Northwestern vs. Berkeley vs. Cornell

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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<p>I have been accepted into Cal, NW, and Cornell, and I need some advise on which to choose. My criteria for choosing is 1. the best experience and 2. the best for my major of Political Science with an emphasis on foreign service. My views so far:</p>

<p>Berkeley: Pro's: college life, prestige, price. Con's: Huge student body
Northwestern: Pro's: Chicago, small student body. Con's: Color is purple, weird prestige
Cornell: Pro's: Ivy, nice campus, the color red. Con's: weird prestige, is it worth it to be so far from home?, huge student body</p>

<p>When I say weird prestige, I mean that they're prestigeous, but not always...</p>

<p>Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.</p>

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<p>NOTE: money isn't really a big factor. After aid, they're all similar. I'm mainly concerned with the best place for my major, so I have a good shot at grad school</p>

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<p>? ?</p>

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<p>First of all, what does "weird prestige" mean?? If you think that Cal is more prestigious than NW and Cornell, I would advise you to get your facts straight and ask someone in the "know." Cal is a great school, but it does not compete with the elites like NW and Cornell on the east coast. Try getting a job on the east coast with your degree from Cal, it will be much harder than someone who went to NW or Cornell. With that said, go to the school that makes you the happiest and no one can predict how you will feel or fall into place at any of these wonderful schools. Good luck!! :)</p>

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<p>You need A LOT of advice if you're picking your college based on their school colors.</p>

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<p>I'm big on school spirit.</p>

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<p>yeah the two big problems with Northwestern is the color and the name: just doesnt sound cool lol</p>

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<p>What's wrong with purple? ;)</p>

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<p>Where do you want to situate yourself in the future? Someone said it right before. If you want to be a west coaster, Cal would be more known. East Coast/Midwest, Northwestern and Cornell are more known.</p>

<p>HOWEVER, you say you want to get into a good grad school. Going to most reputable tier 1 / tier 2 colleges gives you good opportunities for getting into great grad schools. Grad students here come from all over the place: Syracuse, Cal, UPenn, Stanford, Florida State, Utah State, etc. If you work hard, do internships, get involved, do well..you'll have a darn good chance at any grad school (whether you are at Cal, NU, or Cornell). Poli Sci programs are strong in Cal, Cornell, and NU (I know Berkeley's poli sci is actually really famous in comparison to the others). </p>

<p>Honestly, picking any of them will educate you well and give you really good opportunities for graduate school. Visit the schools, and choose where you think you'll be happy. </p>

<p>Also think about out of state vs instate (I know out of state can seem glamorous..but it can be a real pain at times).</p>

<p>Location:<br>
Berkeley is in a really social place. There's always something going on. You'll have never ending action around you. Plus, there's really great eateries nearby.</p>

<p>Cornell: Kind of in the middle of nowhere. Very calm/peaceful.</p>

<p>NU: I find it pretty calm and peaceful. I don't get up to Chicago, that often to tell the truth (but Chicago rocks!). The campus can be pretty dead at times. Evanston's a nice town, though. </p>

<p>Overall: since cost is the same for you, I think it comes down to what kind of environment you want and whether you want to live in state. You'll be fine in any of their poli sci programs.</p>

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<p>thank you so much. that was one of the most helpful things anyone has told me so far. Question: When people say that Cal has an excellent poli sci program, the rankings I find are about the grad school. Does this mean that the undergrad is equally respected?</p>

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<p>I've found rankings on Undergrad. Berkelely was pretty darn high.</p>

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<p>Berkeley* (according to those rankings was number 2 under Harvard); of course, rankings are arbitrary</p>

<p>What you should know is basically Berkeley has a very strong and reputed Political Science program.</p>

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<p>Just a wild guess: Berkeley's faculty are probably pretty left-leaning? Is that something you would mind?</p>

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<p>i'm left too. while i don't like it when someone is so far left they see nothing else, it isn't a problem for me. Also: I looked at those rankings too, and I think they were for graduate schools. Do you think that speaks for the undergrad dept. as well?</p>

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<p>I meant I saw undergraduate rankings for poli sci, and Berkeley was like 2 on that list. Graduate rankings it's the same, too. But don't pick the school b/c x has a higher ranking than y. I think the quality of poli sci programs between all three schools is about the same.</p>

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<p>that's true. do you know the rates of acceptance at graduate schools for foreign service? I can't find them anywhere.</p>

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<p>there are ten people in my class who are going to berkeley. Not a single one of them could have gotten accepted to Northwestern.</p>

<p>Its like this every year. The student body at NU is much more ambitious, talented and intellectual than Berkeley.</p>

<p>Cornell is in the middle of freaking nowhere. We'd call it a desert, if it werent so damn cold.</p>

<p>go to NU.</p>

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<p>thecity, really not a very nice thing to say. really.</p>

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<p>TheCity,</p>

<p>As an NU student, I actually disagree with you a great deal. Berkeley has a bigger student body overall, so yes, you'll have people who aren't the greatest students. However, Berkeley also has many intelligent people there in their top notch programs (engineering, english, history, life sciences, chemistry, poli sci etc). </p>

<p>In fact, I was expecting more ambitious, intelligent students at NU. I was surprised that the 40/50 +students that went from my high school to Berkeley are some of the brightest kids I've ever known still. </p>

<p>I would say the average NU student is richer (you have some extremely rich people here) than an average Berkeley student. I wouldn't agree with anything otherwise.</p>

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<p>yeah, NU is definitely more wealthy.
Of course you are going to have some VERY smart students at berk, because it is so highly ranked, and the UCs are the only option for many low to mid income californians.
One of the 3 smartest people in my class is going to Berk, he got in engineering undeclared. There's also a girl who scored a combined 960 on the SAT I who got in, many people who had SAT Is in the 1000-1200 range, and so on. I should note that my school, although private, is not the greatest place, so many of these people, although not remarkably intelligent, still wound their way into the top 10 or 20% of the class.
At NU, i just don't see anybody getting in with such a mediocre high school career.</p>

<p>Berkeley is able to have such a wide array of students academically, because its reputation is so great that even students who could go to better schools still go there, only to find themselves in a crazy party place, with a small minority of the student body who cares about academics and being intellectual.</p>