I’m a HS senior starting college in Fall '18 and I’m down to choosing between Caltech and UC Berkeley by May 1.
I want to join the Math department and study pure math and I’m also interested in theoretical physics.
I know that the Berkeley math Dept is excellent, but I was wondering how easy it is to get personal attention and access to the professors. I really liked Caltech when I visited and the school is so much smaller, the ability to get personal time with the professors is exceptional. The SURF research opportunities are also excellent. However, with Berkeley being a lot bigger, there may be more research opportunities but I don’t know if the competition for the research opportunities will also be much more intense with the much larger student population.
Any advice from Berkeley math majors?
Also, how rigorous are the Berkeley classes? I know Caltech courses are very rigorous. I’m not too worried as I have already taken college level analysis and linear algebra and multivarable calculus but I was just curious about the right and workload.
Have you tried calling the math department of each school and asking your questions? Make a list of reasonable questions and then call them. Don’t compare just ask the questions you need answered at each school. Tell them you are trying to decide and want to ask some clarifying questions. Bet they’ll help you. IMO, based on your questions you know you can get personal time at Caltech. While the number of research opportunities at Berkeley might be higher, the opportunities at Caltech are likely to be better. Why does the number even matter if they are the right ones for you.
Also see if you can speak to someone who graduated from either school some time ago. Their perspectives might be best of all.
Thanks, I plan on doing just that! I missed Cal day today unfortunately, so I going to reach out to the math profs that presented there and see if I can get some info from them.