UC Berkeley (in-state) vs Emory for Computer Science

College Search & Selection
1

<p>-UC Berkeley - $4,000 in loans and $3,000 work-study for the first year, then even more affordable for the years after that. This is very affordable. These estimates come from someone who my family knows, who works at Berkeley. She says this is 90% what I'll get.</p>

<p>vs</p>

<p>*-Emory * full ride (our family income is low)</p>

<p>Some tidbits:</p>

<p>My major would be Computer Science, and I would minor in French Literature. Eventually, business (Wall Street) and politics would be of interest, and/or perhaps some involvement with Computer Science (Google, artificial intelligence etc).</p>

<p>I would either want to go to graduate school for CS, or get a top MBA.</p>

<p>I hold some very liberal views, along with some other more conservative ones.</p>

<p>I love Californian politics, while I never cared for Georgia.</p>

<p>Haas proximity would be nice, but it's not a necessity.</p>

<p>Berkeley is big, which I like, while Emory is more international?</p>

<p>Berkeley is near Silicon Valley, and is famous for CS</p>

<p>I REALLY want to live and/or get internships in NYC. I love New York. Emory might be better for this?
(L.A/Sil.Val. are great too though)</p>

<p>So... Emory or Berkeley?</p>

2

<p>Sounds as if you can’t go wrong either way! Just factoring in transportation, etc., I’d go for Berkeley. I don’t think Emory would have any advantage over Berkeley for NYC internships. And the closeness to the Silicon Valley could be a big advantage.</p>

3

<p>I ended up in an extremely similar situation… and I chose Berkeley :)</p>

4

<p>Go to Emory… Berkeley is great no doubt but for undergrad, an Emory education is one of the best there is IMO. Small classes, HUGE endowment (California is stuggling in this department), pretty campus etc. Plus, Emory is cheaper. Emory is now 17 % international and very diverse. It seems like a great option for you. Emory is, for the most part, liberal as well. I myself am very liberal and I think I wouldn’t have a problem fitting in.</p>

5

<p>Wow, tough decision. I would normally recommend Emory for the small classes and the free ride. Cal freshman classes are huge and I suspect Cal is quite a pressure cooker because you don’t even get accepted into your major until junior year and I imagine you have to have a certain GPA to get into some majors. Cal is also struggling financially. On the other hand, for CS, Cal has the name recognition and is close to companies where you could intern and/or co-op. If you were majoring in straight science or French and poli sci, I would recommend Emory, but for CS or engineering, I think Cal gets the nod.</p>

6

<p>^ ummm, you’re thinking of Haas business school. If you applied as computer science, you’re comp sci as a freshman. At Cal, like most universities, the basic math and science lectures will be your largest courses. Can’t beat proximity to Silicon Valley for recruiting.</p>

7

<p>Emory is a great school however I think you have to go to Berkeley, one of the best CS schools in the country. With a user name of Maryjane (cannot bring myself to use the correct name), Berkeley is you baby… UCBChemEGrad has it right about the recruiting opps.</p>

8

<p>Well, it seems that if you want to go to business, you need to go to graduate school. So I assume you shouldn’t be so concerned about recruiting right out of undergrad. I ** highly** recommend you visit Berkeley and Emory. I can tell firsthand as a Norcaller, Berkeley isn’t for everyone at all. Theoretically the same applies for Emory.</p>

<p>Since you’re going to do a masters and your family is in a tough financial position, I highly recommend you look into Emory.
You will get just as great opportunities there. Personally speaking, I’m not quite sure of Berkeley undergrad…I remain skeptical, but I suggest you research this with a counselor or parents or some higher educated individual.
Sure Berkeley Computer Science is top notch, but I’m not sure how that’s relevant to an undergraduate education…I can be wrong. But why not try Berkeley for graduate school?</p>

<p>I’m sure plenty of Emory grads come to the Bay Area for jobs. Its not biggie.</p>

9

<p>You could also always transfer out of Emory to Cal if you don’t like it/have regrets. Its technically easier to transfer than to get in as a freshman. I would say Emory is the winner, but its all up to you and the “fit.”</p>

10

<p>Search Youtube for “fun at Emory”…</p>

<p>Of course I’m biased, but Berkeley is a much more dynamic place, IMHO.</p>

11

<p>okay, but IF you go to Emory, you will have to get another user name…</p>

12

<p>If you are interested in both CS and Business… (rankings based on USNews)</p>

<p>-Cal’s undergrad business is #2. Emory’s is #13 I believe. Rankings in general are to be taken with a grain of salt. However, proximity to the prestigious Haas COULD grant you stronger opportunities than proximity to Goizueta, IMO.</p>

<p>-Cal’s graduate computer science is #1… Emory isn’t even ranked. (And yes, graduate school prestige DOES influence the undergraduate atmosphere. You will be among much more CS people. You will have some of the most prominent CS figures within a short walk… however you would need to take advantage of this for the benefits to manifest themselves. I’ll assume you have strong initiative.)</p>

