<p>Hello CC, today I'm asking for a friend of mine who was admitted to both Rice and Berkeley for their Architecture School. She's having a hard time choosing between the two and would love some insight from the forum. She's from San Francisco, although an international, so studying at Berkeley will be very close to home for her. That coupled with parental pressure to go there has made the school her number one choice for quite a while. However, recently, she has had doubts about their architecture program, or indeed, their quality of academics in general. It is a wide known fact that California is bankrupt and that this has had detrimental effects on public schools like Berkeley. Also, the rumors of 200+ students per class and the inability to really connect with professors at Berkeley has made an impact on her decision making. </p>
<p>On the other hand, Rice has an amazing architecture program (Top 5 in the US?), and according to other sites like **************, also has a good living environment and studying environment, (sans 200 student classes). Furthermore, Rice's architecture program is also highly selective as compared to Berkeley's (60 acceptances a year) and she thinks that she would like receive a better education in architecture there?</p>
<p>Do you guys have any insights? any commets, suggestions, experiences in both schools with the architecture program? Thanks!</p>
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Umm, there are zero architecture/design classes with 200+ students. That is NOT the way architecture is taught.</p>
<p>How about other classes? In case one decides to switch out of architecture. Do people have to suffer through huge classes in other fields? Perhaps like Chemistry or Econ</p>
<p>^ The bigger classes will be your intro math, econ and science courses…just like they are at every other research university. Smaller classes will be encountered in the humanities, social sciences and upper division courses.</p>
<p>[Home</a> Page - Online Schedule Of Classes](<a href=“http://schedule.berkeley.edu%5DHome”>http://schedule.berkeley.edu) can help you see what class sizes are at Berkeley.</p>
<p>For fall 2011, Architecture has one course with an enrollment limit of 292 students (architectural history) and one with an enrollment limit of 150 students (social and cultural basis of design), but most other courses are much smaller (enrollment limit of 15 to 75). An introductory Environmental Design course has an enrollment limit of 122.</p>
<p>Note that smaller class sizes are sometimes found in the honors or “more difficult” versions of some courses. E.g. Berkeley Math 1B for fall 2011 has an enrollment limit of 400, while Math H1B (honors) has an enrollment limit of 25. Economics 100A (intermediate microeconomics) has an enrollment limit of 411, while Economics 101A (intermediate microeconomics with more math) has an enrollment limit of 87. Chemistry 1A has three lectures limited to 523 students each (total of 1569), but Chemistry 4A (for chemistry and chemical engineering majors) has one lecture limited to 260 students.</p>
<p>Thanks guys for the insight on class sizes! It was actually one the concerns my friend had about Berkeley. However, do you guys have any opinions on the actual strengths of the Cal architecture program as compared to Rice’s? As well as the quality of living in the two colleges, as well as their quality of academics? Thanks!</p>
<p>@ anaknieli: There is one big problem with Berkeley’s architecture program and that is a non-professional architecture degree. I am pretty sure Rice has the professional architecture degree, I know Berkleey does not. The professional undergraduate architecture degree is a Bachelor’s of Architecture (B. Arch) and it is accredited by the NAAB. I am pretty sure Berkeley does not have the accredited degree, but they might have the masters (M. Arch).</p>
<p>I also believe Rice would be the better program. The campus experience will be quite different between the two schools. Rice is a relatively small university with a vibrant campus life. Berkeley is quite different and is a large public university. I think both are wonderful schools, but I hope you have visited…</p>
<p>Rice may be great, but Houston is a steaming ****hole.</p>
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Oh, Berkeley’s campus life is vibrant. No question about that. ;)</p>
<p>Houston is actually a wonderful city and the area around Rice is great. The students aren’t there during the worst of the summer (and everything is air-conditioned anyway). The restaurants are great and inexpensive with a lot of ethnic choices. My daughter and son-in-law loved it there as students (and my daughter had sworn that she wouldn’t go to college in Texas). No-Houston isn’t San Francisco, which is probably one of the most incredible cities in the world. It IS a great place to be as a college student, though.</p>