<p>Hmm. The new chancellor was heavily involved with U of Toronto earlier in his career. Oh, he was the president from 2000 until 2004.</p>
<p>I'm looking at these links and Berkeley is sooo high up there, sometimes higher than MIT, and higher than like princeton and stuff, but if you look at US News top 100 schools, berkeley is ranked 20, which is a lot different from like 6! How is there such a discrepancy, which ratings are considered more accurate? thanks</p>
<p>I'm from Germany, most of my friends know Berkeley and consider it one of the great US schools. I applied for Berkeley (econ) and UCLA (bizecon). If I get admitted to both, I will most likely pick Berkeley. One factor would be the worldwide recognition, which could be helpful later on in my career.</p>
<p>You need to look at the criteria to understand what the rankings are looking for. If the rankings heavily weighted the variable of "Is close to Berkeley, CA" then Berkeley would score very well.</p>
<p>A lot of the international rankings tend to focus on research and grad programs.</p>
<p>Essentially, the rankings which place Berkeley at or near the top are concerned with faculty scholarship and research. Berkeley's faculty, as a whole, is if not the smartest then almost the smartest in the world. US News rankings are much different. In them, faculty are barely (basically not) considered. Emphasis is based on things like alumni contributions and student/faculty ratio-two things Berkeley has serious problems with.</p>
<p>Well, while I think many things are derivative of what you mention, some things rank Berkeley well in more than just faculty scholarship and research (US News peer assesment category, for instance). While much of it probably derives from the faculty (something you didn't say), it's supposed to be holistic, and at the very least, it's not JUST faculty productivity, or else schools such as UCSD would be about as high as Berkeley (and I'm failry sure it's a tad lower). And it's not accurate to say emphasis of US News focuses on alumni contributions- it does only make up about 5% of the current ranking, right?</p>
<p>Drab you're so wise. PM me your sn :)</p>
<p>
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it's not JUST faculty productivity, or else schools such as UCSD would be about as high as Berkeley (and I'm failry sure it's a tad lower).
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</p>
<p>MUCH lower. UCSD's programs in the humanities (the vast majority of programs period) couldn't begin to compete with Berkeley's programs. </p>
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And it's not accurate to say emphasis of US News focuses on alumni contributions- it does only make up about 5% of the current ranking, right?
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</p>
<p>I never said it "focused." I said it INCLUDED alumni contributions, which I think is obscene.</p>
<p>greatestyen,</p>
<p>UCSD's humanities may not be on Cal's level yet, but many programs (poli sci, for example) have gotten to the national level lately. UCSD is probably the fastest rising UC.</p>
<p>Yeah, I'd say Asians in Asia and Europeans (in Europe, obviously) value Berkeley and its reputation more than fellow Americans do.</p>
<p>It's because of Berkeley's research and SUPERB graduate programs.</p>
<p>So yes, internationals value Berkeley more than Americans do.</p>
<p>One thing some of you have to recognize is that Berkeley is public, not private university. And seeing all those rankings posted by other users, no matter if Berkeley is #4 or #6 or whatever in the world/nation, you have to realize that it is the TOP public university. I think a large reason why Berkeley may not be regarded as elite as HPYMS is because it doesn't have as much money as those colleges do. Since it accepts a much larger pool of applicants than those Ivies, then understandably it may not seem as prestigious as those Ivies. Yet really when you think about it, it's pretty amazing how great Berkeley is, when taken into perspective that it has so many smart professors and is a public school AND still is highly respected everywhere.</p>
<p>I had a similar conversation with relatives back home.</p>
<p>Me: "I really really want to go to University of Pennsylvania! The atmosphere seems so great and it's such a great school!"
Uncle: "Where? What's that?"
Me: "Ummm a really good school over here. #1 undergrad for business"
Uncle: "Why don't you go to Berkeley or something? I've never heard of that Pennsyl-whatever. What about Harvard or something?"</p>
<p>So yeah. Another example that Berkeley IS known worldwide too!</p>
<p>I'm so proud of being able to attend there next year =) Go bears!</p>
<p>Berkeley is known internationally while the Ivy League is known as far as Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia (in Asia), with Yale substituted for Columbia in Europe.</p>
<p>If you plan to go into international business or something along those lines, Berkeley's prestige will help you significantly, since other nations tend to have stronger association between where you went to college and what your lot in life is.</p>
<p>National prestige? Berkeley's well regarded, inserted somewhere between the "lesser Ivys" and HYP, depending on who you talk to. However, it isn't nearly as well-regarded here as outside the US, as everyone else has said.</p>
<p>It's interesting to hear all the various... variations... of "Berkeley" pronounced in different languages.</p>
<p>^Yale is definitely also well-known in Asia.</p>
<p>I find that Columbia is known in Japan just because some dumb Japanese pop star went there. Hamasaki Ayumi? I forget.</p>
<p>UCLA though...I get the occasional "wow" out of it. Eh. In Japan, I get more wow out of Tsukuba University than any American school.</p>
<p>Utada Hikaru, actually.</p>
<p>There you go. No way Hamasaki could manage to get into Columbia. Her brain is too poisoned by hair dye and fake bake UV booths.</p>
<p>This shows you how much I pay attention to pop Japanese music.</p>
<p>wow i didnt know Utada Hikaru went to Columbia. I knew she went to a good school but i didnt know she went to columbia...</p>
<p>yeah i told my cousin in taiwan that I got into berkeley... he thought i was a fricking genius. i think the only other school he's heard of was harvard.</p>