek out the University of Pittsburgh parties down the street. Also, the kids at CMU are some of the nicest most pleasant students I have met. It’s competitive, but not against fellow students–more that the kids’ want to do the best they can do for themselves,–not cutthroat at all. While at the same time its a very collaborative environment. Having spent a good amount of time there the last couple of years–it’s a special place. I am not a student, but the mother of a student who did pre-college courses there. She considered CMU and loved it, but ultimately didn’t want to stay in her home town. Best wishes and congratulations!
Which school is better in business?
Both are excellent b-schools. I’m a risk adverse person so I’d go with CMU to get the guaranteed b-school admission. I know too many people who went to schools and then could not get into their desired program.
Do you guys think majoring in economics at Berkeley will give me almost the same opportunities as majoring in business at Carnegie Mellon? If so, I would prefer to go to Berkeley i think.
Absolutely!
Berkeley’s economics department is top-rated and highly respected. The top employers as well as the academic people are aware of Berkeley’s economics strength, so you can be assured that an economics degree from Berkeley is a valuable and highly respected one.
Haas vs econ:
Although some people may observe that there’s a seemingly prevalent competition that exist between econ majors and Haas, the truth is it’s only a friendly rivalry. There’s still a great deal of respect and professionalism that pervades in the atmosphere between econ and Haas.
Econ majors who are pre-prof (meaning, those who are interested in having a career in banking and finance) and Haas majors usually participate in the same student clubs and share the same career-related information, such us, employment prospects, on-campus job interviews, etc… Others take the Haas BASE program to augment their lack of managerial/entrepreneurial acumen or to suffice business courses exposure such as accounting, marketing or management.
Take note that there are also many econ majors who are not interested in Haas (business). These are the students who would rather pursue grad/post graduate studies in economics or math or stats. There are also econ majors who double major or minor in other areas, such as cs or stats or math. And, also a number of econ majors are taking it as a preparation for a career in law. But for econ majors who are interested in banking, I think they have as much access to the top employers as Haas grads do. I think the career data which are published on Berkeley’s website are providing insufficient information about the career destinations of the fresh alumni. For example, in one of the frat houses I visited, the members posted the list of their members’ career destination, and some of the company names I saw weren’t on Berkeley’s website. I saw someone got into Yale Law and a couple of guys have landed a job at Bain. There’s McKinsey, Goldman, Blackstone and such prominent employers on that list, among others.
I’d encourage gou to visit the campus, talk to the department heads and staff, the students and also the alumni. I’m sure they’re more than willing to sit down and chat with you.
Do you guys think the quality of life is better at Berkeley or Carnegie?