Princeton vs Harvard

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Just stop mouthing the tiresome cliche about this or that school being "undergraduate centered."</p>

<p>This dubious claim is always thrown out as some big plus by schools which have little else to brag about, because ... surprise, surprise ... the place has no PhD program or professional school.</p>

<p>So Becker College is "undergraduate centered?" Big deal.</p>

<p>Oh... and in my opinion, Berkeley is vastly underrated as an undergraduate institution, despite the fact that it is not (shudder) "undergraduate centered." If only it had decent dorms and a less sleazy setting I'd highly recommend it over some of those teeny LACs in the boondocks that are, by definition, "undergraduate focussed."

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<p>That's an interesting take on the issue. So you're saying that there is no such thing as undergraduate focus, is there? So by extension, Berkeley is actually better than say, Princeton or Yale for undergrad because Berkeley tends to have very highly rated doctoral departments? </p>

<p>If that's the case, then fair enough. Perhaps you'd like to go to the Berkeley, Yale, and Princeton boards and, with the same intensity that you've used to attack me, talk about how Berkeley is far better than Yale and Princeton for undergrad and that those who turn down Berkeley for YP must be fools. I'm sure that a lot of the people on the Berkeley section of CC would love your help. </p>

<p>Look, bottom line, I am not saying that Harvard undergrad is necessarily better or worse than Princeton. I think an argument could be made either way. I just don't think that doctoral departmental rankings are a good way to measure it. I personally have serious problems with the way that Berkeley runs its undergraduate program, and I am quite tired of how the Berkeley administration strengthens its graduate programs at the expense of undergrads.</p>