Before Ivy Day, I was pretty certain I’d attend Berkeley. But now I’m not entirely sure. I don’t want to rule out any school just because of one has a higher engineering ranking. One thing I want to mention first is that cost of attendance will not be a factor for my decision, I received fantastic financial aid from both schools
Background info and interests for schools: I’m really interested in technology and technology firms like Motorola, Intel, and Google. I always love watching those consumer expo shows like E3 which showcases new tech, phones, tvs, etc. I’m stuck between Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering. I intend to do lots of research and I would really love to be able to have the opportunity to intern every summer (or as soon as possible) and it would be incredible to be able to intern at Google, Tesla, etc over the summer. My goal is to work at a tech startup or maybe work for one of the big ones like Google and possibly take up a management role (CEO? maybe im dreaming too hard) in one of these firms.
Berkeley:
Pros:
I was admitted to Berkeley as a Mechanical Engineer with Regents (priority class enrollment from regents will allow me to get the classes I need as easily as if I were at Princeton, provides merit scholarship which is as good as Princeton, and also I get 4 years housing like Princeton).
High ranks in engineering
I'm a California resident so I'm familiar with the weather and also Berkeley is 2 hours away.
Near silicon valley (good internship opportunities I'm assuming?), and bay area is nice as well
Cons:
I am considering switching to EECS or maybe sticking with MechE and minoring in CompSci. If I were to switch, I would need to take lower division EECS courses first year and maintain a good gpa (around 3.5 I think) to switch. Also, I need to maintain a 3.0 to keep my regents scholarship.
Tough to get a high gpa
Large population = less opportunities for internships and research
Princeton:
Pros:
Ivy League (Prestige)
Not bad for engineering (decent for an Ivy)
Small population = more opportunities for research and internships
I applied indicating B.S.E. for Computer Science, however admits are all technically undeclared so I have the freedom to switch to majors if I attend
Not entirely sure, but it might be easier to get a higher gpa in engineering compared to Berkeley (from what I heard, MIT and Berkeley and I think Stanford too are the hardcore schools)
Cons:
Engineering ranking is not as good as Berkeley
Not sure if the weather would be a con, it might be nice to experience something other than California weather, but distance from home is sort of a minor con.
The difference in ranking between the two is negligible. If you are ok with 5-hour flights every time you want to go home, Princeton should definitely be considered. The alumni network at any ivy is essentially unparalleled, whereas Berkeley’s is less strong, although it is possible that a Berkeley degree would make it easier to get a job in Silicon Valley (although I really am not sure about this since there are certainly plenty of Princeton grads working there) if that is your goal. If you want to work on the east coast, a Princeton degree will probably carry more weight than a UC Berkeley degree. Have you visited?
@gormar099 I hope to attend the Princeton Preview on April 11-12 but I’m not sure yet since I would have to go alone (never been away this far without my parents ). I’m also visiting Berkeley again on April 16, hope to get a better idea after the visits.
@TKatana I am not sure if you plan to drive or fly, but if you do fly, getting to campus is extremely easy from the Newark Airport. The rail line at the airport goes right to Princeton Junction and then the Dinky (Princeton speak for connector train) goes from the junction right to campus. https://www.princeton.edu/main/visiting/travel/
@Jado17 Let me know what you decide on before May 1st
Oh also, are you looking into Computer Science or Electrical Engineering for Princeton? It’s separate at Princeton, no EECS, but computer science is in the college of engineering.
@TKatana I know about the difference at Princeton between the two majors, and that’s what’s making it even harder cause if I go to princeton I’ll have to choose between the two but at Berkeley I can take both.
I’m a MechE undergrad at Princeton, also from California. I love it here. I don’t know any engineers at Berkeley, but GPA is definitely not easy here, especially in first-year prerequisites. Princeton is one of the most hardcore of the Ivies. If I’m not mistaken, average freshman GPA for BSE students here is somewhere in the high 2s/low 3s.
That being said, due to the smaller size it is not difficult to find a good research position with a professor on campus as a freshman, which I would say is a very big advantage because it’s pretty difficult in general for freshman engineers to get outside internships, just because a lot of positions require the skills learned in sophomore and junior classes. I also know students (upperclassmen) who have internships at Tesla, Google, Palantir, and other big-name tech/engineering companies. And if you’re interested in computer science, I would say definitely choose Princeton; we have a world-renowned compsci department. Another thing Princeton is known for, like gormar099 mentioned, is networking - no matter your major, the alumni network is very strong and will give you an advantage when applying to jobs in the ‘network.’
