<p>I basically narrowed down my college choices to Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon. </p>
<p>I visit both campuses in two weeks, but I wanted some input from some people here. </p>
<p>Which would you recommend for engineering and when I'm planning to move onto grad school. </p>
<p>I've also been waitlisted for Penn, and will go there if I get in. :</p>
<p>This is not a recommendation but observation our experience with DS at CMU
This is not a comparison. </p>
<ol>
<li>CMU is a residential school</li>
<li>4 years guaranteed student housing
3 % of increases is behind CMU but infront of UCB
4 It is a science, engineering, business school with a very good Arts College and Humanities. There is a technical/mathematical side emphasis even on the non technical schools. </li>
<li>a.Very international and draws students from every state.
b. NE thru Chicago will have greater representation because of greater population density.</li>
<li>Small compared to UCB.</li>
<li>More than likely you will know everyone of your classmates in your major. </li>
<li>Those who start in the major as freshman will very likely end up in that major.</li>
<li>It is not cheap $$ education for anyone. </li>
<li>Nearly half of total student population is grad students. </li>
<li>Undergrad teaching is very good and not slanted towards grad students</li>
<li>Prof level instruction and what teaching is done by grad students is very good.
13 Good opportunity for undergrad work (some may be workstudy or may be for class credit)</li>
<li>DIII sports. </li>
<li>Centrally located nationally to get to Chicago/DC/NYC/StL within a day drive.
16 A good transportation hub.</li>
<li>~25-30% of technical students will go on to grad school either as a 5th year or other school.</li>
<li> salary survey of most tech graduating class is posted along with destination. 100% reporting for past ~5 years.</li>
</ol>
<p>CMU without a doubt if you can fund it or are out of state for Cali anyways.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies.
Like I said earlier I will be traveling to CMU in two weeks, but I was wondering whether you can give an opinion on living around Pittsburgh. All I’ve heard are bad things unfortunately. </p>
<p>Funds are not too much of a concern since they come out to around the same after finaid and such. </p>
<p>A big concern for me is the atmosphere of the university. I know UCB is extremely competitive and tough since there are so many people and such. I went to a small private high school where it was a more friendly unspoken competition where everybody still helped everybody and grades were not so much of a concern. What is this like at CMU?</p>
<p>ashleysara, why would you say CMU without a doubt? I’ve heard many of the same statements the other way around.</p>
<p>I started out at the UC system and then transferred to a private for many of the reasons you listed above. (its worth noting that I didn’t come from UCB or transfer to CMU but I did tour) I found the smaller private school to be a much better learning atmosphere and people are much less cut throat.</p>
<p>Most of my friends who choose UCB had a much less enjoyable college experience. UCB’s biggest benefit is its name but CMU has an excellent name as well.</p>