<p>Sure. This is very true. With that being said, if I mentioned Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford, most people I know (here in SC) would think the least of Berkeley. I didn’t even know until this thread that it was a great STEM school. I’ll take people’s words for it, but I really just don’t have that perception. I’ve always heard UPenn was great for engineering and locally people think that if you go to Clemson, you’re super duper something.</p>
<p>In fact, I’d even venture to say that Clemson and Carolina hold more weight here than Berkeley does, just because no one here knows really anything about it.</p>
<p>So for brand name value, I don’t think Berkeley does nearly as much in the US as it seemingly does internationally.</p>
<p>Again, why are these people so determined to prove that Berkeley is not as prestigious as IVYs and other private universities? What gives? I really want to know.</p>
<p>@205mom,
Good luck with all the money you have.</p>
<p>^I personally don’t care either way. I read the thread and thought that I’d put in my own experience, since the OP asked how Americans perceived it. I’d imagine that’s the reason why others did as well.</p>
<p>Either way, truly great colleges (or even sub-par colleges) can open some big doors for one after he or she graduates.</p>
<p>IMHO, you are asking wrong audience, Engineering Majors is the better forum. </p>
<p>Though I do not care about brand name, I consider Berkeley and Stanford at the top of the world - look at how many new things they brought into our world starting from the simulators to placement algorithms. Cal (how it is called in California) is a true pioneer in the EE world (note I didnt’ add CS). </p>
<p>Unless you want to go into marketing right after your grad school, imho it is more prudent to look at the research your professor is doing than the brand name. Brand name is important for management ladder and marketing at least for the first 10mins may be longer depending on how you use it.</p>
<p>“I could name a lot of people (educated people, even) who don’t know anything about Berkeley. The only reason I know that it exists is because one of the characters from The OC mentioned it. (I think he wanted to go there?)”</p>
<p>Op, this comment above is the perfect example of how the masses of laymen in the US get their knowledge about college branding and prestige. It’s usually what is learned from TV shows, movies, and the rest of America’s pop culture. </p>
<p>Maybe colleges should start paying TV shows and movies for product placement. I bet if would increase awareness which would increase # of applications which would increase selectivity which would cause a rise in the rankings of the USNWR.</p>
<p>To those saying Berkeley EECS= Stanford EE/ CS= MIT EE/CS Ughh no.
Berkeley EECS is where most of the people rejected from Stanford and MIT go. It is a great program and many of the most successful people from Cal graduate with an EECS major. You also do command respect from companies and that will help you open doors. BUT, as someone who has a lot of EECS friends at Cal, I don’t know any student that’s chosen Berkeley over MIT or Stanford (much less been accepted, to be honest). Berkeley engineering is less well funded than privates of course and it does have an effect on the quality of the classes. In my opinion there isn’t much of a difference in the teaching quality among these schools. Berkeley likes to brag about its amazing professors, who are amazing but also amazingly bad at teaching. They have a lot of GSI courses too. I don’t know much about the Stanford or MIT teaching scene, but as graduate focused schools, I don’t expect amazing teachers in every class.</p>
<p>I can’t say much about MIT, but Stanford and Berkeley have very different atmospheres around them. Berkeley is very urban and your dorms will be in downtown Berkeley among the wonderful hobos and potheads with their leashed cats. It’s a cool place to be at, but not the cleanest and the stress level there definitely feels higher than at Stanford. Stanford is more suburban and more chill. I always get the feeling that there’s more partying going on there than at Cal though, but I dunno. Really different places and different people. </p>
<p>I’m from an asian family so I understand your worry about bragging rights. My mom was more proud of me getting into Berkeley than Columbia =.= Why do asians seem to only know about Berkeley and Harvard? It’s incredibly stupid and while you may feel happy that you get more respect from family friends in India, in the US it’s the smarter choice to choose Stanford or MIT for engineering, if you can afford it. Furthermore acceptance rates at Cal are higher than those at SM even for the EECS department. People will think you’re smart for going to Cal, but smarter for SM. Unfortunately that’s not always true, but that’s the general stereotype around here. Bragging rights and recognition aren’t as important as the education you’ll receive however, so choose your school based on how good of a fit it is for you rather than how wide someone’s eyes will go when they see your Cal hoodie.</p>
<p>Yeah sorry for the bias. Go Stanford Class of '17 over Berkeley Regents at EECS :P</p>
<p>OH I forgot to mention that as an undergrad at Berkeley you are the scum of the earth. Yeah there’s a sparkly facade of world class research here, but chances that you do anything significant or even have the chance to participate in it are very low. The glamour of Berkeley comes from its graduate school, not its undergrad.</p>
<p>Wendeli - Hello my Asian friend!
Don’t worry, I never fell for those Stanford = MIT = Berkeley comments, especially in terms of prestige. I know I would have chosen MIT, Stanford and Caltech over Berkeley. But as of now - Cal EECS is the best I have. (not to say that’s not good)</p>
<p>As for the environment, it all depends on personal preference. Here are the 2 types of comments I usually hear,</p>
<p>Cal is so “dirty” and full of potheads, while Stanford is sophisticated.
