Stanford... worth it?

<p>Oh, no. I’m not a Cal alum. If there’s a single American university that I am associated with then that would have to be Stanford, though I never earned a degree from there. </p>

<p>Again, I really and seriously think that Stanford is better than Berkeley. I just think that for computer science and engineering, Stanford is not worth 100k grand over Berkeley’s. I the prie difference is substantially smaller, say 20k or 25k grand, I would rather suggest that the OP would choose Stanfard. But seriously, a hundred k grand is a large amount of money. Not even Harvard or MIT is worth that much over Berkeley. Let’s get real. Most of the things that HYPSMC can offer to their undergrad students can also be offered by Berkeley especially for EECS/CS programs.</p>

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That’s your opinion and I respect that. But that’s something I havent seen from my parents who are both Stanford alumni. But then again, my father was from postgrad Eng’g program and my mother from the medical school. So, if the bonding amongst undergrad is different from postgrads and medical school akumni, then your claims may have some credence. But I just think that you have severely underestimated Cal alumni.</p>

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So you seriously think that’s worth a hundred k grand over Berkeley?</p>

<p>This is where I disagree. In a successful career, $100K is ofte going to end up not seeming like a lot. So I guess it would depend on goals. Many, many people in Silicon Valley who want to start businesses would happily pay $100K for the Stanford network and credential.</p>

<p>^ I know parents who can well afford Stanford’s tuition in a breeze but sent their children to Berkeley EECS. In fact, the father donated 25M, yes, that is MILLION, to Berkeley. A pav was in fact named after his father. His father, whom I personally know, graduated from MIT. If you want his name i can send it to you via PM. I am not saying this is the norm at Berkeley. I am only saying, there are people at EECS/CS at Cal who can well afford Stanford too, but chose not to ge there for the price difference that they think is unjustifiable. Like someone here says, just because you can afford it you should spend for it. </p>

<p>Besides, looking at the end game, neither school provides significantly better opportunities than the other. If you have data that say otherwise, post them. I am interested to be proven wrong. But from what I’ve gathered, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley and CMU offer almost identical opportunities for their EECS/CS graduates. No school is significantly superior than the others.</p>