<p>“What about Caltech? Being from the east coast, it sucks when nobody ever knows what it is…”</p>
<p>Apparently, they have not heard of Richard Feynman?
Talking about Feyman, this whole thread reminds me of his book “What Do You Care What Other People Think?”</p>
<p>As much as a good point that is… It’s hard to deny that it doesn’t matter one bit how people perceive you…</p>
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<p>Totally agree. I have a CS degree from Berkeley and worked in the tech industry for a long time. Most of the time, I don’t know what college my co-workers went to. Unless it some how comes up in a conversation, no one at work goes around telling others what college they went to.</p>
<p>I personally respect Berkeley because I was planning on going there originally but chose USC instead. It is well known but about UCLA-famous around the USA. Obviously someone would be more amazed by Harvard/other ivies than Berkeley, even though I respect Cal for their academics more than any other school.</p>
<p>The question was “Does a Berkeley degree have the wow factor of HPYSM in America?”</p>
<p>Google and wikipedia and CC have lots of entries for HYP. And for HYPS. And for HYPSM. And even a few for HYPSMC (C = Caltech, even though most Americans have no idea what school that is). Most Americans also think IIT is in Chicago or is an online university. </p>
<p>Has Cal Berkeley cracked into the domestic acronym elite? If not, there’s your answer.</p>
<p>Despite its lack of wikipedia mojo, you’ll get an awesome engineering degree from Cal. Please stay here after you graduate. Welcome and good luck!</p>
<p>Plenty of schools get no recognition in their own backyard. I go to one. Penn is a good example too.</p>
<p>I agree with the sentiment about California residents. From my school cross admits to Cal and top privates usually go to the private school. I guess we’re just more aware of the budget issues and large classes and have heard from former graduates about their woes at UC schools. </p>
<p>I feel that there’s a fine line to walk when talking about Cal. You can’t deny that it’s a good school, though better in the past than present. But you also can’t bash on it or get accused of being elitist and anti-public school. </p>
<p>FWIW I think Cal’s best days are far behind. California residents IMO are not very proud of where their school is going and the state does not seem to care much at all.</p>
<p>On the east coast your average citizen views all the Ivies>Berkeley.</p>
<p>TheBanker would that be Penn state or UPenn?</p>
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A job interview isn’t the same as a conversation with a new acquaintance. :-P</p>
<p>But it is awesome to find out that someone’s into something neat like anonomyzing network layering, which is why I ask general questions.</p>
<p>@simplystated, UPenn which gets confused with Penn State. Or UofC which gets confused with Chicago State or UIC.</p>
<p>“One even went as far as to call it a “safety school” but since that is not practically possible, I will simply disregard it as someone venting out or taking out a grudge.”</p>
<p>I don’t have a grudge against Berkeley.</p>
<p>Princeton was the school that wait-listed me. </p>
<p>Dartmouth was my safety.</p>
<p>I didn’t apply to anything outside the Northeast.</p>
<p>I wonder how many people think that UPenn was the school with the pedophile.</p>
<p>“Plenty of schools get no recognition in their own backyard. I go to one.”</p>
<p>Was Enrico Fermi that neighborhood pizza guy?
Also, all those silly Nobel Econ prizes in the 90’s - those Swedes must be on the bongs.</p>
<p>Seriously, a lot of people do not know jack - that’s why I think the pursuit of prestige is rather silly.</p>
<p>By the the way, my D rolled with punches on all the rejections/waitlists - but she got visibly upset when she got waitlisted at Chicago. I guess she was quite smitten with the campus (we visited in the late spring) and with their study-abroad program. Of course, she does not know any better being a Cal girl - I have spent way too many winters and summers in Chicago years ago - it sucked.</p>
<p>I think the decline/demise of Cal is way exaggerated. My niece and her friends could easily graduate there in less than 4 years. Yes, it takes a little savvy and independence to get classes that you want - but it is not as dire as portrayed by people. </p>
<p>Also, I sort of smile when I see people stating HYP > Cal if you want to go into finance.
Last year, my niece’s roommate (in econ) interned at Goldman Sachs. Her group got some kind of first price (don’t quite know the details). She is going to intern with them again this year. I suspect that she will go on to work for them and become some big successfully banker. Actually, I do feel sad - I think we need more elite engineers than elite bankers given what the latter group has done to our economy in last few years.</p>
<p>Penn, Chicago, Cal, WashU and Northwestern are all good schools with bad brand names. New York University is bad too, but is saved by its catchy acronym.</p>
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<p>I don’t think any of them have a bad brand name.</p>
<p>Also, if you go to the CC list of top universities,
[Colleges</a> and Universities - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/colleges-universities/]Colleges”>Colleges and Universities A-Z - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>You will find a list of top universities (minus ivies) in alphabetical order and UC Berkeley is there.</p>
<p>I also found this thread on CC,
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/95198-top-15-most-prestigious-universities-53.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/95198-top-15-most-prestigious-universities-53.html</a></p>
<p>And Berkeley is almost in everyone’s list of top 15 schools in the world. </p>
<p>So yes, Cal is a prestigious institution.</p>
<p>Penn is a bad brand name if people confuse it with Penn State.</p>
<p>Cal is a bad brand name if people don’t know what school you are talking about.</p>
<p>Northwestern and WashU are bad because people think they should be in Oregon or Washington State. </p>
<p>Ad agency please!</p>
<p>^^ Oh, now I understand what you meant. Sorry, my bad.</p>
<p>When Penn showed up in NCAA Final 4 in 1979, they noticed bunch of hawkers hawking Penn State buttons. Ouch - it sucks to be the Quakers. :)</p>
<p>But I guess no one will confuse the Wildcats with the other Big Ten schools.
Northwestern held the record on the longest football losing streak - 34.
I never let my brother live that down. :)</p>
<p>Berkeley doesn’t have close to the same name brand recognition or prestige as the majority of high ranking private universities. The majority of people who disagree with this statement are UCB students or alums. In California, most people go to Berkeley when they get wait listed from the ivies and very few students even apply from the east coast and most would choose the ivies over Berkeley.</p>
<p>Growing up on the East Coast and now living in the Rocky Mountain West, the reputation of Berkley has been the same both places.</p>
<p>Hippie, dirty, pot smoking reputation. Academics are not even considered. Would question why someone would go to a place like Berkley?</p>
<p>Just giving you the scoop on what I hear…</p>
<p>Berkeley’s undergraduate programs are highly-overrated. On the other hand, I’d rate its graduate engineering programs as equivalent to Stanford and MIT, and above any of the Ivies. (The Ivies aren’t really known for engineering. MIT fills that role on the East Coast.)</p>