<p>I have to decide between SCS at CMU and EECS at UC Berkeley. With May 1st looming, I have to choose one quickly. So I'd be grateful if you guys could answer a few questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How much better is the CS program at SCS as compared to EECS at Berkeley?</p></li>
<li><p>Is the width of courses available at CMU much larger than that at Cal?</p></li>
<li><p>How much difference does the larger class size at Cal make?</p></li>
<li><p>Does the location of CMU pose a significant obstacle to entrepreneurship?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Money and weather do not really matter to me. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>1) EECS, arguably, is one of the most prestigious degrees one can hold. I applied for it, didn’t get it :(. Not saying SCS is bad, but having a Berkeley Electrical Engineering and Computer Science degree is pretty dam prestigious. </p>
<p>2) You won’t need to worry about this at all for both schools.</p>
<p>3) From what I have heard, the upper division classes get quite small. That’s because there a lot less of EECS-ers than other majors.</p>
<p>4) No, but I still think you go to Berkeley. International prestige.</p>
<p>Berkeley EECS —+ all the way ma man</p>
<p>PS. I’m so jealous you have these two options</p>
<p>DS started with SCS and decided to double major in ECE at CMU. Landed great summer internships in the west coast for a couple of years and ended not coming back at the end of his junior year to be with a startup in Palo Alto. So while Pittsburgh clearly doesn’t have the entrepreneurship opportunities that CA has, there are many many companies that come to the CMU campus to recruit and there are lots of opportunities.</p>
<p>One observation DS had about the mindset in CMU and those at Stanford (he didn’t specifically comment on Berkeley) - in the former, the strategy is to get a job in a large company and aim to make VP; many of the Stanford CS grads aim at small companies and startups as a bigger priority.</p>
<p>As for specific course offerings, you can find that right on the university websites. Look for the requirements for each degree program, and then follow the links to the general catalog that lists all the courses offered at the university.</p>
<p>As an international, I get no fin-aid at CMU, and nearly none at Cal. The price is nearly the same, so that does not factor in.</p>
<p>I’ve gone through the catalog, and while CMU offers a large variety of courses in CS, what I’m wondering about is whether this disparity makes a large difference in the quality of the major since most of these courses are highly specialized.</p>
<p>If you can foresee that you would want to take some of the “highly specialized” courses, then yes maybe you want CMU. If you don’t think that you would be interested, or if there is evidence that you could cover the same material in independent studies, research projects with professors, or in other classes, then maybe you don’t need CMU. It really depends on your specific interest.</p>
<p>@Pratyush - Being from Engg/CS field myself, I agree with @happymom. You dont really make use of a lot of the specialized courses. So in that sense, I think Cal’s flexibility is great.</p>
<p>I think you are now trying to find some way to distinguish both programs by a thin hair. </p>
<p>Honestly, proximity to Silicon valley is a big plus for Berkeley…at least you dont have to fly out to interview and most of the CMU kids end up coming to the bay area for internships anyway.</p>
<p>Really the only distinguishing factor is the big and large school. If you are ok with the large public school set up, go with Berkeley.</p>
<p>@Dad<em>of</em>3 - So is your DS going to finish his undergrad locally in the Bay area? Or he doesn’t care anymore :)</p>