Please help me choose

College Search & Selection
1

Hey guys!

I’m an international from India (Senior in high school), and am currently torn between UC Berkeley College of Chemistry – Chemical Engineering, and Cornell Chemical Engineering.

My acceptances include:
UC Berkeley College of Chemistry – Chemical Engineering
Cornell Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon,
Harvey Mudd
U of Minnesota Twin Cities – Chem engg
U of Wisconsin Madison – Chem engg

I’ve heard a lot about the IMMENSE prestige and selectivity of CoC at Berkeley, and was wondering if it outweighs the prestige and ivy-status of Cornell.

Kindly also do let me know if you feel I should also deeply consider the other colleges on my list !

Thank you,
Awaiting your prompt opinions – owing to upcoming deadline!

2

Between those 2 I’d pick Cornell (not because it’s an Ivy). Berkeley has really large classes. However, I’d pick Harvey Mudd over either of those for its outstanding undergrad focus (but it’s the toughest in terms of workload so be sure you can handle it).

3

I’d pick HarveyMudd over either one for the quality of the learning experience and personalized education but otherwise Cornell.

4

@MYOS1634 @insanedreamer thank you for your prompt replies…

but like I said, all my school and external counsellors say Berkeley CoC cause of it’s very small, selectively chosen, focussed group… the schools y’all mentioned (HMC and Cornell) aren’t particularly that good for ChemE either… (rankings and prestige wise…) but then again, do y’all feel these reasons are solid enough in Berkeley’s favour? or do y’all still stick by your initial choices?

Thank you again for you prompt and insightful responses

5

All of your choices are very strong in Engineering.

Here are some things to consider:

Cost

  • Is spending a lot more at Cornell, CMU, Harvey Mudd or Berkeley – than at relatively lower-priced UW and UM-TC – worth it?

Does the size of the college matter?

  • Harvey Mudd is small, even if you add the other Claremont Colleges.
  • CMU and Cornell are markedly larger than Mudd
  • Berkeley/UW/UMTC are markedly larger than them

Does location/environment matter?
Cornell: Small town in upstate NY
Mudd: Small town in southern CA
CMU: Big city in western PA
Berkeley: Small city/suburb in SF Bay Area, CA
UW: Medium city in Wisconsin
UMTC: Big city (cities…) in Minnesota

Does a big sports scene matter?

  • UW, UMTC and Berkeley are all big sports schools, especially UW.
  • Cornell has D1 sports, but not at the same highest level (with exceptions) as the big public schools
  • Mudd and CMU have much less of a sports scene.

These are some things to consider. Academically, they’re all very good.

6

@eric412 All three (Cal, Cornell, Mudd) are going to get you where you want to go – a chance at a good employment, or a good grad school. It’s totally subjective to say that one is “better” than the other, and differences in prestige is also highly subjective at that level. I don’t know where you heard that Cornell and Mudd aren’t particularly good at ChemE.
One thing to consider would be if you go back to India, if Cal is much more well known, that would be a point in its favor over the other two. In the US, top employers or grad schools won’t see any difference between them - they will look at what you did in college.
So the question is what type of college experience do you want, and what do those particular colleges offer that sparks your interest (check the websites of their departments). Forget about prestige and rankings.