Which is a better school for a computer science major between Stanford and UC Berkeley? What are some differences?
They both have exceptional computer science programs. Stanford is sometimes ranked a tiny bit higher, but that’s most likely only because it has a larger endowment and slightly more prestige, being a private school. The computer science education you’d receive at both of them would probably be very similar. The differences would be more in the environments of the schools as a whole (huge public school versus smaller private school, difference in proximity to san francisco, etc).
At either one, you will learn the theory and get plenty of practice at a high level.
However, the organization of courses can differ.
Introductory CS class size is huge at both schools (700+ at Stanford, 1000+ at Berkeley), due to the large number of aspiring CS majors.
I’d go with Stanford. It has more prestige. Their instruction levels are on-par.
What’s the price difference? Would you have to take out loans for either?
There are many, but for most that are picking between the two schools, it comes down to this: Stanford’s program is better, Berkeley’s program is less expensive (for instate, but for OOS its a no-brainer, pick stanford).