<p>Emory’s cost is unbeatable, but Berkeley would be cheap. Graduating with less than $16,000 of debt is something many would envy.</p>

<p>Emory has no football team…</p>

<p>Emory might be more “international” when looking at percentages, however perhaps Berkeley’s size brings more internationals overall.</p>

<p>As for living locations… you listed NYC, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles. 2 in CA, but none in GA! You also said you care about CA politics, not GA politics.</p>

<p>Most of Berkeley’s classes are small. I read some statistics that reported the distribution of Berkeley class sizes vs those of some private schools… and they were almost identical. (Does anyone have those statistics?)</p>

<p>Berkeley name recognition is worlds ahead of Emory… though Emory is still fine in that regard.</p>

<p>You’re interested in Google, Artificial Intelligence, and Silicon Valley… not CNN, Coca Cola, or the CDC.</p>

<p>Oh, and your username…</p>

<p>Go to Berkeley.</p>

13

<p>OP, there is a huge gap that separates Berkeley CS to Emory CS and both the academic people and the top employers in the IT industry are very much aware of such gap. While Emory is good, Berkeley is just excellent for CS. It is consistently ranked within the very top CS dept in the US - solid top 3. You’re also going to get paid much more having a Berkeley CS degree than an Emory CS degree.</p>

<p>If you’re interested in business, I suggest that you take up MBA instead. Many successful people who’ve founded IT companies have not studied business at undergrad, but CS or EECS.</p>

<p>

[quote]

Founders and co-founders</p>

<pre><code>* Tom Anderson, B.A. 1998 - co-founder of social networking website MySpace (acquired by News Corporation for $580 million)

  • Stephen D. Bechtel, 1954 (honorary) - founder of Bechtel Corporation and the largest engineering company in the United States
  • Brian Behlendorf - co-founder of the Apache Software Foundation, Mozilla Foundation board member, co-founder and CTO of CollabNet
  • Joan Blades, B.A. 1977 - co-founder of software company Berkeley Systems (acquired by Sierra Online for $13 million[74]), co-founder of political activist group MoveOn.org
  • Richard C. Blum, B.S. 1958, M.B.A. 1959 - founder of private equity firm Blum Capital and the American Himalayan Foundation, Regent of the University of California
  • Richard Bolt B.A. 1933, M.A. 1937, Ph.D. 1939 - co-founder of ARPANET developer Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN)
  • Eric Brewer, B.S. EECS 1989 - co-founder of web search engine company Inktomi (acquired by Yahoo! for $235 million[75]), director of Intel Labs Berkeley
  • Gary Chevsky - co-founder and chief architect of web search engine company Ask.com, Senior VP at Symantec and YouSendIt
  • Ed Crane, B.S. 1967 - founder of the Cato Institute
  • Cornelius Vander Starr, - founder of AIG Corporation
  • Weili Dai, B.A. Computer Science 1984 - co-founder of Marvell Technology Group; namesake of Sutardja-Dai Hall [76]
  • James Dao, B.S. EECS 1960 - founder and CEO of Genyous Biomed, founder and former CEO of R&D company Etec Systems, Inc.
  • Dennis DeAndre, B.A. Business - founder of largest online real estate service LoopNet
  • Stephanie DiMarco, B.S. Business 1979 - co-founder of billion-dollar NASDAQ-listed financial software company Advent Software
  • Ben Elowitz, B.S., B.A., 1994 - co-founder of online retailer Blue Nile Inc. and social network service provider Wetpaint
  • Lee Felsenstein, B.S. EECS 1972 - founder of Community Memory, designer of Osborne 1 computer, mediator of Homebrew Computer Club, from which would emerge 23 companies, including Apple Inc.
  • Donald Fisher, B.S. 1951 - founder of The Gap and the largest apparel retailer in the United States
  • Lyle Fong, B.A. 1996 - co-founder and CEO of social CRM solutions provider Lithium Technologies
  • Rob Fulop, B.S. CS 1980 - co-founder of video game companies Imagic and PF Magic (creator of first virtual pets such as Dogz),[77] Atari engineer, developed Missile Command[78] and Night Driver
  • Coleman Fung, B.S. IEOR 1987 - founder of financial trading and risk management software company OpenLink Financial, Inc.
  • Robert Gaskins, M.A. 1974 - creator[79] of PowerPoint (acquired by Microsoft for $14 million as its “first significant software acquisition”[80])
  • Steve Gibson (attended)[36] - founder of software security company Gibson Research Corporation and co-host of Security Now!
  • Daniel Goldman, B.A. 1998 - founder of online gaming company Total Entertainment Network, which became Pogo.com (acquired by Electronic Arts)
  • Diane Greene, MS CS 1988 [81] - co-founder of virtualization software giant VMWare
  • John Hanke, MBA 1996 - founder and CEO of Keyhole, Inc. (acquired by Google, renamed to Google Earth)
  • F. Warren Hellman, BA 1955, founder of Hellman & Friedman and Matrix Partners, former chairman, head of Investment Banking Division at Lehman Brothers.
  • Mike Homer, B.S. 1981 - co-founder and former CEO of networking company Kontiki (acquired by VeriSign for $62 million[82])
  • Kai Huang, B.A. 1994 - co-founder and president of video game company RedOctane (publisher of Guitar Hero and acquired by Activision for $99.9 million[83])
  • James Hong, BS 1995, MBA 1999- co-founder of Hot Or Not (acquired by Avid Life Media for $20 million [84])
  • Bill Joy, M.S. 1982 - co-founder of information technology giant Sun Microsystems
  • Gene Kan, B.S. 1997 - founder of distributed search engine InfraSearch (acquired by Sun Microsystems for $12 million[85])
  • Glenn Kelman, B.A. 1993 - co-founder of Plumtree Software (acquired by BEA Systems for $200 million)
  • Mike Kwatinetz, M.S., Ph.D 1962 - founding general partner of venture capital firm Azure Capital Partners
  • Daryn Lau, B.S. EE 1986 - Senior vice-president of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation, co-founder of semiconductor company ZettaCom (acquired by Integrated Device Technology for $35 million[86])
  • James Lau, B.A. Math and C.S. 1981[87] - co-founder of NetApp
  • Brian P.Y. Liu (B.S. Biochemistry) - Chairman and co-founder of online-based legal documentation company LegalZoom [88]
  • Thomas J. Long, B.S. 1932 - Founder of pharmaceutical retailer Longs Drugs (acquired by CVS Caremark for $2.54 billion[89])
  • Hong Llang Lu, B.S. 1978 - founder and CEO of Fortune 1000 networking company UTStarcom (named by the World Economic Forum to its Technology Pioneers list)
  • Brian Maxwell, B.A. 1975 - founder of energy bar food company PowerBar (acquired by Nestl
    </code></pre>
14

