<p>Can someone explain to me how undergraduate physics college has relevance to the eventual first job?</p>
<p>Also, how are undergraduate (or graduate) programs at different schools ranked? Number of famous professors on the faculty? Average grades? (i doubt either). It doesn't see practical that there'd be standardized tests given to all the physics students (for example) in prestigious colleges nationwide and declare the schools with the highest avg scores to be the highest ranked...</p>
<p>"Like I said, Berkeley is better than Stanford. Stanford was just a fallback. I originally was thrilled to go to Harvard. BTW, I did also consider going to UK unis like Cambridge but I was rejected."</p>
<p>I think this is a joke thread. No one relies on Stanford as a fallback. And if anyone were able to, they surely wouldn't be going to Berkeley. Further, I really doubt this person was rejected from Cambridge if they were accepted to HPS. </p>
<p>70% of those accepted to Stanford that turn it down choose to attend Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or MIT. A very small percentage would ever choose Berkeley over Stanford, and if they did it would likely be for in-state financial reasons. </p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that anyone would be shallow enough to base their decision entirely on prestige and then be ignorant enough to choose the least prestigious school among the ones they were considering.</p>
<p>Not only was the OP rejected from Cambride, but other UK universities.</p>
<p>"I did also consider going to UK unis like Cambridge but I was rejected."</p>
<p>He said "unis like Cambridge", meaning he got rejected at other UK universities. Rejected at both Cambridge and Oxford but accepted to HPS?</p>
<p>Well, you should see what the comporable class sizes you avoided were. People sometimes pretend or don't know that there are plenty of Harvard and Stanford (and to a lesser extent, Princeton) classes with over 50 students, easy. I would say the difference is at Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton, the classes are generally smaller and reduce in size earlier, but many classes have lots of students at these schools, too.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think this is a joke thread. No one relies on Stanford as a fallback. And if anyone were able to, they surely wouldn't be going to Berkeley. Further, I really doubt this person was rejected from Cambridge if they were accepted to HPS. </p>
<p>70% of those accepted to Stanford that turn it down choose to attend Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or MIT. A very small percentage would ever choose Berkeley over Stanford, and if they did it would likely be for in-state financial reasons. </p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that anyone would be shallow enough to base their decision entirely on prestige and then be ignorant enough to choose the least prestigious school among the ones they were considering.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I completely agree. How can you claim to choose Berkeley over Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford on the basis of prestige and quality? All 4 have top notch graduate physics programs, but Berkeley's undergrad quality and overall prestige are below the other 3.</p>
<p>As far as the "asian cultural bias" towards Berkeley over other schools - I've definitely witnessed it. However, accompanying Berkeley is usually Stanford & MIT. The triumvirate of American Engineering/Technical power.</p>
<p>Caltech might be offended at its exclusion, but really, you think Asians rate those three higher than Harvard?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Caltech might be offended at its exclusion, but really, you think Asians rate those three higher than Harvard?
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<p>It really depends. Speaking as an Asian (Chinese,) I can tell you that in my experience, Asians from my California community and back in China regard Berkeley as the best university in the world. The (irrational) rationale is that since many Asians go to Berkeley, it must be a good school for Asians to attend. In contrast, Harvard in "too American." MIT and Stanford are high on the desirable list too-but not as high as Berkeley. Once again, this is one Asian's experience.</p>
<p>The Original Poster doesn't give a damn about formal college rankings that are supposed to be measures (some here would argue the definition) of prestige or quality. There is not a hierarchy of which schools are "1, 2, 3," because that is all dependent on where you are coming from and what you are intending to make of your degree. Like the OP said, he is considering moving back to Japan, or somewhere else in East Asia, it seems. He has strictly used the language of comparison with regards to his personal experiences. In doing so, he is able to effectively gauge the ethos of that situation which is most pertinent to his understanding of what he wants out of his degree. His conclusions, based on where he's from, is irrefutable, unless any one of you have empirical evidence that suggests other schools would be more beneficial for him to pursue given his circumstances. Are you simply doing a public service by irrelevantly pointing out to him silly college rankings and coming up with summations like "And Berkeley is not more prestigious. Look up the rankings. Ask the Berkeley professors. Ask the Berkeley students. Ask anyone living in the Bay Area which one is more prestigious"? That's not going to get any argument far. The OP mentioned several reasons on how he came to the conclusion that Berkeley was right for him; prestige was but only a factor. Stambliark41 unfairly labels the OP as shallow, saying "I find it hard to believe that anyone would be shallow enough to base their decision entirely on prestige and then be ignorant enough to choose the least prestigious school among the ones they were considering." If this were not a joke thread, would you, perhaps, reconsider the word "entirely" (unfounded and damaging)? It seems as though whenever someone merely suggests that Berkeley is actually better than another school, someone from the hallowed halls of Private University swarms this thread and considers it a slight against their school. This is invariably followed by a high school student lapping closely at the former's tails, a wanna-be Stanfurd apprentice, who regurgitates the same rankings over and over while looking sharp (so his mother tells him) in his Lacoste shirt with popped collar and "dashing" trims. Come on. Is it even allowable to suggest that Berkeley is a good school? Worse yet, is it utterly wrong to even suggest that Berkeley's undergraduate program is excellent? I'm sure someone's going to come along and say "prove it," expecting me to fire back with more rankings on top of rankings. Well, baby, that ain't happening, because I know what I know, and from where I'm standing, Berkeley is looking mighty fine.</p>
<p>^ I read all that and I totally agree. It seems taboo around here to even utter Berkeley's name with the likes of HPS.</p>
<p>i agree......</p>
<p>ttgiang15, you're just bitter that Berkeley's undergrad is so much worse than 20 other universities and 35 LACs.</p>
<p>:rolleyes:</p>
<p>i think it depends on what undergrad major and school you are taking about DRab. Berkeley has one of the best enginnering, business, and chem programs out there.</p>
<p>But not English or philosophy? Or classics? Or linguistics? Or history? Or sociology? Or poli sci? Or physics? Or mathematics? Or computer science? I could go on . . .</p>
<p>i agree that Berkeley is not great outside of the sciences...</p>
<p>I very much disagree with that. It's quite a foolish assumption, I think. My last post was pointing out other great departments Berkeley has . . . yep, for undergrad students as well as grad students.</p>
<p>i was talking about in terms of the top programs....</p>
<p>lomeg329- DRab was just being sarcastic in Post 33. DRab was just being a smart alec in Post 35. DRab was just clarifying in Post 37. And here's the prediction: DRab is just trying to get to 5,000 posts in Post 40. BAM!</p>
<p>5,000 posts. Is that the highest????</p>