Rice or Berkeley?

<p>I got in both. Rice Engineering or Berkeley Math?
No definite career plan though, but definitly relates to Computer/Math.
Any recommondations?
Pro/Cons for both universities?</p>

<p>UG @ Rice is better,but Berkeley is acdemically stronger. that's what I heard. </p>

<p>It's really hard to decide..
I posted a same thread here <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/1114302-rice-berkeley.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/1114302-rice-berkeley.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I’d go with Rice. Depends on you though. Do you like big classes or would you rather be in smaller environments? I mean, I like the idea of a smaller environment. It cuts down the time you go to Office Hours and then fight with MORE people to ask a question. What do you mean by academically stronger though?</p>

<p>Congrats - both programs are strong. If money isn’t an issue, I would choose Rice. Unless you like Berkeley’s environment and the Bay Area.</p>

<p>based on the ranking information I found online… I can’t go for a campus visit cuz I’m an international student, I believed Cal ranked extremely high in many fields.</p>

<p>FYI: for internationals: Berkeley: around 55k,rice: 48k</p>

<p>=P I met with a Rice admission’s officer one, and she told me that “Rice has more trees than it has students.”</p>

<p>Berkeley and Rice are both incredible schools. Both schools are incredibly strong in terms of academics. I’ve never visited Rice before, but I’ve been in Berkeley twice.</p>

<p>My own subjectivity about Berkeley:</p>

<p>The social scene at Berkeley is truly incredible! There are multiple restaruants everywhere ie. Chinese cuisine, Japanese sushi, Yogurt shops, Pakastani food, etc! The diversity present at Berkeley is truly amazing and phenomenal! The campus is very liberal and people are free to express their ideas. The students are incredibly active. Clubs will always be outside in the quad I believe, near the bookstore promoting their purpose and overall helping the campus/community. I’m pretty sure other schools have such scenes but Berkeley is really just amazing. Sorry, I wasn’t able to be too detailed. My message was a bit vague. However, I encourage you to watch and search for videos about UC Berkeley and Rice University.</p>

<p>Good resources are YouUniversityTV and theU or simply Youtube. =P I love watching videos of college campuses to get a feel of what the atmosphere is. Of course, nothing compares to actually being there in person.</p>

<p>thanks dude. Your information is really helpful.I will go find some videos.</p>

<p>i always thought the math department/major here at berkeley could hold its own with the top math schools like princeton, mit, etc. </p>

<p>to my fellow Cal CC’ers, am i just sadly overestimating our university’s math dept? is rice really the better choice? (honest Q, don’t have facts or anything to support --do they even make undergrad rankings for math?-- that was just always my impression of berkeley…)</p>

<p>No, Berkeley is among the top:
[Mathematics</a> Ranking by US News 2009 | World Ranking Guide](<a href=“http://worldranking.blogspot.com/2009/01/mathematics-ranking-by-us-news-2009.html]Mathematics”>Mathematics Ranking by US News 2009 | World Ranking Guide)</p>

<p>But don’t let rankings be the end all though. These are usually for grad and not UG. I thought mathboy was a math major (lol…?) so he can better comment on the math major here. I’d imagine it’s something along the lines of choosing a concentration, etc. </p>

<p>Brings up a good point though: if you know for sure about math/computer, make sure to visit the department majors website and see what is offered, what you have to take, etc. See if anything strikes your interest which will likely be a pro for the school right?</p>

<p>Berkeley weather >> Houston weather (especially early fall)
You mention you’re international…I believe Berkeley’s international reputation exceeds Rice…if that matters to you and your future career plans.</p>

<p>Go to Rice if you want a smaller, tighter-knit college community experience.
Go to Cal if you want a larger, more dynamic college community experience.</p>

<p>Actually, no one really goes to office hours in classes that are around 100 or less people. And, for lower divs, you could always go to GSI office hours.</p>

<p>I would not consider that as a problem.</p>

<hr>

<p>Also, consider that as a math major, you are in L&S, which also houses the CS major. That means double majoring or even just taking CS classes are super easy. You say you want to go into CS: remember that Berkeley’s CS program is one of the best in the world.</p>

<p>good point. I thought CS is in engineering department…</p>