OR
Cal is so lively and fun, while Stanford is all quiet and boring.</p>
<p>Personally, I feel I would like the Berkeley environment more.</p>
<p>As for prestige and respect, you are right about my relatives in India, and in US, I think it depends on who you ask. But I am over that now.</p>
<p>I guess it ultimately comes down to this:
Is a Berkeley EECS degree worth all the effort and money I will be spending?</p>
<p>My second option is HKUST engineering, which is half the price and much more convenient.</p>
<p>You will sure ride the reputation but the real education might not be the same. Just consider the reality - California is undergoing a huge financial crisis and it is directly impacting the schools. The class sizes are huge and the number of courses are getting limited. This means students have to work extra harder to get recognized by teachers and may not finish the school in 4 years. Ivy League is famous for maintaining better student to teacher ratio and offer huge course choices.</p>
<p>I don’t know why this keeps getting thrown around, since Berkeley and UCLA have 4-year graduation rates among the highest of public universities, and they have been rising over the years.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Some Ivy League schools like Cornell and Princeton have large classes also (try looking up their class schedules, with listings of capacities and enrollment), in the same format of a faculty lecture broken up into TA discussions and labs. As a practical matter, there is not a lot of difference between a lecture of 150 and one of 300. Of the Ivy League schools, Dartmouth is the one with the small class sizes, as it is organized in a more LAC-like model than the others.</p>
<p>In terms of course choices, you can compare catalogs and schedules if you want, since they should be on the web sites.</p>
<p>205mom, I think you are right. In India, best go to public schools and the remaining go to private schools. Lower the rank, higher the money they pay for their engineering and medical degrees. We say he/she bought his/her degree, as simple as that.
The most prestigious schools of India, whether eng/medicine or management or science/research are all public- IITs, IIMs, IISc, AIIMS. They alone have bragging rights.</p>
<p>Stanford has an acceptance rate of 7%, even less for international students. Not every one gets in… UC Berkeley will give an excellent education without the wow factor in USA. At the end of it, it’s an undergrad degree, we indians usually go on to grad school. And that’s where the real prestige matters.</p>
<p>OP, it amazes me that folks do not choose financial safety colleges. There are definitely a lot of other colleges that will provide wonderful Engineering education, at half the cost of Berkeley. Berkeley is well renowned (forget the folks saying it isn’t, any employer knows it and that is what matters and so does grad schools). But is it worth the OOS tuition, if your family has to sell property to get you here, no, it isn’t worth it.</p>
<p>@Wendeli - It would be great if you can practice some humility. Congratulations on having EECS regents choice and Stanford and Columbia. While your academic accomplishments and your application was obviously great, you are coming across quite arrogant here. I am sure if you look at your class statistics, only the top folks would have gotten into UC Berkeley. Stanford has less than 7% acceptance rate. If I were you, I would keep the rhetoric low and appreciate your chances while being aware that most of the people around you will be going to Berkeley. And 10 years from now, you may be surprised at who is the most successful. College won’t make you, it is what you do and how you do is what counts.
Why did you even apply to Berkeley? Maybe you should have just checked off UCLA instead as a safety. The regents could have gone to the next guy in your school…</p>
<p>Replying to BearFacts #182:
"…@205mom,
Good luck with all the money you have. "</p>
<p>You mean all the money we don’t have, right? DS is a happy and proud student at CAL. It is a fabulous university, and he was accepted at two Ivies and a few almost-ivies.</p>
<p>Careful reading and trying to understand meaning and substance would go a long way to civilize and inform any discussion. Slow down, BearFacts.
I maintain that unless your family is swimming in $$$ and can think of no better use for their $$$, in-state UC Berkeley is the smartest best choice. This is the substance.
OP is preoccupied with “prestige,” and specifically that ephemeral concept as regards to how Berkeley is perceived in the U.S.A., something very foreign (pun intended) to my thinking.</p>
<p>I am currently working in a top management consulting firm and went to an Ivy League school. If you didn’t know this already, management consulting at a top firm is considered to be one of the most prestigious job in the US. My company recruits from all the top schools (Target schools) and I am involved heavily with recruiting. To give you some rough example, last year around 200 students from MIT applied to my company and 5 received offer. </p>
<p>From my experience and what I encountered, even Lower Ivy Schools (Cornell, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth) carry more prestige than Berkeley. I would put Berkeley prestige around Georgetown/Johns Hopkins (At least in the East Coast, which is where I am at). I believe that the only place that Berkeley is considered as prestigious as any of the Ivy School is in the Tech/Engineering circle. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, your EECS degree will be sought after from top tech companies in the Silicon Valley. Just make sure to keep your GPA above 3.0! EECS at Berkeley is very demanding and many students switched out of it after their freshmen year.</p>