<p>I've just been accepted to both Columbia College and UC Berkeley’s School of Letters and Sciences, and I’m having a bit of trouble making my decision between them. By the way, I’m an international student, so I didn't apply for financial aid to either school. Right now, I’m interested in majoring in Computer Science, possibly with a minor/concentration/additional major in Economics. I've posted this in the Columbia forum as well, to get opinions from both sides.</p>
<p>Generally, I feel like Columbia has the edge; I love the Core Curriculum, the campus looks wonderful and it has a completely unbeatable location. For a while now I've really wanted to live in a big city (which I don’t currently), so New York and all it provides seems like a fantastic opportunity. </p>
<p>However, there are a few niggling doubts which prevent me from committing to Columbia wholeheartedly, the biggest being the strength of the CS department. Berkeley’s CS department is legendary, and its graduate school far outstrips Columbia in most rankings. Right now, I don’t know whether I would want to go directly into a job when I graduate or if I would want to pursue a postgraduate degree. If I went to Columbia and majored in CS, would I face a competitive disadvantage compared to if I went to Berkeley?</p>
<p>I’m also a bit worried about the social scene. I've heard that Columbia apparently doesn't have a centralized “campus spirit” or anything, while Berkeley has a lot of “go-team” spirit for its sports teams. I’m not a huge party-person, but I would like to be able to meet new people and make lots of friends in college – is Columbia a good place for that? That said, I've also heard that Berkeley is a “hard place to make friends”…</p>
<p>I’d really appreciate any help that anyone could give me. Thank you!</p>
<p>For employment, Berkeley will be advantageous in Silicon Valley, while Columbia will be advantageous in New York (including Wall Street), due to local convenience. For CS PhD program admissions, Columbia should not hold you back. Of course, being international means having to deal with work visas if you seek employment in the US; if you intend to seek employment outside the US, you need to consider how the schools are viewed by employers where you seek employment.</p>
<p>For economics, Columbia and Berkeley’s high-math option (101A-101B-141) are roughly equivalent in terms of math prerequisites (and more mathematical than at most schools), so either should be good (along with taking lots of math courses) for preparation for PhD study in economics.</p>
<p>The caliber of student at Columbia will be slightly higher (Columbia is more difficult to get into and overall more prestigious). Not by much though. </p>
<p>The computer science department at Berkeley, however, is fantastic, and is more reputable than Columbia’s. That said, we’re still talking about Columbia here. </p>
<p>Bottom line, both schools are pretty great. There’s nothing you won’t have access to with a degree from either of them. From your post, my impression is that Columbia is more of a fit for you, so I’d go there. </p>
<p>But if your life is computers, and you love computers and more than anything else and want to go as deeply into that field as you possibly can, then Berkeley is the way to go. I really don’t think any school in the world can say they’re com sci department is definitively better than Berkeley’s. </p>
<p>I vote for Berkeley. It’s only 1-2 hours from Silicon Valley where you can explore your passion for cs (hackathons, company visits, etc.). Berkeley has been top 3 in engineering/cs for as long as I can remember.
Berkeley is in the metropolitan San Francisco area, so it’s urban. NYC is super expensive, so I think the urban SF area while costing less would be better.</p>
<p>Berkeley definitely. I’m a high school senior in a similar position, and I chose Cal over Brown for CS. None of the ivies even come close for that matter. You’ll be right in the bay, and the startup culture in the area would be amazing. </p>
<p>OP. If you are truly committed to studying CS as your major and see your career in CS especially in Silicon Valley/California or back to your home country…I would recommend Berkeley (only Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon are CS peers)…</p>
<p>…on the other hand, if you are wishy-washy and may change your major (because it’s one thing to dream of going into CS…but it’s another thing to graduate with a CS degree especially from tough schools that I mentioned above including Berkeley: it isn’t for sissies) to something else (non-STEM or CS) and you really prefer wall-street you may want to pick Columbia…</p>