John Hopkins Versus UC Berkeley Computer Science for Undergrad

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

I am trying to decide between John Hopkins and UC Berkeley in terms of computer science but I am not sure which is better. On one hand, John Hopkins is a well know private that generally ranks above Berkeley and is much less crowded. On the other, UC Berkeley ranks much higher in computer science rankings (1st versus 25th) and may provide a much better overall education.

I am considering aspects such as being able to take classes outside of my major, a double major opportunities, internships, housing, general experience.

Does anyone have experience or additional information that I (and others) should consider?

2

Do you want to be part of a fairly small major (67 recent graduates) in a sea of pre-meds at JHU, or part of the largest department (557 L&S CS + most of the 401 EECS recent graduates) at UCB?

Do you prefer being near Silicon Valley or DC? Although some large companies recruit everywhere, smaller ones are often more local in recruiting, so you may see different smaller companies in each region.

Note that UCB L&S students need a 3.3 college GPA in the prerequisite CS courses to declare the L&S CS major. If you are admitted to UCB EECS, you are already in the major.

3

For CS I would go to Cal. It is much higher ranked.

4

Those are both good options, but wildly different locations and campus experiences. Choose the affordable one if money is tight, or choose the environment that most appeals to you if they’re equally affordable.

5

My daughter was waitlisted at John Hopkins - she’s interested in computer science - anyone know the percentage of kids that get accepted off the waitlist??

6

@samson1 the percentage is quite low to my understanding and JHU never really published its waitlist statistics. They usually offer over thousand of spots on the waitlist but only admit a handful from it.

7

Unless a cost difference for instate is an issue, I would pick Hopkins. Hopkins is super intense in general, but with CS there should be no weed out. The computer classes I took there were incredible. I wouldn’t always recommend Hopkins, but it seems like a better option in this case, even if Berkeley has a top graduate program.