<p>CAL is one of the top universities in the world, no argument. It’s public prestige is no where near that of Harvard or Oxford, obviously, but in the academic world CAL is highly esteemed and famed. Random Australian #39 won’t have an idea what you’re talking about when you mention Berkeley, but his professors will.</p>
<p>What kind of a question is this? Of course Cal is a top university and is often regarded as the best public university in the world. Cal’s programs and specialties are almost always ranked in the top 5.
But like what xboredguy and caitylin said, you shouldn’t just judge a school based on its reputation and prestige. Most employers are concerned about what you do in college - your experiences, accomplishments, and skills rather than which school you went to.
That is true IF the professors know who you are. Half of my professors right now simply only know me by my “ID-number”. In this case, I don’t think their recommendations are more valuable than the recs of professors who might be less recognized, but know my personal skills and accomplishments more.</p>
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<p>Hahah. I get that so much I put it in my profile. :p</p>
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<p>While this is definitely true of undergraduate admissions, do not underestimate the power of a well-known professor’s recommendation. This is a different world. Undergrad is about exploring your options, finding your niche – grad school is about exploiting the hell out of that niche and your talent in it. A well-known professor who is regarded highly in the academic community will have the more important recommendation letter. This doesn’t matter if they can’t write a good one for you, but it’s in your best interests to pursue it.</p>
<p>Fasttrack – of course. </p>
<p>Calbear – thanks =] I love English, I hope you weren’t sarcastic!</p>
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<p>Yes, but a <em>decent</em> recommendation from a famous professor very likely trumps a stellar recommendation from someone who isn’t that famous. I have actually seen cases where a Berkeley professor’s recommendation for math graduate school has been invaluable; of course, I could be extrapolating wildly, but I think those who saw what I saw would think it almost blindingly obvious that famous professors’ recommendations carry ridiculously huge weight. It’s of course up to students to actually get to know these guys.</p>
<p>It’s really not that hard to get to know professors either. I’ve currently found two ways: go to professor office hours fairly regularly and take a small seminar with a professor. As a matter of fact, in these small seminars, professors sometimes invite you to their house for lunch or dinner.</p>
<p>Someone @ my school told me he liked my sweater (i was wearing one that just said Cal). Then he asked, does that stand for California or something? /facepalm</p>
<p>I was not sarcastic, you really are a great writer and I enjoy reading what you have to say =)</p>
<p>No, cal is a crappy school</p>
<p>^that’s why you’re going right? me too.</p>
<p>Stupid answer to a stupid question</p>
<p>i know you’re not talking about mine</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>I’m doing engineering, and in civil, electrical, CS, Berkeley is on par with Stanford and MIT, and internationally this is known. Berkeley’s engineering program is nothing short of awesome, and it beats all the ivies (incl HYP) if you intend on having a technical career, getting a PHD, etc. If you want a career at Google, or in high-tech, only MIT and marginally Stanford can trump Berkeley. If you want to go into purely business positions, or ibanking, maybe a private is your best bet. Seriously, have you heard of any Yale grad working at Google? Places like Google, where they want people with sharp technical mind, and real problem solving skills, look much more favorably on Berkeley than any Ivy.</p>
<p>In general, I would say that many would consider Berkeley unbeaten and paralleled only by the best among U.S. universities in terms of having killer academics, undergraduate and graduate departments both considered, and yet most would consider it less desirable than some of the very top private universities for the undergraduate years, because Berkeley is comparatively overcrowded, and does not have the perks of a private school in many cases (for instance, getting one’s classes consistently, smaller classroom sizes, etc, are all considerations). Those I have met who’ve been happiest with Berkeley have been the ones who didn’t really have to clash much with the public university aspects of Cal.</p>
<p>No man, UCB sucks. Don’t go. :)</p>
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<p>[Yale</a> Daily News - Scooters, sushi draw Yale grads to Google](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/22525]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/22525)</p>
<p>Interestingly, of Google’s executive management, Google employs the same number of former Yale undergrads (1) as Berkeley undergrads (also 1), which is even more shocking when you consider not only the giant difference in size between the two programs - with Berkeley undergrad being nearly 5x the size - but also the fact that Berkeley is obviously far closer than Yale is to Google HQ in MV. Granted, the Yale undergrad isn’t an engineer, having earned his bachelor’s in East Asian Studies (!). But the Berkeley undergrad isn’t an engineer either, having done his undergrad in the Haas School. </p>
<p>[Corporate</a> Information - Google Management](<a href=“http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html]Corporate”>Google - About Google, Our Culture & Company News)</p>
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<p>Again, looking at Google’s executive management, I see a whole lot more graduates of the Stanford undergrad program than I do the Berkeley undergrad program.</p>
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<p>Granted, Google’s management seems to consist of a lot of people with graduate degrees from Berkeley, including engineering grad degrees, most notably CEO Eric Schmidt. I’ve always agreed that Berkeley is a stellar graduate school. But we’re talking undergrad here. Did Schmidt go to Berkeley for undergrad? No, he went to Princeton. In fact, Princeton has 3 former undergrads in Google management, compared to Berkeley’s lone 1. I also see that Harvard counts 4 former undergrads.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html[/url]”>http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html</a></p>
<p>So maybe it is true that Berkeley undergrad is a great launching pad to get yourself into the lower ranks of Google, but not so much if you actually want to enter management.</p>
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<p>Well, let me give you a counterexample. I know a guy who’s “Asian” in the sense that he’s from Turkey, which is an Asian country. He’s going to Harvard. Yet he freely admits that there probably are some other schools that are better in his program of studies than Harvard is. But that doesn’t really matter to him, for upon graduation, he’s probably going to go back to Turkey and run for political office, and perhaps one day try to become Prime Minister or President (Turkey has both offices). Voters in Turkey don’t know what the best schools are for a particular discipline, and don’t care. All they’re going to see is the Harvard brand name. </p>
<p>Sometimes you have to care about what other people think about your school because you need something from those people. In his case, he needs their votes. Similarly, you may want to start a business that caters to regular people. For example, here’s a plastic surgeon who prominently advertises his “Harvard trained” status as the very first listing of his credentials, above his Board certifications and medical society memberships. Even more remarkably, this guy didn’t even get a degree from Harvard. Rather, he served his medical residencies at Harvard-affiliated hospitals, and that’s the basis for his claim that he is “Harvard trained”.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.liposite.com/surgeons_g/ganchi/[/url]”>http://www.liposite.com/surgeons_g/ganchi/</a></p>
<p>I mean, pretty much the reason you go to Ivies is because you get hook-ups and you get the prestige that comes with it. Which amounts to a lot to some, not so much to others.</p>