<p>What are the pros and cons of each?</p>
<p>Hippies and computer/engineering geeks vs. polo players and future investment bankers. Oh I jest, but not by much.</p>
<p>I visited both, applied to both, and got into both.</p>
<p>Berkeley is larger than UVa, about 50% larger. IMO, you can really feel the difference in size in terms of the campus and just general intimidation factor. Berkeley FEELS larger. Berkeley is much less diverse in the sense that 95% of its students come from California, which can be very intimidating to an out of stater. While UVa is more caucasian by percentages (since Berkeley is 50% Asian), it has students that hail from a much wider variety of geographic locations. Berkeley has a reputation for having very large class sizes and for making it very difficult to get your classes. From the people I know who have gone there, I can verify that this is true. A girl I know who will be a freshman this year didn't get the courses she wanted for her major because they were all full. She's thinking about switching majors because her major is very popular and many people in it must take 6 years in order to get all the classes they need to graduate. As far as campus beauty, it isn't even a fair fight. Berkeley goes down in the first round with the first punch, IMO. Berkeley's campus is rather rag-tag and homely and the buildings don't match. There isn't a lot of greenery; everything appears to be made out of cement or stone. CalX can post as many pictures as he wants but I have actually never seen one that made Berkeley feel attractive to me--only pictures of how pretty the sunset is, and I could take an equally beautiful picture of the sunset behind the Rotunda any day of the week. UVa's campus is one of the most beautiful in the nation and a historic feat of architecture. I DID like Berkeley's college town better, even if it was a bit dirty. It was bigger than Charlottesville, though Charlottesville is cuter, quainter, and feels safer. This post has some of my worst sentence structure and grammar ever, and I apologize. I just got home from work and I'm very very tired.</p>
<p>Basically, I think UVa kicks Berkeley's butt in every single regard. I can't think of any area in which Berkeley is better in terms of college experience. I only applied to Berkeley because I have (well, had) California residency, and when I visited it, I knew I didn't want to attend. Berkeley may be a great choice for some people and you may be one of those people, but my vote goes to UVa.</p>
<p>What do you want to do? While the difference in the undergraduate education does not matter much, Berkeley does have better science programs grad and undergrad than UVA. </p>
<p>If you're not instate for either school, it would depend on where you'd want to be (east or west). You'll have to emphasize these non-academic factors the most because academically, you're talking about close to the same schools.</p>
<p>As an institution, Berkeley is probably superior. For undergraduate experience, though, I'd go with UVA.</p>
<p>UCBerkely has a better reputation as a research institution. It also used to be a mecca of hippies and some "crazy" people.
UVa is better known as a more conservative (as compared to UCB) school that provides an excellent undergraduate education. It is also smaller and has a more tightly-knitted environment, more family like atmosphere.
So it is up to your interest and personality.</p>
<p>If I wanted a PhD in EE I would go to Berkeley...</p>
<p>I would pick UVa hands down, no contest.</p>
<p>I'd rather die than pick Berkeley.</p>
<p>Well I'm not applying to Berkeley and applying to UVa (and probably getting rejected) so there.</p>
<p>It really doesn't matter at the end where you get your PhD though it is generally true that you might be able to get more job interviews with Berkeley EE degree. However, once you're in (I mean, started working) it all depends on how you perform at work. Company pays you because you do good work, not because you went to UCB once you're hired.</p>
<p>Although I have little doubt that the Berkeley PhD candidates are a bit higher in the food chain than the UVA PhD candidates. Berkeley is among the top 3-4 universities in the nation in engineering.</p>
<p>If you are looking to get into college level teaching a Berkeley PhD is hard to beat--in most any major.</p>
<p>For education, prestige, employability after graduation, and graduate degrees go to Berkeley. For a better undergraduate experience, closer student-professor relations, more intimate atmosphere, go to UVA.</p>
<p>....needadvice</p>
<p>i would disagree with you on education, prestige, and employablity after graduation...</p>
<p>berkeley and uva are regional schools - on the east coast 99% of people will think uva is more prestigious, and im assuming the opposite would be true on the west coast.</p>
<p>What about in the East..Mid-Atlantic region?</p>
<p>Internationally, Berkeley is more renown because of its graduate programs and research. You have to admit that.</p>
<p>^ Agreed .</p>
<p>of course i agree that berkeley is more reknown internationally. its also more reknown internationally than princeton. I wouldn't say berkeley is better than princeton. just as wisconsin is more reknown internationally than uva, yet uva is a better school than wiscosin.</p>
<p>
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Berkeley is much less diverse in the sense that 95% of its students come from California, which can be very intimidating to an out of stater.
