<p>“investment banks might beg to differ”</p>
<p>I agree they may prefer candidates from top 10 schools, however, I doubt they go off outside rankings, but rather have their own independent list of schools that produce highly qualified investment bankers.</p>
<p>@ emilsinclair just wondering, what ranking system do you prefer?</p>
<p>According to USNWR (grad school), Berkeley is amongst the top 5 in almost every science discipline. The reason why Berkeley is so low in USNWR’s top 100 (undergrad) ranking is because they have a higher dropout rate than other private schools.</p>
<p>@ CBBolts: I’ll be brief about this, but I prefer ARWU. Now don’t get me wrong, in no way do I think that UCB is the 3rd best school in the nation…far from it. However, I think it more accurately assesses UCB’s departments’ strength. I do believe that UCB’s departments (even in undergrad) are top 10-20 in a multitude of disciplines. </p>
<p>In particular, I’m a Psych major. I feel that UCB has a Top 5 Psych department based on many online sources that agree and the variety of courses that are offered. Some sources even rank UCB Psych as 2nd in the nation.</p>
<p>Anyway, on ARWU, they don’t factor in funding, which would obviously skew “prestige” to private universities. </p>
<p>Indicators and Weights for ARWU’s Methodology:</p>
<p>Criteria Indicator Code Weight
Quality of Education Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals Alumni 10%
Quality of Faculty Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals Award 20%
Highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories HiCi 20%
Research Output Papers published in Nature and Science* N&S 20%
Papers indexed in Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation Index PUB 20%
Per Capita Performance Per capita academic performance of an institution PCP 10%
Total 100% </p>
<p>Obviously UCB has many more professors and researchers than a small private school would, and that would provide UCB with an advantage for awards like Nobel prizes. However, I feel that if UCB has these all of these distinguished professors and award winners/researchers, the university should be commended. Additionally, the quality of education (as defined on ARWU) and quality of professors I feel are particularly important to one’s own education and positively reflects the school’s notoriety internationally. </p>
<p>Like edmfanatiq said above, UCB also has top 5-10 grad schools in nearly every subject. For Psych, they’re considered 2nd to Stanford. </p>
<p>Anyway, I do feel that Berkeley is an amazing school. Regardless of where one may rank it though, both UCB and UCLA are top schools in America and the world. They are often also recognized as such internationally.</p>