<p>Take the 100K and summer in Paris. Seriously. This is a no-brainer.</p>
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I'm just wondering why everyone assumed it's a guy.
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For starters beefs, the OP's handle name is "The_Guy"....</p>
<p>Could be a clue...;)</p>
<p>After this weeks Oprah episodes, I don't assume anything.</p>
<p>Here we have a perfect example of department reputation trumping school reputation. It is true that the unspecified Stanford undergraduate degree has higher prestige than the unspecified Berkeley undergraduate degree, in general.</p>
<p>That is not the case for engineering. They are peers. Adcoms at MBA programs know this. Interviewers for jobs in engineering know this. Wall Street knows this. The regular Joe on this Board might not know this, but that is irrelevant.</p>
<p>However, I would seriously consider Stanford. What is it worth to have less grade stress? Only you can answer that. Stanford will absolutely, under no circumstances let a student putting forth effort fail. Berkeley has no such commitment. Is that worth $100k? I don't know, but you do!</p>
<p>There is a reason why UCB has Spring admit. :D</p>
<p>Dunnin, I agree with your point about Cal being harder than Stanford on some students. But it is important to stress that in the vast majority of cases, students that strugge at Cal are students that should not have been admitted into a school of its calibre in the first place. Unfortunately, given its size and its obligation to the state, it must admit such students. However, the majority of Cal students manage fine and those that are truly gifted should have no trouble doing well.</p>
<p>OP, if you'd really be happy at either school, I vote for going for Cal + the tuition difference. It doesn't sound as if going to Stanford is going to buy you $25k+ a year of additional happiness. </p>
<p>I'd also suggest that you ask your parents to treat you to a session with their financial planner. You're being given a wonderful head start on a nest egg for retirement, a first home, and/or grad school!</p>
<p>The fact that the OP actually got into stanford probably means that he'll be one of the stronger students at Berkeley. I highly doubt someone like him wouldn't survive the weeder courses.</p>
<p>Berkeley without question. $100,000 is a ton of money and the two schools have equally amazing engineering schools.</p>
<p>Also, Berkeley does have a weaker student body than Stanford. I'd venture a guess that you'd be in the top 10% at Cal and these "weeder" courses won't be an issue. Plus, if you can maintain a high GPA as a Berkeley engineer firms will be all over you.</p>
<p>Saxon, a student got into Stanford is assumed to be top 10% at Cal?
Funny how they all graduated and found comparable job offers, the average student body. The arrogance!</p>
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Really, Stanford doesn't have a $100,000 advantage over Berkeley. It seems Berkeley is the clear choice here.
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<p>I actually seem to agree with kyledavid80 on this one. Stanford is better than Berkeley for undergrad, but probably not by $100k's worth.</p>
<p>It's interesting how the calculation seems so different because the parents are offering $100,000 to the student, as opposed to simply paying the higher tuition (or not); that is so much money for a young person that it would be hard to rationalize passing it up for the difference between the two schools, which tends to diminish after the first two years anyway (after the weeder classes); Berkeley is a great place to live, more stimulating than the Stanford area, and for a smart, motivated student has a tremendous amount to offer. It doesn't look like a country club, but it looks like a park, with a river running through it, trees, nice architecture (my kid took one look at Stanford and refused to apply; loved Cal and thrived there; his best friend floundered at Stanford...you never know). You don't need housing for 4 years -- there are lots of apartments around and students tend to prefer them for the independence they offer. Go Bears!</p>
<p>Go to Berkeley unless your family is rich.</p>
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There is a reason why UCB has Spring admit.
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Because some students graduate after the Fall semester.</p>
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Saxon, a student got into Stanford is assumed to be top 10% at Cal?
Funny how they all graduated and found comparable job offers, the average student body. The arrogance!
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</p>
<p>Agreed.</p>
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What is it worth to have less grade stress? Only you can answer that. Stanford will absolutely, under no circumstances let a student putting forth effort fail. Berkeley has no such commitment.
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</p>
<p>This is the same argument that one would use against, say, Caltech. It's a hard school. Consequently, its graduation rate is 89%, the same as Berkeley's. Of course, the reasons for the (comparatively) lower graduation rates may be different (Caltech, because there's a concentration of difficult majors; Berkeley, because it's a rigorous school and it doesn't "hold your hand"), but the result is the same. So the OP must ask himself: is Berkeley worth it despite that?</p>
<p>Not to mention Stanford will be very rigorous too, for engineering. There's the possibility that he won't graduate, but it's unlikely. As others said, though, the fact that he got into Stanford means he probably won't be the sort of student to get weeded out at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Columbia_Student: yes that if he survives the weed out process at UCB in the first place.</p>
<p>Please elaborate - I have posted elsewhere that I have choices that include UCB and Columbia and was wondering what does UCB do "weed-out" students. </p>
<p>If you are at Columbia, you went there over Berkeley - why></p>
<p>BTW, I am into EE/CS right now....thank you for your time</p>
<p>weed-out classes like CS 61abc, EE 20n, 40. a lot of students took 61a and changed their major.
61b, from family personal experience, over 100 students started the class, after midterm 1, 1/4 dropped, after project announced, another 1/4 dropped. by the time the final rolls in, probably 1/3 of the original class took the final (this is with Hilfinger)</p>
<p>I heard rumors that Berkeley IEOR is disintegrating. I have a friend in the major and it seems that about 1/3 the faculty are leaving and the other half is really old. And its changing its name to Department of Innovation or something which sounds weird if you ask me.</p>
<p>Stanford engineering > Berkeley engineering in terms of prestige. Sure the rank might be similar, but many employers take the reputation of the school as a whole into consideration. This is because they understand that Stanford engineers are probably more well rounded than Berkeley ones. After all, the Stanford engineers had to go through a very rigorous admissions process. Berkeley, on the other hand, is a pretty straightforward school in terms of admissions and probably just crunches the numbers (GPA, SAT, etc). </p>
<p>If you attend Stanford, you will have the freedom to switch majors at any time. You could even switch during your senior year if you wanted. The same could not be said for Berkeley. </p>
<p>Finally, if I were you I'd go to Stanford over Berkeley in spite of the 100K. This is because the 100K is your parents' money, and even if they are filthy rich, it seems like a decadent handout. If your parents paid for the more expensive school, that seems more morally justifiable then them just handing you cash even though you did doing nothing to earn it.</p>
<p>I'd take the money and run to Berkeley. (Full disclosures - I have degrees from both schools; my wife has two Berkeley degrees.)</p>