<p>Based on peer assessment, that is assessment by other academics, Berkely ranks 6th in the US, which speaks to its prestige among researchers. </p>
<p><a href=“Physics & Astronomy | Johns Hopkins University”>Physics & Astronomy | Johns Hopkins University;
<p>So yes, if you are looking to impress guidance counselers at elite private highschools, go with the lower ivies. If you want to be a serious researcher and practitioner, be happy with your decision to come to Berkeley.</p>
<p>Umm northwesty…how many of those people are from grad school…in that case search intel chair…
Harvard itself admits that Zuckerberg ‘walked over their dead body’…and so did Bill Gates. The rest are politicians…leave them out of this engineering discussion…:)</p>
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Heh, we did have one Chief Justice from Berkeley - Earl Warren.</p>
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[University</a> of California, Berkeley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“University of California, Berkeley - Wikipedia”>University of California, Berkeley - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Agree though that this list doesn’t hold a candle to HYPS alum list…</p>
<p>“As for acceptance rates, it is unfair to compare the acceptance rates of a public uni to that of a private uni. And yet, Berkeley’s acceptance rate is only a tad higher than some of the private schools that have been mentioned above - Cornell, Tufts, Northwestern, etc.”</p>
<p>Cal acceptance rate 22%. Cornell (bottom of the Ivies) 17%</p>
<p>Cal USNWR is 21; Cornell is 15.</p>
<p>Cornell SAT scores are higher than Cal.</p>
<p>Cornell is Ivy; Cal is “public” Ivy.</p>
<p>If you want to play the silly game of who is “better”, then clearly Cornell is better than Cal.</p>
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So then what makes a university prestigious? Is there a difference between a universitiy’s undergraduate prestige among researchers and its graduate school’s prestige? How then do you account for the fact that some Ivies (i.e., Dartmouth, Brown, etc.) are more focused on undergraduates than on their graduate schools?</p>
<p>^ whatever criteria makes it prestigious to you…different strokes for different folks.</p>
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<p>Do you mean academic prestige or social prestige (or a blend of both)?<br>
Do you mean prestigious among the masses, among reasonably educated people, or among highly educated people who are the cognoscenti when it comes to this topic? And if so, in what region of the country?</p>
<p>UTexas and Texas A&M have great prestige among some very fine rich folks in TX. In the Irish parts of Chicago, Notre Dame is equalled only by Harvard. Just like there’s no place in Boston you can’t get to from Harvard, there’s no place in Chicago you can’t get to from Northwestern. You need to define your terms, your audience and your region.</p>
<p>Prestige is mostly BS except for select few programs such as business. I would go to NYU over Harvard if NYU had a better economics department with more research opportunities. All of you applying for the name are the ones that get rejected.</p>
<p>Prestige has nearly zero income effect on degrees such as engineering.</p>
<p>Nope…If you want to play with acceptance rates…play with those of internationals…thats where there should be a difference…hopefully :p</p>
<p><a href=“Physics & Astronomy | Johns Hopkins University”>Physics & Astronomy | Johns Hopkins University;
<p>Again, Cal 6, Cornell 7. </p>
<p>[Top</a> universities by reputation 2013 - Times Higher Education](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013/reputation-ranking]Top”>World Reputation Rankings 2013 | Times Higher Education (THE))</p>
<p>Cal 5, Cornell 17. </p>
<p>Upgrad admit rate will always be higher for public Us. </p>
<p>Yes, this is a silly game.</p>
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Okay, so let’s say in reference to the link you first posted above. Are we assuming those to be ratings in regards to ____ University’s undergraduate program or their graduate program? IMO, that could skew the ratings, depending on which program was being rated.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd and Stevens Institute of Technology engineers earn more on average than any Ivy League engineer graduate. That shows how much prestige matters in STEM fields.</p>
<p>final take on this guys…rate UCB…</p>
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<p>Pick one of these…for UG Electrical engineering :)</p>
<p>What folks commonly refer to as “prestige” is what economists call a “signaling device.” Something that tells you about the person that has the credential (smart, hard-working, etc.). </p>
<p>If you want to play in the NFL, Alabama is the top signal. If you aspire to the NBA, Duke’s signal is strong.</p>
<p>An engineering degree from Cal is definitely up there as a strong positive signaling device to a person who hires engineers. MIT is perhaps better, maybe Cal Tech. What is being signaled is not necessarily what you learned at that school, but that you have the desire-able characteristics necessary to get into and get out of that school. Cal’s signal is not going to be as strong for an English degree. </p>
<p>If you had to pick a signal and didn’t yet know exactly what you were going to do with it, you’d pick Harvard. It is going to work well in a lot of places.</p>
<p>Signaling is most important in situations where people don’t know you (like getting an initial job). Over time, what you can actually do becomes more important.</p>
<p>You can’t just rate UCB; that’s ridiculous. UCB has a better economics department than most Ivy Leagues. It’s only meaningful if you’re specific.</p>
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<p>Those peer assessment ratings posted are supposedly opinions of top academics from top colleges around the country. They are asked to rate a college’s undergraduate academic programs on a scale of 1-5…1 being marginal, 5 being distinguished.</p>
<p>There is much debate though among posters on who is filling out the surveys and what they are actually rating. That’s a whole other topic in itself. :)</p>
<p>I’m from the Eat coast, and I do think a degree from Berkley is wow but that’s only because I’m on CC</p>
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Depends on who is rating and what the English degree is:
[Best</a> English Programs | Top Humanities Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/english-rankings?int=grad_school_rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/english-rankings?int=grad_school_rankings)</p>
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<p>:)</p>
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<p>That is just naive.</p>
<p>Specially because you are talking specifically about EECS, which makes almost all of your examples irrelevant.</p>
<p>Also, “Name some famous Cal grads.” - really? REALLY? There is an entire list of them on wikipedia. (Co-founders of Apple, Intel, MySpace just to name a few) Berkeley is not famous for nothing. It even has chemical elements named after it!</p>
<p>Try this on for size…[Berkelium</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkelium]Berkelium”>Berkelium - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Haven’t seen any with HARVARD WRITTEN ON IT :)</p>