<p>This is a silly argument. There is no university in the world that carries greater recognition than Harvard with the possible exception of Oxbridge. This Cal grad says, between Berkeley and Harvard, there is no competition for OVERALL prestige: it's the big H, hands down. </p>
<p>(Now ask me where I would go if I could do it all over again. I'd still choose Cal. Because there is more to life than prestige. And Cal has way better weather & better looking people ;) )</p>
<p>Not that the Times rankings prove anything but neither of the science-specific rankings list Columbia near the top...</p>
<p>QS</a> Top Universities: University rankings in Life Sciences and Biomedicine</p>
<p>QS</a> Top Universities: University rankings in the Natural Sciences</p>
<p>harvard by a landslide.</p>
<p>berkeley is all treehugging liberals ...also the entire town of berkeley shuts down at like 8pm.</p>
<p>Harvard is full of elitist white snobs. Just because the city of Berkeley is liberal doesn't mean the school is worse. I hope your kidding.</p>
<p>Ugh, why is the OP so obsessed with this question of prestige? It's getting really old.</p>
<p>There's no question that Harvard has more prestige than Berkeley. It's the most prestigious university in the world; it's more well-known than Berkeley and most other schools, even Oxford and Cambridge. (And I don't know WHERE flyzeggs got the idea that those two British schools only place 15-20 internationally -- that is NOT true. Oxbridge routinely places in the top 5.)</p>
<p>However, as already been pointed out that prestige doesn't mean everything. At the graduate level, hiring committees are not concerned about what the general public thinks about schools -- they are concerned about in-field rankings. Harvard's name may get you far if you are planning to teach law school, but a Berkeley graduate degree is better for someone looking to be a professor in the natural sciences and engineering. Also, it depends a lot on geographical area, as well. Besides, the most important aspect about a school for undergrad is fit!</p>
<p>Also, darkninja, no one really cares that you go to Harvard, so you can stop making threads about it.</p>
<p>Amen. Well said.</p>
<p>What? He goes to Harvard?</p>
<p>and harvard is much better than berkeley...no question...when i was in london...i told a guy that i went to harvard...he was like "wow"...then my friend next to me told him he went to ucb...and the guy was like...hmm never heard of that place....well...i'm sure its okay...but its no harvard hahah...</p>
<p>So what Dark Ninja said is that Harvard is better at pleasing and impressing people. Hey well that's a reason to go to Harvard right?</p>
<p>I thought he was a Duke BME '12.</p>
<p>The OP isn't really helping to alleviate the white elitist snob tag applied to Harvard students by a previous poster is he?</p>
<p>Yes Columbia... Don't bother with the THES, go look @ the TARU, Columbia is #1 (although this is data that reflects funding of scientific projects more than anything) and has consistently ranked #1 in the country in many measures of research output, scientific patents etc...</p>
<p>ok let me clear the mess:</p>
<p>I, dark ninja, am Harvard Class of 2012 majoring in chemistry
My brother who uses my account only to write in duke forum is Class of 2012 duke bme</p>
<p>understand...kapeessh?</p>
<p>who do u like better lol...my brother or me...</p>
<p>and thus i am better than my brother...</p>
<p>harvard>duke...haahaahah</p>
<p>dark ninja lol
ridiculous.</p>
<p>butchokoy wrote: "Harvard is better than Berkeley. I don't think there's any school on earth that is better than Harvard."</p>
<p>better ... in what? </p>
<p>Leaving all issue of "fit" aside (weather, size, geography, etc.)</p>
<ul>
<li>In the three professional schools? Yes, Harvard is "better" per most rankings.</li>
<li>In the 41 Ph.D. disciplines? No, at least not in 32 of 41 of them, where Berkeley is ranked higher by peer faculties.</li>
</ul>
<p>So you've got Berkeley "better" in the great majority of Ph.D. disciplines, and Harvard better in the three professional schools. You've got Harvard ranked higher as an overall undergraduate school (how is this relevant unless you are planning to complete all 50+ majors?), but behind Berkeley is many undergraduate majors.</p>
<p>So you see, it depends.</p>
<p>juillet: The keyword is RESEARCH -> IF = impact factor. Go look @ the last HEEACT rankings/data from 2007. In terms of research impact yes they place very frequently in the 15-20 category (in terms of peer rankings they often make it in the top 5, which seems a bit contradictory (like THES), but I assure you that will change dramatically in less than 10 years). Ask any person who has moved on to either one of the schools from any top tier American univ. and they will tell you how overrated these two schools, and even more so most top UK universities are (in terms of research).</p>
<p>There are plenty of threads on this subject in this forum, just look around. They're known for their academic rigour (- engineering programs) much more than for their research. Oxbridge are still top research universities, definitely not top 5 though, sorry.</p>
<p>"- In the 41 Ph.D. disciplines? No, at least not in 32 of 41 of them, where Berkeley is ranked higher by peer faculties."</p>
<p>I would really like to see the source for this.</p>
<p>flyzeggs,</p>
<p>I moved on to one of those school from a top tier American university and I'd say that Oxbridge is on par. They may not have the money of Harvard, but neither does Berkeley and they get by just fine...actually better than Harvard as many have been arguing in this thread. As much as you would like to believe it, Harvard is not in a world of its own. I agree that THES is seriously flawed, but Oxbridge performs well in the Shanghai rankings too (which are RESEARCH based)</p>
<p>I can certainly live with Cambridge behind Harvard, Stanford, and Berkeley</p>
<p>I just looked over the HEEACT rankings and they are no better than any other ranking system...maybe worse. First of all, scientific research and publishing isn't everything. Secondly, do you really think that Caltech is the 32nd best university based on scientific research? The reason they are is because the HEEAT awards larger universities with larger faculties which in turn churn out more papers. It would take me a while to sort out what faculty # the HEEAT uses for each university, but I would bet that Harvard has a larger faculty than Cambridge which in turn is larger than Caltech.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"- In the 41 Ph.D. disciplines? No, at least not in 32 of 41 of them, where Berkeley is ranked higher by peer faculties."</p>
<p>I would really like to see the source for this.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>NRC</a> Rankings in Each of 41 Areas</p>
<p>New NRC rankings are due soon.</p>