<p>Which is more prestigious or a better college in general? Berkeley or Caltech?</p>
<p>Thanks for any info.</p>
<p>Overall, Caltech...but it really depends what you major you want to pursue.</p>
<p>How about for these majors: Applied Mathematics and Molecular Biology/Biochemistry?</p>
<p>definitely caltech</p>
<p>'prestige' wise - caltech.</p>
<p>But, I feel that UC Berkeley offers the better college experience and would attend UCB over Caltech in a heart beat.</p>
<p>Caltech for sure.</p>
<p>Caltech, hands down. Caltech will give you an immeasurably better education.</p>
<p>However, having said that, Caltech is not for everyone. It has a small, close community -- 900 undergrads, as opposed to 18,000 or so at Berkeley. There aren't as many women. There aren't as many parties. It is HARD. It is so hard that competition doesn't really exist, because (1) you either get it or you don't, and (2) you're going to need each other just to survive. Academics is grueling, literally. As a result, it can be difficult to get into a top medical school (which is what I'm assuming you want to do from your username) because of the lower GPA.</p>
<p>Then again, the campus is absolutely gorgeous, and the students tend to be laid back despite the difficulty of their classes. If you find it absolutely thrilling to spend four of the intellectually best years of your life in mental boot camp, then Caltech is the place to go. :)</p>
<p>I completely agree with Drew. UCB would offer a much better social life, and some people just don't like schools smaller than their HS like Caltech is. Berekely is a decent size, has parties if you like partying, and has some pretty good sports teams that compete in the PAC10. If I had to choose between the two, I would take Berkeley. Yes, even if I did engineering or whatever are Caltech's strenghts. Social life means a ton to me considering whatever college I go to WILL be the place I live for the next FOUR years. Besides, Berkeley's an elite public school.</p>
<p>99% of CC will disagree with this ^^^^. But you know what? Tough sh-it. I'm entitled to my opinions and there are QUITE a few schools I would take over Caltech...not just UCB.</p>
<p>Now don't get me wrong, Caltech is a phenominal school. But, it's not for alot of people out there.</p>
<p>I visited UCB and the campus seemed gigantic compared to CalTech. Are CalTech students always studying or do they have time to get involved in EC's (I know thats important when considering med-schools.)? Is Berkeley a better city than Pasadena?</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses.</p>
<p>Caltech students do study a lot, but they aren't usually always studying. There are a lot of fun things to do, and you're only half an hour or so from downtown Los Angeles if you're looking to do work at a medical center or that sort of thing. There are a huge variety of activities, though not as much as Berkeley has due to the population size... I admit, however, that for many of the students, the main EC activity is research. Techers tend to be passionate about research, and positions in labs with brilliant profs are relatively limitless. This can be a plus for you -- doing research and getting published can be a big advantage for med school.</p>
<p>I'm making the decision between Caltech and Berkeley as well (as a biochemistry major looking to go to grad school not med school.)</p>
<p>Overall? Overall, I would say Berkeley, really. For many, this is not the case, but let's not forget about the HUGE chunk of students outside of the sciences. For the op, this might not be important.</p>
<p>Berkeley's campus is really not that big, and after a week, becomes quite manageable.</p>
<p>frozen-tears, I don't know if Berkeley's population size has to do with it having more activities. I'm not sure if you're talking about school population, or population of the city, but the city of Berkeley has a lot of interesting things to do, as does SF, which is qiute accessible from Berkeley. The campus also has a wide variety of things going on daily. </p>
<p>There are certain advantages Caltech offers that Berkeley cannot. I think that the two schools have different atmospheres, and you will likely enjoy one over the other during your roughly four years in college.</p>
<p>I'm saying that the fact that there are more students at Berkeley probably means there are more student organizations.</p>
<p>Oh. Certainly. hundreds more, I imagine.</p>
<p>I imagine there'd be a lot more cute guys and girls at Berkeley than at CalTech, if that's important to you. ;)</p>
<p>Are you gay or a lesbian?</p>
<p>...though, if you're very sciencey-intellectual, you may more easily find your match at Tech. Then again, if that were the case, you wouldn't have had such a tough time deciding, would you? </p>
<p>Techers do like to have fun. Often, it's a rather nerdy kind of fun -- building giant trebuchets (kindof like catapults) that lob oranges at the other dorms, pranking MIT, putting up 50-foot tall Christmas decorations on top of Millikan Library (the tallest building in Pasadena), gluing their neighbors' furniture to the ceiling.</p>
<p>Sometimes it's your ordinary garden variety of fun. Caltech had a Jimmy Eat World concert on campus a few months back, and although Tech is drier than most places, there are parties for those who party. It's true that there are some eccentric/antisocial people at Tech, but they are not even close to a majority. </p>
<p>Downtown Pasadena is a very lively place, pretty safe at night, and has lots of cute restaurants and coffee shops, J. Crew, Ann Taylor, etc. It retains some of the upper class chic that comes with Pasadena's old money history. Berkeley is in a more urban area -- the area immediately around Berkeley is safe enough during the day, not so much at night. Nearby Oakland is home to the almost-nightly-shootings you hear about on television, and in general, kindof seedy.</p>
<p>Caltech has a big rivalry with Mudd, my dad works with some guys who went to mudd (and caltech but thats irrelevant) and when they came over they talked about the rivalry and the pranks.</p>
<p>Berkeley is quite safe, as are the areas of Oakland near Berkeley. The median price of a detached house near campus or in North Oakland is around $700,000, this gives you an idea of the kind of neighborhoods those are...</p>
<p>I also don't think that CalTech's MCB major is harder than Cal's. If anything, it's probably less competitive. </p>
<p>If you plan to major in MCB and plan on spending almost all of your time studying, maybe CalTech is the better choice. It's also the better choice if you're more comfortable in a smaller setting. But it's not that different as far as prestige and quality of curriculum.</p>
<p>Most of the CT grads I've met (about a dozen or so) did lack social skills and didn't seem well-rounded. As an engineering undergraduate major, I really enjoyed being in a more diverse campus like Berkeley's. But that's not a major factor for many prospective science majors, so...</p>