<p>"But 2 years ago, it was ranked number 19. There were many years where it was ranked above 20th. The placement of school ranking is not permanent. Berkeley is number 21 this year…but it could be number 18 the following year. "</p>
<p>ultra cali has discovered one of the great secrets of life! This explains a lot. I too attended a school that fluctuates in rating around the low twenties and I have been wondering why some years my life just seems great, and others years I feel like I’m being screwed. I thought it was just mood swings, but now I know it is ratings swings!</p>
<p>“Some schools have particularly strong alumni networks, and that may be a bigger factor than Top 20 ranking in “getting in the door” situations.” From Dean Dooley.</p>
<p>Yep. I fully agree. Only I differ on its influence. Depending on the size of school. If ones goes to a big state school and there is a alumn in the hiring rubric…that works to some extent…but not if he also has resumes from the 10,000 other recent graduates from that same school. But for a smaller school it may be huge…you may be the only applicant for that job from that school and it is more likely than not that you will get in the door for more interviews and very possibly get that job, unless you goober it up.</p>
<p>In fact, I would say that networking with alumns is not only smart its necessary…and a question we asked in the college searches we did, “is there a significant alumnae association and do the networks help?” Some schools gave us tepid answers and others said, “we have a zealous networking group…and they get results for the ambitious.” And these were not top 20 schools.</p>
<p>That’s 10 right off the bat. Oops, forgot about Caltech. That’s 11… oh, but what about, UChicago, Northwestern, Cornell, JHU… wow, you’re up to 15…</p>
<p>sorry but Cal’s undergrad ain’t better than any of those schools… but don’t worry, if you go to Cal you’re life ain’t screwed, you just have to live in Stanford’s shadow your whole life.</p>
<p>^ Who cares? All I know is that for my degree, chemical engineering, Cal is one of the tops for undergrad. </p>
<p>I agree that you might not get the pampered attention you would receive at a private school, but at least Cal prepares you for the real world… without all the handholding.</p>
<p>I don’t think that employers really stare at rankings obsessively, but is quite nice to be able to distinguish yourself by having graduated from a top university - it shows the work ethic that you needed to have both been accepted and graduate with a good GPA.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>“I graduated from Columbia” is a lot more impressive than “I graduated from [random second tier school]”.</p>
<p>If anything, your schooling may make someone prejudge your capabilities in a good or bad way.</p>
<p>HAhahaha. Partially true. Let’s just put it this way. Haas undergrad isn’t that much worse than a Stanford undergrad degree. I guess EECS and ChemE and a few other engineering disciplines are comparable as well. The rest… probably not so much? But yeah, Berkeley GRAD is comparable to Stanford.</p>
<p>Why the **** does everyone always use the ****ing “handholding” and babysitting argument to defend Cal. I’m sorry, we don’t appreciate babysitting, and private unis worth their salt make it clear that self motivation and initiative is crucial to success, it’s just that we like it when our initiative is met with professor willingness to work with our initiative. Cal is a great school, but quit the “handholding” argument already. It’s nothing more than a misinformed, reactive spat.</p>
<p>That is the only thing you wrote that I can agree with you. Caltech is a peer of Dartmouth / Brown / Columbia / Penn / Duke.</p>
<p>But Cal is not in that peer group. It just isn’t. Now you can expand the definition of “Top 10” to include 20, 30, 50 schools if you wish, but then you wouldn’t be talking Top 10 really would you?</p>
<p>I’m not sure why Cal folks have such a chip on their shoulder about it. USNWR ranks them in the 20s and has been for at least 10 years, so I just don’t understand these throwaway lines that “Cal is a Top 10 program”. You may FEEL that way, but feeling that way doesn’t make it so. Besides, the schools ranked ahead of you are absolutely the best programs in the world, so there really isn’t anything to be ashamed about – you are in good company.</p>
<p>why does everyone on here get so worked up over one companies view on colleges? for example, Harvard is great but everyone would still know that if it wasn’t number 2 on that list. who cares if your school is ranked 12 or 7 or 26 or 1, that means you did good. be proud of yourself. I can’t stand threads like “I go to Columbia but I want to go to Harvard, what are my chances?”. I understand there are certian situations but come on guys…they are colleges. just find a school you like, do good, and go live your life.</p>
<p>Yes. The news media around the world would report breakthrough research results, but they don’t report how well LACs educate their students. That’s the reason why Berkeley has such a worldwide reputation why very few people outside the US know about AWS. If you want a career outside the US, a degree from Berkeley is far better than the one from a well-know LAC.</p>
<p>That’s like saying Wharton is a peer of Ross, Darden, Fuqua, and Johnson. Talk about shortchanging Caltech. The world doesn’t revolve around East Coast schools…</p>
<p>Those of you who were awake for even 5 minutes of Intro to Logic will note that “Your life is screwed if you didn’t go to a top 20 school” is quite different from “You are NOT screwed if you DID go to a top 20 school.” Both of which are obviously false. There is no shortage of bright, hard-charging successes who went to Nebraska, Texas Christian, Acme Community College, or Sylvia’s School of Cosmetology. Likewise there is no shortage of Ivy grads who are holed up in their parents’ basements hugging their bongs.</p>
<p>I recall on a similar thread a few years ago, a friend of mine who is a partner in a top DC law firm mentioned that the smartest lawyer at his firm was a woman who went to U of Tennessee for undergrad, and Georgetown for Law School.</p>