JHU Applied Math & Stats (AMS) OR Berkeley IEOR? HELP

Colleges and Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
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Hi guys I am OOS for Berkeley living in Maryland, and I’m deciding between these two great schools but I am torn because both have its pluses and minuses. I hope to eventually be involved in I-banking, financial engineering, and/or operations management in the future.

Berkeley Engineering is top-notch and offers limitless opportunities for internship and research, and would provide a traditional and “fun” college environment and feel because it is such a large public school. But because of that, I would just be “another one” of the kids in engineering. In addition, the cost is a little more than double for JHU.

On the other hand, JHU is a tight-knit community and offers a great AMS program but I’m not sure I will get the same amount of opportunities than on the west-coast. I like JHU because it will probably be a better learning environment as a private school, and would be significantly cheaper for me to attend.

Basically, is the cost for the prestige of Berkeley Engineering and a change of scenery (I am a Maryland resident) worth giving up a decent engineering education and a generous financial aid package in my home state at JHU? At Berkeley, I would pursue employment in the tech-heavy Bay Area, while on the East coast at JHU I may lean towards a career on Wall Street.

Thanks for any help! This decision will definitely change my life.

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To clarify,

JHU would be about 20k while Berkeley would be around 45k. Berkeley Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) is essentially engineering + business, and would give a more direct approach to the workforce. At JHU, I may do a 5 year MS program that gives me a master’s in Financial Mathematics/Engineering, which I could use for investment banking.

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JHU does have a great AMS program (I’m considering switching to it actually). I wouldn’t use the adjective “tight-knit” to describe the overall community, but the Engineering/Computer Science/AMS majors do tend to know each other well, do things outside of class together, etc, and are generally more tight-knit than Arts & Sciences majors. And that is a big cost difference… But on the other hand, I don’t know anything about Berkeley. I think you’ll get much more helpful answers on the Berkeley forum.

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I can’t imagine paying more for berkeley over Hopkins, let alone double. Your opportunities should you choose wallstreet would be stronger at Hopkins due to proximity.

I’m in the bay area now and went to Stanford for grad school. Berkeley grads are truly a dime a dozen here. If you graduate near the top of your class at Berkeley, you’ll have your pick of the litter when it comes to jobs. Otherwise, not even close.