<p>As college decisions start coming back to applicants, it will be time all too soon to find out where we want to attend. My question may come off as superficial, but I know that I will get a quality education from any of the schools I want to attend; therefore, the way that people perceive a school may make a difference in establishing a professional reputation or even getting a job. So I know rankings don't really matter, but if people think they do, then they do, if that makes sense.</p>
<p>Here's where all of this is headed--I've been accepted [or deemed incredibly likely to be accepted] so far to USC (accepted) and Berkeley (regents' eligible), and I want to know how the general population regards those schools in comparison to other highly selective/prestigious colleges.</p>
<p>If you could tell me your opinions, that would be fabulous.</p>
<p>I totally get what you’re saying. I wish rankings and prestige didn’t matter to me, but they sort of do. I will try to keep that out of the picture, but of course it’d be awfully hard to turn down a place like Harvard.</p>
<p>I too have a scholarship offer at USC and am a finalist for Regents at Cal…</p>
<p>You already lost the battle of the real world. College is not about the name brand. College is about what you put into it. Prestige should not, and does not matter. What others think of your college does not matter. My mother went to Rowan, a school that you and others would most likely laugh at. She now is a supervisor in the executive branch of the government and is making 150,000+ a year. Once again, college is what you put into. Opportunities will present themselves</p>
<p>i’m perfectly aware of that. my parents both went to cal states and are EXTREMELY successful, so i know that you have to make your own opportunities and all. and i’m going to work extremely hard to do that no matter where i go to school. but in the mean time, i have to figure out where i’m going to college… and since i’m going to a good one already, might as well go to the best.</p>
<p>No. You want to go to the best school <em>for you</em> - which may or may not be the best school by anyone else’s standards.</p>
<p>What are the relative merits of the programs you’re interested in? Is there a particular professor whose research interests you? Do you want a classic liberal college town or a preppy private in glitzy Los Angeles?</p>
<p>i’m a smart person and i’m going to go where i’m most interested and where i like best, i was just looking for peoples’ perspective on this. there are pros and cons to every school and i’m going to weigh them objectively, i promise… i was simply curious.</p>
<p>Yes; university name is very important. Oftentimes times, you will be judged according to the school where you went to. No body would treat you a moron when you come out of Harvard. The world isn’t fair. So, aim for the best college as you can, if you can afford it. </p>
<p>Between Berkeley and USC, Berkeley is significantly more prestigious and has higher academic standards and has a more respected name in the USA or outside the USA. Having said that, USC is also a good school. It would be a great alternative for Berkeley.</p>
<p>I agree with RML. Personally, I think I’d enjoy campus life more at USC, but like many people my immediate reactions are “Berkeley - wow!” and “USC - how’s the football team going to be next fall?”.</p>
<p>It might be worth it to think more “provincially.” Here’s what I mean: what I think of these two schools will probably never impact you because we’ll never meet, I’ll never be in a position to hire you, etc. So maybe the perception that matters (a little) is not the average joe’s, but rather that of a person likely to advance your plans for success in some way.</p>
<p>Example: suppose you are deciding between Rutgers and Harvard. No contest, right? But if you are applying to grad programs in philosophy, there IS a contest because Rutgers’ program is actually (slightly) more highly ranked than Harvard’s.</p>
<p>I guess my point is that perhaps the perception that matters is the perception of people “in the know.”</p>
<p>If one of the schools has a program that specifically interests you, go there. What’s important is not the name on the degree, but what you learn and what network you build.</p>
<p>In my field of interest, Harvard doesn’t show on the radar. No private school in the country even has a program in the discipline. The big names are Penn State, Idaho, Indiana, Texas A&M, etc.</p>
<p>Yes exactly, the program YOU are interested in joining matters, not the name of the school. Another example, lets say I got accepted into Harvard. No brainer right? But what if I want to be a teacher? It would be foolish for me to pay the tuition for Harvard, and endure the extremely rigorous work, curriculum, and stress of Harvard, when I get just as good of a teaching degree at a school like Drexel. You need to go to the college that has the best program for you. Notre Dames business program is ranked 2nd (currently), while Cornells doesnt even reach the top 10. For the name: Cornell, for the program, which is much more important: notre dame</p>
<p>The only program USC has that would trump Berkeley is film.</p>
<p>
Really? Let’s talk about off-campus… USC is bordered by an aging Los Angeles landmark football stadium, an ancient sports arena, some mediocre museums, strip malls, wide boulevards, two major freeways and massive parking structures…</p>
<p>Berkeley is a pedestrian friendly college town…much more oriented to college students. You don’t need a car to get around. San Francisco and all regional airports are accessible via BART trains at the Downtown Berkeley BART station, one block west of campus.</p>
<p>“Notre Dames business program is ranked 2nd (currently), while Cornells doesnt even reach the top 10. For the name: Cornell, for the program, which is much more important: notre dame”</p>
<p>According to Business Week I guess it (ND) is. Otherwise, NO.</p>
<p>Yeah, these are things I’m considering, especially since my major is Psychology. Berkeley’s psych program is ranked 6th in the U.S., which is incredible, which makes it much more attractive than some of the schools I’m applying to where I like the school itself better, but the reputation of my major is weaker.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your opinions, too!</p>
<p>Now, as decisions from colleges come back, Berkeley will have the best reputation [out of those I applied to, with the exception of Yale, which I see as a farrrr reach] for psychology but there are some overall schools I like better. It’ll be difficult to make a decision according to that aspect too.</p>
<p>Environmental/cultural interpretation - the art and science of explaining historical and natural resources to mass audiences, specifically in the context of parks, forests, museums, historic sites and the like. Put another way: It’s what park rangers do.</p>
<p>The field’s preeminent professor worldwide is on faculty at the University of Idaho. Besides those I already mentioned, Clemson, Missouri, Stephen F. Austin, Ball State and a sprinkling of others also offer instruction and research in the discipline.</p>
<p>Sidethekid, yep you hit the nail on the head alright - go to Drexel over Harvard because at Harvard they might challenge you more, make you study harder and learn more than at Drexel…and this is not good.</p>
<p>on a serious note, if any potential college student thinks in this manner then they don’t deserve to attend such an incredible institution as Harvard and maybe should do the Junior College then transfer to a lowly college instead - you know, whatever route challenges the student the least and allows him to do other fun things than study/learn while in college.</p>
<p>If someone wants to spend their life teaching, it makes zero sense to spend $50,000 a year on a Harvard education. You won’t get paid any more than the teacher who went to Local State U., while you’ll have spent perhaps four times as much, or more.</p>
<p>By the way, onecircuit, your pretentious ignorance is pitiable. Lots of smart, motivated people go to two-year colleges for any number of reasons. In the grand scheme of things, nobody cares where you did the first two years of your bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>My father dropped out of high school, went to a JC and then transferred to a “lowly college” to finish his degree.</p>
<p>That’s Dr. Mason to you, because he was immediately accepted to UC Berkeley and earned a Ph.D in vertebrate paleontology. He’s a college professor now. Maybe you even took a class from him. Bet you couldn’t tell he started at LA Valley College.</p>
<p>polarscribe, well good for you and your father. It appears that he is one of the 15% special ones that entered L.A. Valley College and went on to get a 4 year degree thereafter. I would imagine that the experience and knowledge that he gained at the Junior College from Van Nuys is even better than what he would have learned at Harvard for the first two years.</p>