@TheEisgruber Do companies like Google recruit a lot of students from Princeton? Working at a company like Google would be something I would like to do in the future but when I look at statistics like these it doesn’t seem like Princeton is that well recruited: http://qz.com/183958/what-facebook-twitter-google-and-apple-employees-have-in-common/
I’m thinking maybe Princeton isn’t represented a lot in the charts because of the small population of the school compared to Berkeley (which ranks high on a lot of these stats). But then again, Stanford has a small population as well but ranks at the top for most of them. (probably due to proximity though).
@TKatana Many companies recruit at Princeton, most of them in finance and computer science.
I’m not sure about Google/Facebook/etc. specifically (not to say that they don’t recruit here, I just don’t pay a ton of attention because it’s not my area of interest), but Princeton definitely has a very good computer science program, and if you’re applying to a job at Google I don’t think that whether you went to Princeton or Berkeley will have much of an effect on your chances. And I do think you’re right in saying that distance and small population contribute to Princeton’s low representation at those companies.
Bumping, I’m still undecided… I updated my pro con list after visiting both schools. (went to preview and also just came back from Cal Day)
Princeton
Pros:
Number 1 in the nation for Undergraduate teaching
Prestige
Not bad for engineering (best out of Ivy Leagues)
Able to change majors easily
Alumni network and connections
Small class sizes, more 1-on-1
Cons:
Weather, far from home and from silicon valley, expensive plane tickets. I visited Princeton and I don’t really like the lack of social atmosphere, empty campus and dark weather (I visited during preview and I really didn’t see many non-visiting regular students around), however, this is not really a priority. If all other aspects are better, I can put up with this.
Engineering is not as good as Berkeley
I don’t really like liberal arts (honestly not into the liberal arts + stem thing which is often praised here, I’d be ok going completely/almost completely technical, not sure if that’s possible here)
They don’t accept many AP Credits
Berkeley
Pros:
Close to home, close to silicon valley and Bay Area, nice weather
High Ranks in Engineering
Regents scholarship
More social and lively
Lots of AP credit (almost got max amount possible)
Less liberal arts in my curriculum?
Cons:
Experiencing budget cuts currently
Large class sizes and population (less 1-on-1, more competition for grades and internships, less opportunities for research)
I was admitted as a mechanical engineer so I would have to apply to switch to EECS (from what I’ve heard, I just have to take EECS courses in my first year and get around a 3.5)
Tough to get a high GPA (I’m sure Princeton would be hard as well, but I heard Berkeley is more cutt-throat, especially for EECS)
Literally everyone I ask (I asked both current Princeton and current Berkeley students) tell me both are equally good options and they don’t know what to tell me. Any feedback? I’d like to get more opinions before I make a final decision.
I am in agreement with most of the comments. However, you may be overstating the difference in ranking in engineering. Most ranking systems give more weight to the size of the department over also important variables such as class size, accessibility of the professors, etc. Some ranking consider total number of academic paper citations or the number of professors in each specialty area such as AI, theory, systems, etc. For example, several years ago the Princeton CE department was ranked in the top ten as a department but was ranked number 1 for academic citations per professor. There is negligible difference in the quality of the professors in engineering between Berkeley, MIT, Princeton, and Stanford. For graduate study where you want to concentrate in a specific area such as AI you will find greater differences between the universities.
Your comments on the lack of a social atmosphere is a first. Some students on CC complain that Princeton seems too social. During the week students are in the library or in their room studying. I sincerely doubt that “lack of social atmosphere” would be a problem at Princeton.
You can select your electives to be mostly STEM. However, I would advise that you reconsider. People in technical jobs will spend their careers trying to explain to non technical people why they need funding, more resources, and how to apply their research. I believe that the non technical courses are part of the reason that Bloomberg Magazine found that there are more Princeton graduates as the head of technical companies than graduates of MIT or Berkeley.
We’re also thinking of Princeton (vs. MIT) but your emails strikes me as someone who might like to pick Berkeley but be told: it’s ok to pick Berkeley in spite of prestige. So here goes: it’s ok to pick Berkeley and you sound like you might like it better!
Berkeley is the better engineering school… no question. Princeton is good too. .but it’s not in the same league as Berkeley for engineering. the top engineering schools are Stanford, Berkeley, MIT and Caltech
but I will add there maybe more opportunities to shine at Princeton since it’s smaller and you’re more likely to graduate with a higher GPA etc. Berkeley class sizes are huge… esp the introductory ones… and the grading is very tough… tougher than Princeton I’m willing to bet. harder to shine being a small fish in a big pond. something to think about.
). I’m also visiting Berkeley again on April 16, hope to get a better idea after the visits.
