<p>Just to let you know a bit about myself, I will be studying Chemical Engineering at Berkeley, or Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins. One of my biggest priorities at college is to have good undergrad research opportunities; the other is to have a decent social life and good extracurricular activities. </p>
<p>Berkeley has a better ranking in Chemical Engineering, however Johns Hopkins have a better ranking in Medical related things. Both are small schools (Berkeley's CoC has only about 200 freshman, making it seem like a very small tightknit envirionment, while JHU is private). What do you think would be a better choice for me, academically?</p>
<p>What about the social aspects - what are your opinions on Berkeley and JHU? Eg the types of people I'll meet etc. </p>
<p>And is there anything you think I should be aware of about the two schools?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your time!!!</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with either choice but if you want more medical related research its JHU all the way.</p>
<p>UCB is a great school–particularly at the graduate school level. But have you investigated the likely effect of significantly reduced funding from the State due to the severe budget crisis in California? I don’t live in California but, based on what I read in the news, I would be very concerned about starting as a freshman at any California public right now. Those issues don’t exist at Hopkins.</p>
<p>I would agree - California publics are going to get really expensive really fast seeing the crisis within the state budgets. I too would be weary about the UC’s or CSU’s even. </p>
<p>I think Hopkins is ideal for students who:</p>
<p>1) want to research, hard core
2) want to meet students from all over the world
3) want a small close knit student body (JHU Fresh = 1,200, UCB Fresh- 6,600)
4) want a traditional east coast experience</p>
<p>They are both great it just depends on what you’re looking for.</p>