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</p>
<p>First of all, 10% of Berkeley's undergraduate population is Out-Of-State.</p>
<p><a href="http://cds.berkeley.edu/pdfs/PDF%20wBOOKMARKS%2005-06.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://cds.berkeley.edu/pdfs/PDF%20wBOOKMARKS%2005-06.pdf</a> (page 14)</p>
<p>This doesn't include internationals, who compose about 3% of the undergraduate population if memory serves me right. That means only 87% of the undergraduate population is in-state.</p>
<p>In contrast, 28% of UVa's undergraduate population is from out-of-state. That means roughly 70% of UVa's undergraduate population is from in-state. Not that much better than Berkeley, in my opinion.</p>
<p>
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since Berkeley is 50% Asian
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</p>
<p>Berkeley is actually 41% Asian. Please get your statistics right before posting about other schools.</p>
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Berkeley has a reputation for having very large class sizes and for making it very difficult to get your classes.
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</p>
<p>The key word is "reputation." How big are the class sizes at Berkeley really?</p>
<p>Classes under 30: 74%
Classes over 100: 7%</p>
<p>In contrast, let's take a look at UVa's class sizes:</p>
<p>Classes under 30: 69%
Classes over 100: 7%</p>
<p>So if Berkeley's class sizes are REALLY that big, then UVa's must be even bigger.</p>
<p>(now I know some people are going to take this the wrong way and think I'm bashing UVa. I'm not. I don't think UVa's class sizes are that big. But the point is Berkeley's class sizes are also not that big)</p>
<p>
[quote]
As far as campus beauty, it isn't even a fair fight. Berkeley goes down in the first round with the first punch, IMO. Berkeley's campus is rather rag-tag and homely and the buildings don't match. There isn't a lot of greenery; everything appears to be made out of cement or stone.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, I think that should be left up to the individual student. I personally liked Berkeley's campus a lot more than UCLA's campus, even though UCLA's buildings match. I thought they were rather boring. This is why I encourage people to visit colleges and take campus tours so they can get a feeling of which colleges fit them the best.</p>
<p>By the way Berkeley does have a lot of greenry; "4.0 hill" comes to mind. How about Memorial Glade?</p>
<p>A huge piece of grassfield in the middle of campus. At any given day you can see people lying, catching some sun, or playing frisbee (when it's sunny that is).</p>
<p>Another area that comes to mind is Strawberry Creek.</p>
<p>It's practically a mini-forest inside the campus. I was as surprised as anyone when I visited. I had no idea such an area exists inside Berkeley!</p>
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Basically, I think UVa kicks Berkeley's butt in every single regard. I can't think of any area in which Berkeley is better in terms of college experience.
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</p>
<p>I think that's a little unfair to Berkeley. Honestly all I see on these boards are a few UVa posters like "semiserious" and "jags" praising UVa and denoucing Berkeley, or trying to prove that UVa is better. They are two different colleges with different styles. Some like one better, others like the other better. They both have their strengths and weak points. I think it would only be fair for you to post some positives of each college (or at least get Berkeley's statistics right). For example, I will openly admit that UVa has a tighter knit community, probably better advising on the whole, better networking (from what I hear), more personal attention for undergrads, and feels more like a private school (which some students like). On the other hand, Berkeley probably has a better faculty, more prestige, very strong departments and good job prospects in SOME AREAS (engineering comes to mind).</p>
<p>And honestly with two schools this close it's more about fit than anything else. The best thing to do is probably to visit the two colleges and see which environment you personally like better.</p>
<p>viccissitudes -</p>
<p>i'm not bashing berkeley. i simply don't hold it on a pedestal like some other people do. its a great school, but there are a lot of great schools.</p>
<p>infact...i don't even think i even made a reference to berkeley being bad in this thread.</p>
<p>I think it all just comes down to whether you're a study-hard Asian or a rich white kid.</p>
<p>Haha, that's funny. But what if you're a rich Asian kid who studies hard?</p>