Please Help!! Williams College vs. UC Berkeley.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

<p>l have been accepted to both Cal and Williams, and l am torn between the two. l am an international student and l can't afford to visit both campuses. l have full rides to both schools, so money is not a deciding factor. l didn't think l would be fortunate enough to get into any of the two schools.</p>

<p>l intend to do a double major in Computer Science (CS) and Econ (or Physics). l hope to go to a top 10 CS grad school or business school. l also want to learn Mandarin Chinese. l am interested in debating, financial clubs, and quiz. l am not that much into sports.</p>

<p>l have received advice that ranges from "Dude, are you mad? UCB has the best CS department in the world; You should go there" to "Cal's CS classes will weed you out. At Cal, you will be just a number".</p>

<p>l am slightly leaning towards Williams because of the small class sizes and individualized attention.</p>

<p>l have little CS background.</p>

2

<p>Williams is a very successful and highly rated college, you cannot go wrong with selecting Williams.</p>

3

<p>I would go with Cal. Apart from having one of the best CS departments in the world, Cal students have a lot of opportunities in terms of internships and research -if the student is proactive. Cal is known to be a tough school and grade deflation is an issue, but grad schools recognize the difficulty of the curriculum and will take that into account when reviewing your application. Honestly if you want to learn from the best in your field, and if you think you’d be fine in a large class environment, I would advise that you choose Cal. </p>

4

<p>You could hardly find two more different environments. You’d get an excellent education at either one with entree to top graduate and professional schools. </p>

<p>I think your choice depends on how much emphasis you want to place on CS. Williams has a respectable CS program, but Cal’s is one of the top in the country with a lot of interaction with Silicon Valley. Economics and math are excellent at both. Physics is proportionately a smaller department at Williams, but still good.</p>

<p>Aside from CS, the differences are still significant: Berkeley is a huge research university in an urban environment. Williams is a small liberal arts college in an insular mountain village. At Berkeley and in the greater San Francisco/Oakland area, you will be exposed to a wide range of racial, ethnic and economic diversity. Williams works hard to achieve diversity on campus, but the surrounding area is mostly White, mostly middle class. You’ll be able to get to New York or Boston for a weekend now and then, but to be happy at Williams, you really have to embrace the insular, isolated – and profoundly beautiful – location.</p>

<p>But, to me, the most critical point of differentiation is the teaching style and academic environment. At big State U’s like Berkeley you get big classes, often taught by TA’s; big name professors who may or may not be interested in teaching undergraduates. Advising and personal attention are available but you have to assertively seek it.</p>

<p>At Williams you get small classes, almost always taught by a full professor whose whole reason to be is to teach undergraduates. Your professors know you and will be there for you when you need recommendations for years to come. Advising and counseling are accessible and there’s a strong sense of community.</p>

<p>You should also think about where you will eventually live and work. Everyone everywhere has heard of Berkeley. Although Williams is well known in academic circles and by certain employers, it will not have the same name recognition and therefore prestige in other parts of the world. </p>

<p>So it’s a tough decision that only you can make. A lot depends on how comfortable you are with American culture and education. If you’ve traveled or lived in the U.S. the transition to Berkeley will be easier. If you haven’t you might find Williams a more welcoming and nurturing environment.</p>

<p>PS, Then there’s the weather. . .</p>

5

<p>The entire Cal system has faced huge financial cutbacks in recent years. Stories abound about folks being shut out of classes and/or increasingly enormous class sizes, and it is becoming harder to even graduate in four years. The faculty in CS, physics and econ will be far more focused on teaching grad students and have little time to devote to the absolutely enormous (and growing) number of undergraduate students in their classes, which, as others have noted, may largely be taught by TA’s in many cases in any event. </p>

<p>Williams just has far more resources devoted on a per-student basis (by an enormous ratio) than Cal, and you will be able to take any classes you want, get individualized attention directly from professors (including in tutorials and in summer and academic year research opportunities). There are certainly reasons to choose Cal, mainly, if you want a huge university environment and enjoy the social activism and bohemian atmosphere of the campus and community, but from an educational standpoint, I think Williams is a no-brainer here. Especially because you are talking about fields that Williams is particularly strong in – check out the Apker awards, or the Williams math department (because math is closely tied to all three disciplines you list), Physics and Econ are two of the best departments at Williams and CS, while small, is strong, and grads go on to great things. Just check out what recent grads have done! As you can see, you can practically writer your ticket to the best jobs and grad programs in the country if you are Physics/CS major at Williams:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cs.williams.edu/people/alumni-directory/”>http://www.cs.williams.edu/people/alumni-directory/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>Living 40 minutes away from cal, I have taken classes and know how great its CS department is and I have gotten an econ internship before (and I’m going to be a freshman in college next year!) Personally, I think your interests would line up with Cal more, and the international students support is extremely strong there. Williams is great too, </p>

7

<p>Williams College is a great LAC. But for CS, you’d be crazy to pick it over Berkeley.</p>