I got into both and was wondering which was better for biology I live in ca so the instate tuition for ucb will be much cheaper
I am in college of letters and science for cal and for cmu I got into both Dietrich and ms and also into two of the scholar programs
I’m a CMU alum living out in the bay area so I’ve met a number of Berkeley students out here. There are probably several ways to compare strength of biology programs. I think the most valuable for an undergrad is to compare the destination of people who graduated the program. CMU nicely compiles this information at this link:
https://www.cmu.edu/career/salaries-and-destinations/2014-survey/2013-2014%20Biology%20Post-Graduation%20Destination%20Data3.pdf
I don’t have an equivalent for Berkeley but that would be a good thing to seek out.
You should think about what you are looking to get out of your biology degree. Are you planning on trying for medical school, grad school? As you can see, the career options of a Biology related career with just a bachelors is limited.
If you have a specific interest area in Biology that might be good to find out what that school offers. For example, both CMU and UCB have good computational biology programs.
Size is another factor. UCB has a much bigger department. CMU is adjacent to University of Pittsburgh and there are opportunities with that as well. People who I have know that graduated UCB felt they were like small fish in a large pond. At CMU it’s probably easier to get to know professors etc.
Hmm thank you so much @Cahier I’m planning on going into medical school probably unless I won’t be able to make it with the GPA from these schools