I am choosing between JHU and UCB for astrophysics.
However, the situation is little bit tricky here:
I got accepted to JHU but I got waitlisted to UC Berkeley.
However, given the high rate of students getting off of the waitlists (According to common data set of UCB) I think I have a chance so I am comparing between these schools.
So ranking wise, JHU is behind UC Berkeley in physics/astronomy… And also a lot of people just told me that UCB is way better place to study astronomy than JHU is.
However I have received a lot of financial aid from JHU (about $45k/yr) and I am pretty sure that UCB will not give out any financial aid given that UCLA did not provide me that much financial aid ($5k/yr) and UC system in general do not have that much fund these days.
Given this kind of situation, which school should I aim for? Of course I will commit to JHU first but if I get off of the waitlist (possibly and hopefully), which school should I choose?
I am planning on pursuing PhD on astrophysics as well.
Thanks so much in advance.
I chose Hopkins over Berkeley a few years back as did many of my old classmates (who were in-state with cheaper costs to boot). Hopkins is also quite a bit more selective than Berkeley and has arguably a better reputation at the undergrad level as a result (grad renown is hands down Berkeley) For the people who say Berkeley is a better place than Hopkins for astrophysics, what is their rationale? Do they have any experience in physics or are they ill informed high school students? Undergrad physics is not grad physics (which berkeley is more famous for) - it’s harder to judge the quality of undergrad programs. However, at JHU, the physics department is pretty top notch for astrophysics. You have a nobel prize winner in Adam Riess (who my old classmate did research with as an undergrad) and several other absolute top notch professors. You also have the ability to do research on the Hubble Space institute on campus.
Also, I would not pay a dime more for Berkeley over a top private, but that is just me.
@stevensPR the people who say Berkeley is a better place are arguing over the US News Ranking. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/university-of-california-berkeley-110635/overall-rankings
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/johns-hopkins-university-162928/overall-rankings
Go over these two websites and compare the physics/space science rankings. Those are not grad rankings; those are undergrad rankings.
You can probably see UC Berkeley is better ranked than JHU.
@Madastro ^Those rankings are based on graduate programs.
have you seen these rankings?
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities
The same rankings you have also show UCLA as higher ranked than Yale, UChicago, and JHU which is highly questionable at best. Downright misleading at worst.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings?page=2
Your friends are totally misguided. Check your rankings:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/articles/methodology
“As a result of these criteria, many stand-alone graduate schools, including Rockefeller University and the University of California—San Francisco, were eligible to be ranked and were included in the ranking universe.”
@stevensPR then you are saying that there is no indicator for me to find out which ‘undergrad’ program is better, but there is only indicator to find out which ‘grad’ program is better?
@MadAstro largely correct. US News and other publications do not offer any undergrad rankings of physics, biology, etc etc programs. The only such program specific rankings exist for business and engineering primarily. And even then, they are a bit doubtful since they are just surveys by random academics.
@stevensPR okay. Then at the undergrad level, JHU and UCB offer pretty much same degree of astrophysics education and then I should aim for prestigeous grad school after undergrad.
So your choice is JHU but isn’t that a little bit biased? (Since you are from JHU)
Can you further explain more about why JHU would be better choice than UCB?
I went to JHU for undergrad and MIT for grad (for free). I can tell you if you went to Hopkins and do well, your grad school options will not be limited. While i went to Hopkins, I have no problem saying select schools such as Stanford, Harvard, MIT are hands down likely better options for undergrad. I would say hopkins and berkeley are comparable for most programs at the undergrad level, save for business obviously. If you’re not smart enough to save $40k a year for a better school than berkeley for undergrad, there’s not much more I can say to you.
@stevensPR haha you have a good point there. I am planning on visiting JHU Apr 5-Apr 6 for the admitted student day so I will find out whether or not I like JHU and I will commit. Thanks for your kind advice! 
As a middle-aged person who just got finished paying off law school student loans, I can tell you that you don’t want to graduate with loan debt if at all possible. Choose what is affordable. I can’t even remember what life was like before debt. Even if the payments are low, it is a weight on your shoulders and impacts your credit ratings and what you can borrow for a house, etc… The offer from JHU sounds really good.
@mommyrocks you are definitely right. I was misled by the US News Rankings. Even though the ranking was accurate, there is no point choosing one school over another just for a little bit better education rather than having $240k of debt or something.