<p>I've been accepted to the three aforementioned schools. I'm debating which would provide the best education in the area of government/public policy/economics. I know Harvard seems to be the obvious choice. Does anyone have any comparative information on any or all of the three schools? Btw I live in San Francisco and want somewhat of a social life.</p>
<p>while harvard has a awesome reputation as a school, their undergrad isnt so hot. not to say that cmc or berkley's is any better, but just keep that in the back of your mind.</p>
<p>I'm going to CMC in the fall, and, from all i've read/heard, their social science is at the top of its game. The focus on undergrads/research ops is not something you'll get @ berkely or harvard, either.</p>
<p>Hi,
I'm going to make some generalizations, but they're not about scripps, so Zeusviolin can't get mad at me! So, I spoke to my friends at Princeton and Columbia in the lab with me. There seems to be plenty of smaller-classes, but they happen mainly past the first round of introductory classes. Discussion ections are usually lead by grad students.</p>
<p>Berkeley has a similar set-up. You have large classes with smaller sections; while you do have smaller seminar classes at times, it's not the 90% of the time you would at the claremonts. Again, you have grad students to contend with, both as discussion leaders(some are brilliant. some couldn't care less.) and as competitors for research positions. My friend had to solicit a grad student to solicit the professor to write a letter of recommendation for a job. I had to do one last-minute and could e-mail my prof directly for a letter five days from now. I've had the opportunity to get to know my relevant departments in great detail, too, with interesting-tho certainly less prestigious, on average, professors. For example, my concentration in International Relations is Eastern Europe. My girlfriend's ex goes to U Chicago, and is taking a lecture class (~200) people with the guy who wrote a big chunk of our reading list. Never really met the guy. I, on the other hand, got to have an entire conversation over dinner with him at the Athaneum's head table because my professor invited him to speak. </p>
<p>One advantage Harvard would have is their endowment--it's likely that they have a lot of money to throw at undergraduates. I'm not sure how much they do so; my friends at Princeton seem to have no problem fundraising, but one of the Columbia kids could only qualify for a 3500 grant for an internship with an international organization in the states or an internship abroad. For the exact same program, CMC gave me $5,000 this summer. I'm a big Berkeley fan, but I think you're better off considering Harvard or CMC. Granted, Berkeley is going to have a very different student body and social life than Harvard.</p>