MIT was the original dream, but it wasn’t meant to be. Anyway I’ve had the incredible fortune to be selecting among these three. Berkeley is easily the best option for EECS, but it’s also ironically the most expensive by 5k a year (despite living in California and regents). I’m very committed to EE and if I were to switch it’d be to CS, so I just want to hear different opinions?
Definitely Cal as it’s tops in EE and $20,000 is manageable debt.
I agree^^ . Berkeley, especially if you hope to live/ work in Calif in the future.
Thanks for the feedback. Cal does seem like the best option, but it also seems so incredibly competitive, any thoughts?
Forgot to mention but this is for undergrad and I also plan to go to grad school (at least a masters)
And the students at Yale and Princeton are NOT competitive?? =))
Relax. Go to Berkeley- IF EE / CS is ABSOLUTELY what YOU want to study.
Berkeley is the no-brainer imo.
Princeton. An undergraduate engineering education at Princeton is superior to that of Cal Berkeley’s in my opinion. There’s a wonderful focus on undergrads at Princeton, and their EE department is top 10. Also, EE is alot of solid state and quantum physics, and Princeton physics is the best in the world.
I Chose Northwestern University over Berkeley for this reason for engineering. Also, Berkeley seemed way too competitive.
EE is a rather broad field, so you may want to check what subareas of the field are available and emphasized at each school.
The EECS major is a large one at Berkeley, but most of its enrollment is in CS, so junior/senior level EE courses are mostly not that large:
http://osoc.berkeley.edu/OSOC/osoc?p_term=FL&x=21&p_classif=U&p_deptname=Electrical+Engineering&p_presuf=–+Choose+a+Course+Prefix%2fSuffix±-&y=8
Compare with Princeton 300 and 400 level EE courses:
https://registrar.princeton.edu/course-offerings/search_results.xml?submit=Search&term=1162&coursetitle=&instructor=&distr_area=&level=&cat_number=&subject=ELE&sort=SYN_PS_PU_ROXEN_SOC_VW.SUBJECT%2C+SYN_PS_PU_ROXEN_SOC_VW.CATALOG_NBR%2CSYN_PS_PU_ROXEN_SOC_VW.CLASS_SECTION%2CSYN_PS_PU_ROXEN_SOC_VW.CLASS_MTG_NBR
CS classes at Berkeley are larger than at Princeton, but those at Princeton are not exactly small (you can look around each school’s schedules). CS has been growing in popularity recently, so most schools have been seeing increased enrollments in CS classes.
Princeton has a reputation of being a fast-track to Wall Street and consulting (Yale also). Berkeley’s location makes it a convenient place for Silicon Valley employers to recruit at.
I’m sorry, but if the cost is about the same, Cal is not a no-brainer. Princeton is highly rated for engineering and CS as well, and I’d choose that over Cal; especially since Princeton is cheaper. Plus, HYPSM will offer flexibility/opportunities that EECS at Cal won’t (yes, on Wall Street and in consulting).
While Cal is great for graduate engineering, I’ve always thought its undergraduate engineering was overrated and riding the coattails of its graduate programs. If Princeton and Yale offer more personalized undergraduate educations, which I suspect is the case, a very good argument could be made for attending one of those two.
I would choose Princeton. The undergrad experience there is almost unbeatable. I also have a relative who did EE there. He didn’t want to go into banking. He was offered a position at a major global semiconductor company, where he did one of those one year rotations to different departments. Then landed as the technical person on a sales team. He travelled all over the world for a few years He ended up running a business unit and they paid for his (top tier) MBA. Does something with satellites now. Save Berkeley (or MIT ) for grad school.
Princeton and Cornell are the only two Ivies that really stand out in engineering. For similar cost, even cheaper in your case, I would go to Princeton.
I would choose Princeton. The undergraduate education is more personalized (you won’t even have an adviser at Cal), general comfort is several orders of magnitude better (let’s say Princeton doesn’t have budget issues…), and with a degree fromPrinceton you can pretty much go anywhere that a degree from UCB would take you, PLUS others that a degree from UCB wouldn’t (like Wall Street or a fast track to management). So if Princeton is cheaper… go to Princeton. 
I would choose Princeton if costs are the same. Save Berkeley for grad school. Honestly, it didn’t hurt Eric Schmicht(sp?) the former CEO of Google.
Thanks for the input, I favored Princeton from the start but just wanted more opinions.