Hey everybody!
I’m grateful to have gotten into two schools well-renowned for computer science: Cornell and Berkeley, and am now tasked with narrowing down my decision to just one of them.
I know Berkeley is typically regarded as the best school for computer science, tied with MIT/Stanford/CMU, whereas Cornell is slightly lower in the hierarchy but still very good (I believe U.S. News has them ranked as the number 6 CS school, although I know rankings are nothing to go by). Berkeley would seem to be the obvious choice, however, as an OOS student, it will be tremendously expensive. Cornell is also smaller than Berkeley, and although I am still waiting on their FA package, the Ivies are typically known for being relatively generous. Berkeley’s location is undoubtedly superior, whereas Cornell has more natural beauty. Both schools are known for being fairly rigorous and stressful. I know at Berkeley I will have to “apply” for CS and maintain a 3.3 gpa in the lower div courses, something I’ve heard is often risky. Cornell has a 2.3 gpa requirement to commit to CS, so that is definitely more manageable in a sense. I am currently leaning towards Cornell, so I was wondering whether anyone here would be able to provide any thoughts or analysis that could potentially sway me towards Berkeley, or whether you guys agree with me in the sense that Cornell would likely be the better decision here.
Thanks!
R u also waitlisted at upenn… will u not accept the waitlist spot thr.
@USUG21 yes I am definitely accepting the waitlist spot there, since Penn is my number one choice right now. But as you know getting off of the waitlist is pretty difficult, so my two options at this point are Cornell or Berkeley 
Some family members and friends are telling me that the salary I would be making out of Berkeley would render the cost difference between the two schools negligible. I am still waiting on Cornell’s FA package, but would you agree with this assessment? Even with Cornell’s aid, the difference likely wouldn’t be over 10k or so per year.
Also, how difficult is it to attain the 3.3 gpa requirement? I took APCS and got a 5 on the exam.
bump
@Y2JRedskins please accept Cornell and decline berekely offer. Dont take Upenn WL too… this way u can help me .
@Y2JRedskins
I had the same choice to make when I graduated high school (I was choosing between Cornell, Berkeley, and Harvey Mudd), and I’m very happy that I chose Berkeley!
One of the first things I’d consider is, do you want to live in an urban environment, or in upstate New York? While I’ve really enjoyed living at a college that’s closely integrated with the surrounding city (Downtown Berkeley is across the street from campus, and SF is a 30-minute BART ride away), I know that different people will prefer different environments.
In terms of post-graduation prospects, I don’t really know much about Cornell, but Berkeley CS grads certainly have good outcomes… average salary of over 100K according to https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2016CompSci.pdf. (Also note that that’s supposed to be only salary, so total comp for most graduates would most likely be more). But moreover, you’ll be near most of the major tech companies, and in an environment where tech companies will be holding recruiting events on campus almost every day (for September - November, literally every day). In addition, related to Berkeley’s job prospects being better - a good summer internship would take care of that OOS tuition immediately (assuming 6000 a month or so plus a housing allowance, which is pretty standard for many companies in the bay, even a bit on the low side).
If you’re interested in research, the professors here are absolutely world-class, and undergraduate research is fairly common. We also have a very neat program where undergraduates can act as TAs for intro courses - working as a TA has definitely been one of my favorite experience at Berkeley, and as an additional plus, you get paid quite a bit (10K per semester, plus tuition is waived, though not the OOS portion).
Having taken AP CS would definitely help with the intro courses, as most of the people who struggle tend to be those who come in with no programming experience. If you dedicate the necessary time to the courses, and take only one each semester, I think it’s more than possible to average the necessary 3.3. This would probably entail taking 61A and 16A first semester, then 61B and 16B, and then 70 and 61C your third semester, and focusing on 61A, 61B, and 70. I know only one person who wasn’t able to get into CS, and they ended up being much happier in their other major.
Overall, I really can’t say much about Cornell, but I will say that I enjoyed my time at Berkeley and think that most CS-inclined people would as well.
@USUG21 haha thanks lol. I’m staying on the penn waitlist as well.
Cornell ended up giving me about 16k a year. I’m out of state so berkeley ain’t giving me anything lol. I’m probably gonna commit to Cornell guys
@Thej77 Hey, how hard is to get a 3.3 for CS in L&S if you’ve hardly done any programming? I’m debating between UCLA CS in the School Of Engineering and Berkeley CS L&S. My only worry is that I might not meet the Berkeley L&S 3.3 GPA requirement, while I’m guaranteed CS at UCLA. Is it worth the risk?
Go for UCLA CS which is guaranteed.
What about USC CS vs. UCB L&S CS? My son needs to pay 42K/year to USC and 63K/year to UCB, and he codes very well in C++ and Java.
Go for USC CS which is guaranteed, and save the 84K.
@StevenToCollege, thank you!