<p>I have been accepted into both universities; Applied Mathematics in UCB, and Mathematics with Applied Mathematics/Mathematical Physics in Imperial, and I currently cannot decide which one to go to.</p>
<p>I have been using the QS world university rankings website. Imperial is ranked 6th, and UCB is ranked 21st, but looking at subject wise, UCB beats Imperial in rankings in all 5 areas. (Imperial</a> College London - Topuniversities, and University</a> of California, Berkeley (UCB) - Topuniversities). I do want to go to a higher ranked university, but I also want to go to a university that provides better courses in this particular subject, so I can't come to a decision at the moment. </p>
<p>Personally I want to do a post-grad in perhaps finance related subjects after my undergraduate, so which university is better in that regard?</p>
<p>I am not from either UK or US, so the location doesn't play a huge role in my decision.</p>
<p>On a side note, UCB was ranked top 10 a few years ago, but it suddenly dropped in rankings; what happened?</p>
<p>Please tell me your opinions, thanks very much for your help :)</p>
<p>Where do you plan to settle after school? This could play a large role in what you do, as do tuition/travel costs. </p>
<p>I had to make a similar decision between UCL and UCB, but for math, I’d definitely stick with UCB - especially since location is not an issue. It is stronger in that field and has a better international reputation for it.</p>
<p>In all honesty, those overall rankings mean nothing if you ask me - it’s more just what the public uses to determine what’s more “prestigious”. Take the top few colleges for instance. Do you honestly think there’s a huge overall difference between, say Harvard and Princeton? Certain departments may be stronger in each, but both are equally strong even though one is ranked higher than the other. Just look at the specific department you are interested in, and I believe UCB is better in math and has more of an international reputation in that field (I may be wrong, but from what I’ve heard…do some research to be sure, or wait for a more knowledgeable poster haha) .</p>
<p>I understand what you mean; if UCB was 5 ranks lower than Imperial, I wouldn’t have cared.
But UCB is ranked 21st and Imperial is ranked 6th; but UCB is higher ranked than Imperial in all subject areas, so I do wonder what is causing the difference in the overall ranking.</p>
<p>Probably proportion of international students. Imperial has far more international diversity than UCB.</p>
<p>I think you might also want to look at the strengths and focuses (foci?) of each individual math department. I don’t have a clue what Berkeley or Imperial specializes in. But maybe you’re interested in a certain field of math. Look up the classes available in both schools and compare the elective offerings in your area of interest. Of course, your interests may change, but you can work with the supposition that they won’t change too much and go from there. Also look at the faculty and their research, if you’re interested in that; are there any in particular whom you’d like to work with?</p>
<p>If you’re applying for grad school in the US, it is a little better to study here as an undergrad in my opinion, because you’ll get more exposure to what grad students do. In the UK there’s quite a divide between the undergraduate and graduate population as I understand it; in the US, you’ll get interaction through discussion sections, which you will eventually have to lead as a grad student in future.</p>
<p>OP, your source isn’t a well-respected ranking league table. Of course, Imperial isn’t any better than Berkeley. Imperial doesn’t have the brand power than Berkeley has. Berkeley is prestigious worldwide. Imperial is respected only mostly in the United Kingdom. In the US, no one cares about Imperial, and I surmise it’s the same for many, many parts across the globe.</p>
<p>I would personally choose Berkeley because it offers better college experience, it’s in the US and it’s significantly more prestigious than Imperial.</p>
<p>Berkeley. And I don’t generally say too many good things about Berkeley (look for my other posts) ;)</p>
<p>Why is it ranked so low compared to other universities? Have you looked at the ranking methodology? It most likely loses points for being public, which leads to a larger student/teacher ratio, maybe lower average SAT scores, and many other factors. These general rankings have nothing to do with “how good” the classes are and are only marginally important with regards to what kind of education you will receive.</p>
<p>Berkeley Math is easily ranked Top3 in the world in graduate rankings, using a methodology that actually is subject-specific. It beats Imperial hands down. And if you’re looking to go to graduate school it’s easily among the best in the world. International reputation is also a big one, as mentioned above.</p>
<p>As an undergraduate Berkeley may not give you a “private school education” with small classes, lots of personal help, and huge grade inflation, but it’ll give you tons of more opportunities than Imperial would be able to, you just need to be proactive about them.</p>
<p>I didn’t know Imperial is public. I don’t even know if there’s a public/private system in the UK. Even so, being “public” in the UK will have much different ramifications than being “public” in the US and I don’t think that’s comparable.</p>
<p>^ Maybe, but not in many other places around the world. Go Asia and people will know Berkeley, not Imperial. Hell, even I as a non-UK European had never heard of Imperial before coming to this forum.</p>
<p>Yeah, wasn’t arguing with the recognition thing - just saying how the very first statement could vary. I also posted about Cal’s international reputation in the first post btw.</p>
<p>I’ve been looking at other ranking tables online… all of them are quite different, I guess I shouldn’t make my decision based on them too much.</p>
<p>Reputation wise I really don’t know, personally I have known about UCB before hearing about Imperial college and I am from neither US or UK, but does that mean UCB has a better reputation internationally?</p>
<p>How are the lectures in UCB anyway; would too many students be a problem? And how is the student life there? I’ve been to both London and San Francisco; although London’s weather is not that great, but the city is quite amazing. (Didn’t spend much time in San Francisco though, only 2 days in the city)</p>
<p>Well, that doesn’t always mean better international rep, but it does in this case ;P</p>
<p>Lectures are fine (even the 500 people ones). Just sit in the front if it bothers you, so you can’t tell it’s a huge auditorium and there are hundreds of people behind you. </p>
<p>Student life is cool too - I have no complaints haha there are tons of threads that have more details (posted in the last few days)…but don’t count on going to the city too often haha it’s more something people say they’re going to do all the time, but never end up doing.</p>