All 3 are great schools with pretty campuses (and Providence’s WaterFire is a cool event) but if working is SV is a top priority, then Cal is the clear winner. Take a look at this article. https://qz.com/967985/silicon-valley-companies-like-apple-aapl-hires-the-most-alumni-of-these-10-universities-and-none-of-them-are-in-the-ivy-league/ That said, both my kids work in SV and neither went to a CA school, so, there are plenty of routes to the end goal. Cal is just likely the most direct.
Here’s another article to read: http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-hires-uc-berkeley-grads-2017-5
and this is now a few years old but is a great visual https://www.wired.com/2014/05/alumni-network-2/
or SV hires SJSU grads…really if SV is your destination UCB would be best, if you want the best education then Duke followed by Brown.
Thanks for your responses so far! If anybody has any pro or con to ask, please do so as this thread can hopefully help others in the future too.
Did you apply to CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) ?
@Burrito12: Just read one of your earlier threads in which you wrote that you were admitted to Georgia Tech & Illinois for CS. If accurate, why are you considering Duke & Brown ?
I’d choose Cal over Georgia Tech and uiuc. So now it’s a matter of whether I want a smaller , more accessible resourceful university such as duke or brown or a larger university with plentiful, though competitive opportunities at Cal.
OP, it’s one thing to just get an entry level job in the valley. Another good metric of a university’s quality is how well its graduates do at the executive level.
Duke can lay claim to Tim Cook (Apple’s CEO), Eddie Cue (Apple’s Sr VP of Internet Software and Services), Jeff Williams (Apple’s COO), Amy Hood (Microsoft’s CFO), Scott Guthrie (Head of Microsoft’s AI and Cloud Computing divisions), Terry Myerson (EVP and former head of Windows at Microsoft), etc.
^ I’m sure that Brown and Cal have alums in high places but that list is pretty hard to beat. 3 of Apple’s 11 top executives have Duke degrees as do 3 of Microsoft’s top 16.
However, Cook and Williams are Duke MBA graduates; they did not attend Duke for undergraduate study.
Cook: BS from Auburn, MBA from Duke
Williams: BS from NC State, MBA from Duke
Note that their undergraduate schools were in-state publics for them.
^ I guess that’s a fair point. Still, Cue, Hood, Guthrie, Myerson is pretty impressive (and they’re all in technical positions except for Hood).
I know that you can come up with a list of Berkeley alums who’ve done exceedingly well in tech. I’m not trying to say that Duke sends more people to the valley or anything of the sort. Just pointing out that our graduates are often disproportionately well represented in the highest echelons. Not bad for a school that is supposed to have a sub par CS program!
Cook: BS from Auburn, MBA from Duke
Williams: BS from NC State, MBA from Duke
Which backs many posters who suggest state flagships or slightly less selective schools and save money for the prestigious MBA. That many times is knocked on CC.
Thanks for posting this. @ucbalumnus
@privatebanker That works for tech but Wall Street firms are clearly obsessed with undergraduate prestige. Also, your odds of getting into a top 10 MBA program are significantly higher if you went to Penn, Duke, Dartmouth, etc. as an undergraduate.
@JenniferClint Ok. I get what you are saying for sure . However Wall Street is much bigger place than Goldmans IB three year analyst program et al. You are correct for those programs. It’s just such a small number. when it is the universal default justification for most college decisions I simply feel it is misguided.
Yes, I can see where you’re coming from too.
I think with most things what you do matters much more than where you go but there are some exceptions. Harvard’s neurosurgery residency program probably won’t seriously consider an applicant who didn’t attend a top medical school. Similarly, some VC firms virtually require their employees to have elite undergraduate degrees.
It’s probably also easier to excel as an undergraduate at an elite private school. Self-motivated students who are confident in their ability should definitely consider the state school option if it makes financial sense.
Finally, the mediocre (3.4-3.7) Penn student has a much better shot of getting to HBS than the mediocre Alabama student.
Well said and accurate
CS… Berkeley is the no-brainer… … the other schools are not even on the map.
“CS and dabble in entrepreneurship and finance.”
For CS and entrerpreneurship esp technology startups, Berkeley is the best choice, probably by a lot. It wouldn’t compare as well for wall street but as others have said, wall street and if you wanted a data science job say at a wall street bank, Berkeley would do fine.
“I know that you can come up with a list of Berkeley alums who’ve done exceedingly well in tech.”
For sure, because there are many of them. Apple, Intel, Mozilla, Zynga, among tech, also non-tech, Gap and Dean Witter as I found out.
Anyway, Berkeley is your clear choice here.
I did like Berkeley; it’s just I’m concerned that I’ll be lost/not have the access to resources I would at Duke or Brown.
Yes you wouldn’t not have access to the most brilliant minds in CS at Brown or Duke.
C clap clap clap A…L…I…California, California yea!!!