I understand it may sound like an easy decision to choose Berkeley, but can people please share their views of the pros and cons of each school, in terms of classes, professors, competitiveness, getting internships, getting to do research, ease of getting classes, and job prospects? Just got into Berkeley off the waitlist, so have one week to decide. I hear that some employers prefer Cal Poly grads because of their hands-on and technical education, and that others like Cal.
Thank you for your replies.
I forgot to mention that I intend to get a job after graduating, not go straight to grad school.
For post-graduation outcomes by major at each school, see here:
https://career.berkeley.edu/Survey/2015Majors
https://careers.calpoly.edu/search.php
Can anyone else address some of my questions above? Thanks
Berkely is larger and which means classes sizes make it harder to get face time with professors. Of course, the reputation of Berkeley is much stronger in Academia especially if you compare grad school destinations. Job-wise, it is hard to compare especially since the Berkeley metric uses averages compared to median for CP. If you aren’t going into engineering or business, your prospects at UCB are definitively better.
SLO is a lot of nature country and in a hot bed of agrarian culture. Berkeley is very urban and will have a much more diverse population and feeling. From what I’ve seen, SLO is a consistent party every weekend because there’s not much else in the surrounding area to do besides hike and enjoy nature.