<p>For CS, UC Berkeley > Emory
For French Lit, I don’t have any idea.</p>

<p>For Wall Street NYC, Emory > UC Berkeley.
For Wall Street California office, UC Berkeley > Emory.</p>

<p>For personal fit, based on the little you have posted and your username, it seems like UC Berkeley > Emory. But if small classes and a more collegial, higher-touch environment are important to you and you can put up with the conservative mores of Georgia (LOL-Emory and environs might be the most liberal square mile in the state), then Emory might be the better choice.</p>

15

<p>hawkette, how is Emory better than Berkeley for WS jobs? Do you have facts to support such claim?</p>

<p>I cannot imagine a NY based company would hire Emory grads than a Berkeley grads based on the school the applicant has attended. If anything, the Berkeley grad would get the job as most IT experts are fully aware that Berkeley is a powerhouse for computer science and Emory isn’t.</p>

16

<p>@UCB, if he applies as CS not EECS, he’ll be in L&S where everyone comes in “undeclared”. </p>

<p>Not being in your major technically until you meet the lower div requirements isn’t really a big deal, and everyone will say they’re a physics major (if they plan on it), even though they’re “undeclared”. (I’m undeclared engineering, but say I’m an EECS major, because that is what I will be after the first semester or year).</p>

<p>I would definitely do Cal. It would be much harder if it was the same package from a school with a stronger CS program (Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, etc…)</p>

17

<p>Forget about Wall Street, forget about politics, and forget about New York.</p>

<p>And go to Berkeley, because it sounds like that’s where you really want to go.</p>

18

<p>Listen to me, people. The OP WANTS to go to graduate school. For undergrad, why should he worry about job placements? Any top CS position in Google, Microsoft, etc usually expects workers to have finished their masters.
Go to undergrad anywhere for (Emory is free!). Then pick a grad school and be concerned about job placement, preferebly Berkeley (They have both good CS program and the awesome Haas program).</p>

19

<p>What was Gates’ masters in again?? Most tech firms will promote anyone who does something well at the lower level. A friend had a degree in Chinese and has moved well up in the gaming division. I think tech firms are among the least credential crazy.</p>

20

<p>^^ Yes, he/she wants to go to grad school, but that shouldn’t play in the OP’s current decision.</p>

<p>Emory may be “free” but cross country flights aint cheap during prime times…esp when you’re stuck with one carrier (Delta) and the family is low income. </p>

<p>Getting into Berkeley for grad school is much harder. This nonsense advice of “saving Berkeley for grad school because it’s the only thing it’s good for” is tiring. This may be the OP’s only chance of getting into Berkeley for his/her intended major. </p>

<p>Also, if the OP eventually wants to settle back down in California (family located here) vs. the South, Berkeley would be a better option. </p>

<p>

Yes, and they are awesome undergrad programs as well.</p>