I’m leaning more towards Berkeley right now but I’m feeling uneasy to decline Princeton cause you know, it’s Princeton
Some general information first: I live in California and financial aid packages from both schools are nearly full ride. Regents from Berkeley provides a personal mentor, priority class enrollment, and 4 year housing (similar benefits as Princeton).
Princeton
Pros:
#1 Undergraduate teaching
Prestige
Not bad for engineering (best out of Ivy Leagues)
Able to change majors easily
Alumni network and connections
Small class sizes, more 1-on-1
Cons:
Weather, far from home and from silicon valley, expensive plane tickets. I visited Princeton and I don’t really like the lack of social atmosphere, empty campus and dark weather (I visited during preview and I really didn’t see many non-visiting regular students around), however, this is not really a priority. If all other aspects are better, I can put up with this.
Engineering is not as good as Berkeley
I don’t really like liberal arts (honestly not into the liberal arts + stem thing which is often praised here, I’d be ok going completely/almost completely technical, not sure if that’s possible here)
They don’t accept many AP Credits
Berkeley
Pros:
Close to home, close to silicon valley and Bay Area, nice weather
High Ranks in Engineering
Regents scholarship
More social and lively
Lots of AP credit (almost got max amount possible)
Less liberal arts in my curriculum?
Cons:
Large class sizes and population (less 1-on-1, more competition for grades and internships, less opportunities for research)
I was admitted as a mechanical engineer so I would have to apply to switch to EECS (from what I’ve heard, I just have to take EECS courses in my first year and get around a 3.5)
Tough to get a high GPA (I’m sure Princeton would be hard as well, but I heard Berkeley is more cutt-throat, especially for EECS)
I was completely torn between the two, exactly 50/50 on my decision. But after visiting Princeton today and feeling the atmosphere, I just decided on Berkeley. But I have a feeling I’m making the wrong choice. Any feedback?
I have a friend at Berkeley. It definitely has a vibrant and social atmosphere–she is very involved with the activist aspect of the campus.
To be honest, I do not think you can go wrong with those choices. If for whatever reason you are drawn more to UCB, then I say you go with that.
Maybe someone on here can point out some more specific details to add to your pro/con list? I am at a loss because I know little about the engineering programs at either campus.
And by the way, congrats on having such amazing choices!! I wish you the best in all your future endeavors, regardless of which uni you choose.
@tk21769 I came home today being set on Berkeley but when I talked with some friends who are at university right now, a lot of them told me the UC system is way too competitive and how you never get 1-on-1 time with professors. I started having doubts about Berkeley again after talking to them.
My daughter had a similar choice (Notre Dame vs Penn – Penn being viewed as the more prestigious of the two because of the Ivy designation). It’s a tough choice, she finally positioned the question as “…if it weren’t Ivy, would I want to go to this school”. She went with her heart, ND.
^^ It sounds like you need to sort out whether your reservations about Berkeley really are about objective differences that matter to you. How much 1-on-1 time with professors would you want? Usually you’ll only get it if you seek it out. What does “way too competitive” mean, and how would it affect you?
@tk21769 I guess I don’t really mind not having 1-on-1 time with professors or being in a competitive environment as long as I commit myself to working hard. But I’m more concerned in the extracurricular aspect. Not having 1-on-1 time with professors means less opportunities with professors for research and more competition in the classroom also means more competition with other students for those research positions and for other internships. It would be hard to stand out in Berkeley when seeking for these positions.
Bump, looking for more opinions. Conflicted again, just read some stuff about Berkeley’ budget cuts (they’re cutting 6% of faculty ). I attended Cal Day, awesome atmosphere like I expected. But the large student body size in EECS worries me. I spoke to lots of current engineering students and a lot of them say I have to make a good effort to seek out research positions and internships. And I went to an EECS student panel and the room was packed @-)
@PurpleTitan I spoke with some current students at Cal Day and they said if I had a 3.4 gpa in EECS courses I was basically guaranteed to transfer. I also spoke with another EECS student and told him of my situation and he said based on my accomplishments in high school, he thinks I wouldn’t have a problem getting the gpa and switching. If I pick Berkeley, I’ll be really determined to make the switch.
I just had the impression that switching in to EECS is very difficult at Cal.
Don’t understand why you would chance it when you have Princeton where you may easily go in to any major and would open other doors and is smaller at no extra cost.
smaller classes & smaller school, more attention, potentially more research opportunities
guaranteed into the major of your choice
academics/reputation basically on par with Cal (technically ranked lower than engineering but not statistically significant difference)
better undergraduate focus than Cal (which is a better grad school than undergrad)
The cons are not significant:
AP credits won’t matter as much with an engineering degree with have so many required courses anyway (my D in engineering can’t use all of hers for that reason and won’t be able to graduate early anyway)
As for the atmosphere, maybe you just visited Princeton on a slow day
Would you be fine doing ME if you did not get into EECS (or L&S CS) at Berkeley? That is probably one of the biggest factors to consider in your decision.
Liberal arts includes math and science as well as humanities and social studies. Note that all ABET-accredited engineering degree programs, whether at Berkeley, Princeton, or some other school, will require some humanities and social studies course work. Both schools also have a non-engineering version of the CS major, but (unlike Brown or Amherst) do have humanities and social studies requirements for those students as well.
Yes, Princeton has smaller classes, but the popularity of CS means that they may not be that small. E.g. the introductory CS course at Berkeley (CS 61A) may have around 1,000 students, while the one at Princeton (COS 126) may have “only” 500 students.
Bump, 1 other consideration I want to add is I probably will apply for grad school (masters probably, maybe phd?)
@ucbalumnus I don’t think I’ll be ok doing ME as opposed to EECS, however that is my 2nd choice major so it’s not like I completely hate it. But if I go the Berkeley route, I will study 24/7 if I had to just to make the switch. Also if I go to Berkeley, I’m planning on going over the entire CS61A course over summer on my own and taking a bunch of released practice exams from the class. I’m going to try to aim for a 4.0 that might be impossible but I’m trying to develop a motivated mindset
@PurpleTitan I feel like I would be more successful and have more opportunity at Princeton, however I like Berkeley’s atmosphere and location better. I don’t know which I should choose… Both options aren’t extremes though, I don’t completely hate Princeton’s atmosphere and I would certainly still have opportunities to be successful at Berkeley.
@PurpleTitan Yeah that’s something else I’m worried about, because I don’t truly know how Princeton would be like. But I feel like I wouldn’t enjoy a small student body in general or the cold weather. But I don’t know if I should prioritize that so much. I used to tell myself not to worry about that kind of stuff when I was deciding what colleges to apply to but now I actually have to make the decision. I enjoyed Berkeley both times I visited though. It wasn’t so much the weather (it was dark and rainy the first time I visited ) but just the amount of people around. There were just a lot of people everywhere even at midnight it made everything seem more lively and fun.
Just to make sure you know beforehand, you are probably looking at a few different college GPA thresholds to meet if you attend Berkeley:
a. whatever is needed to switch to EECS (probably very high).
b. 3.3 in CS 61A, 61B, 70 to declare L&S CS major (note: 2.5 overall needed to switch to L&S).
c. 3.0 to retain Regents’ scholarship (probably $8,000 or so better than normal financial aid if you otherwise have high financial need as a California resident).
). I attended Cal Day, awesome atmosphere like I expected. But the large student body size in EECS worries me. I spoke to lots of current engineering students and a lot of them say I have to make a good effort to seek out research positions and internships. And I went to an EECS student panel and the room was packed @-)