<p>I've been accepted to both schools, and am wondering not only which will give me the better education, but also which will provide the best overall college experience. Though I am majoring in engineering (ME), I want to have a substantial social life, be able to party when the time is right, and not be overwhelmed by extreme competition between students. At NU, I would try to walk onto the varsity (men's) basketball team, while that probably isn't possible at Cal...</p>
<p>So which school will an engineer that is social, athletic, and looking for a good time fit best in?</p>
<p>Well, NU is definitely athletic and social, and I’ve heard about some intense competition at Berkeley. But don’t take my word for it, I would suggest visiting.</p>
<p>Berkeley is incredibly competitive in engineering. If you want a more well-balanced experienced with more opportunities to create your own unique curriculum, go with Northwestern if you can afford it.</p>
<p>I’m not a current student at either, but I was accepted to and visited both last year, so I do know a bit.</p>
<p>Are you sure you have a shot to walk onto NU’s basketball team? They’re really solid, and had a good shot to get into the NCAA tournament until they lost against Illinois in epic fashion (that was one of the best games I’ve ever seen). They have a stud in Coble, upcoming star in Mircovic, and Shurna, Nash, Thompson, and Moore (who’s leaving- Hey, you could take his spot!). Besides Moore they only have two seniors leaving and have two recruits coming in so there will likely be at most one open spot. </p>
<p>As far as other stuff goes, Cal is better for engineering, but Northwestern is decent and will probably give you a similar education. If you don’t live up north, the summers are extremely hot in Chicago and the winters are freezing, windy, and overcast with snow once a week or so. Spring and fall are great, though somewhat hard to predict (we got snow today!). Cal’s weather is much milder, averaging from around 45 to 60 yearround, with rain in the winter. As far as breadth of subjects go, NU would be the better choice in my opinion, as they probably allow engineers to take more humanities courses (just guessing on this, though). In terms of being near cities, the two are actually really comparable (both about 20-30 minutes away from huge downtown areas- Chicago and San Fran.). Evanston is a fantastic college town, and you will find almost anything that you are looking for there, but I hear Berkeley is great, too. Northwestern will be more diverse (at Cal, 90% of students are from California!). Northwestern is also significantly smaller than Cal, and is also on Lake Michigan (which is depressing actually from November to March and will only be comfortably swimmable in August and September), but Cal has great views of the bay. </p>
<p>In summation, both schools would be excellent choices, and I’m sure you’d have fun and get a great education at either. As far as my authority goes: I live about ten minutes from NU (which you probably could tell) and got into Cal and have done a lot of research (all my info is secondhand, though).</p>
<p>I’m currently majoring in engineering at Berkeley. The engineering cirriculum is hammaring, but it’s really not that competitive, especially since everybody helps each other out. It is completely possible to have a social life and go to parties while maintaining good grades, I especially if you’re really good at math and physics. The social scene at Berkeley believe isn’t as good as Northwestern’s; my friend who goes to NU told me at least 40% of the people there are affiliated with Greek life whereas people in frats and sororities are no where near 40% of Berkeley’s student population. The trade off, however, is that Berkeley has a top tier undergrad engineering program whereas NU’s can be classified as second tier at best. </p>
<p>All I’m gonna conclude with is that everyone picks their schools for different reasons. I picked Berkeley because of the academic vibrance, the opportunities available, and the proximity to some of the greatest minds of the century (like my current Fields Medalist math professor).</p>
<p>As an engineer myself that wasn’t lucky enough to take this tract (they started it right after I finished my freshmen), I can tell you the Engineering Analysis sequence is pedagogically much more superior than 5 separate courses in engineering mechanics, general phyiscs I, linear algebra, differential eqn, and computer programming.</p>