UC Berkeley or Emory?
I’m out of state for both, prices are pretty much the same.
I want to double major in chemistry and business during undergrad then go to grad school (chemistry PhD) to do research on drug/medicine development, etc.
Hate to be negative because I think its a great institution, but Berkeley just announced that they are laying off 500 employees. The UC system has serious budgetary issues and one continually hears stories about students being closed out of classes (not sure if this effects Chemistry or Business as much as the CS and Engineering folks). I’d check on the UCB threads under the CC Colleges and Universities section to get information from students there now.
For those who care about such things, they’re right next to each other in the US News ranking (20 vs. 21 this year). I think UCB is only a better lifestyle if you have issues with Atlanta or the south. My MIL lives near Berkeley – traffic is horrific; you’ll want to take BART into the city (can’t park there anyway), Cost of living is substantially higher. I think it is probably easier to get to a lot of places (restaurants etc) on foot in Berkeley; Emory is pretty much in a suburb (although right next to the city); they’ve got some stuff, but Berkeley probably wins on nearby restaurants if you’re a foodie. Emory has pretty cool internships with the CDC.
The quality of teaching will be similar.
I think you face the classic “State flagship vs. private U” dilemma.
- If class sizes and academic support are important to you, Emory gets bonus points.
- If freedom and anonymity are important to you -- the ability to skip a class on a beautiful day, for instance, without anyone freaking out about it -- then Berkeley gets bonus points.
Try to find out about the general campus vibe and social scene, available activities in and around campus, dorm and food quality, etc. And in this case, weather may also be a factor – Bay Area vs. Atlanta.
This Cal grad would recommend Emory. The level of education you will receive is comparable, but at Emory it will be easier to get the classes you will need, easier to get to know professors, tap into research opportunities, get more hands-on advising – and have fewer budget-related hassles… such as large classes, cut-back library hours, etc.
Don’t worry about rankings, reputation and job/grad school prospects. Both are respected institutions. It’s just that at one of them you will get a more personal and personalized experience. And sadly, at this point, it’s not Cal.
Normally I would also say Berkeley but you may want to determine if it easier to get into Emory’s B-school compared to Haas. I think the admissions rate may be higher at Emory.
Which one did u choose?
Cal is regarded as a step up from Emory academically, plus Cal is located in a much more hip location.
@bernie12 may be able to give specific details on chemistry courses and curricula.
@WildestDream : No, not really, at least it should not be viewed that way as the two are very different academically. If you are talking about the graduate level then absolutely, but with undergraduate, they should be viewed as similar with different approaches due to the differences in size. For chemistry, they are two of my favorites (yes I have an Emory bias because it, especially in life sciences undergraduate education is better than many will give it credit for, even better than I used to give it credit for before I went and investigated), especially among schools not in the top 10 of USNWR UG rankings (my favorites are NU, WUSTL, Emory, UCal, and Dartmouth among schools below 10 for chem at least). Emory’s does baseline courses really well (heavy use of lecture track, high rigor among medium and top professors, and cozier classroom environments often with more engaged learning as the norm and not as the exception) whereas UCal offers so many options for a student to pace and challenge themselves based on their talent level (courses are tiered very well that is. Emory seems to compensate for having limited tier by having several instructors who basically teach a general course with honors level expectations. And I mean, honors courses at other high caliber schools who offer them). Ambitious Emory students basically will resort to graduate level courses as soon as they qualify whereas Cal students can certainly get by on the many upper-level electives. These differences (focus on quality control at foundation, as in intro and intermediate, courses vs. specialization and upper-level courses) likely are because Emory was a teaching intensive institution before it was AAU member whereas Cal is the standard of a truly intensive research university. This pattern still persists at Emory today as its attempts to redesign the chem. curriculum mostly focus on the foundational courses (don’t know how I feel about that as a formerly over ambitious Life sciences student. Feel as if they should start to consider taking upper-level options seriously). To each one’s own I guess.
Both should offer awesome research, fellowship opps, symposia, study abroad opps, and awards specifically for undergraduates.
For UG business, obviously both are excellent programs.
Also, millennials seem to like Atlanta enough, so it isn’t that bad. Fun enough, nerdy enough, not overly expensive.