agree with @tonymom but my daughter goes to UCB and I can tell you a student there needs to find his/her niche. Whether its a fraternity or sorority or a club/EC or a particular major and corresponding department or a sport, like any college all students eventually they find a way to make a big school smaller. On the other hand lots of students (like my other student at a LAC) find the small college works the first two years, then they feel stifled or that they’ve outgrown their college 2 years too soon and try to find ways to make them feel bigger like going abroad for a year.
You can consult either of these lists to see which schools are in the Ivy League:
http://www.ncaa.com/standings/football/fcs/ivy-league
http://www.ncaa.com/standings/basketball-men/d1/2016/ivy-league
@ucbalumnus - I think that was a sarcastic post…
“though when it comes to politics, i might think the ivy’s (that ive heard of) might be better because of the DC, NY, Boston area. this comes from personal experience, but anyone who ive met who is really knowledgeable about civics and politics tend to be from that area. i dont really think californians are that into politics… even the younger generation that is very liberal dont really seem to /know/ or care much about polls or other districts/states (aka the east coast has more political nerds than california, mainly because we tend to be blue by default so it’s not as interesting to involve yourself in all of the nitty gritty stuff).”
Berkeley has a very strong political science program, undergrad and grad and even though free speech movement may have started in the 60s, it’s still very present there. And just recently the protests against conservative speakers on campus that turned violent (though UCB students were not the ones involved in the violence).
Short answer yes, if you can afford the costs. Also, I believe a great public school like UC Berkeley grades harder than the private schools. Maybe the caliber of Ivy League students are higher and therefore less “C” grades than at UC Berkeley.
Since most ivies have small classes and are very selective, most of there graduates are and have been excellent students, as past behavior is the most significant factior in determining future behavior most ivy grads will continue to do well. The same can’t be said of large public universities just due to the sheer number of students admitted. Having said that UCB does get quality incoming classes for the most part.
There’s no one answer to this question. It depends on the individual student’s circumstances and preferences.
“Maybe the caliber of Ivy League students are higher and therefore less “C” grades than at UC Berkeley.”
The caliber of engineering students at Berkeley are very high, higher than their engineering counterparts of the ivies. Only Stanford, MIT and Cal Tech, maybe CMU or Michigan have higher caliber engineering students. But if you don’t know the concepts at Berkeley, you’re getting a C or worse, not a B like at the ivies.
Not for a middle income Ca resident family. Ivies are far better. Sad but true. I say this as a UC grad. System is failing it’s residents. Hope it gets better soon.