WashU vs. Cornell vs. UCBerkeley

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

<p>Hi Everyone,</p>

<p>I'm having trouble deciding between my top 3 choices: Cornell, WashU, and UCBerkeley. I'm a PoliSci major looking to go to Law school. To be honest, other than the idealistic benefits of the reduced in-state cost of Berkeley, money isn't much of a factor. The few things I care about most in choosing a college are:</p>

<ul>
<li>academic strength/style of teaching. I feel as though I'd do better in smaller classes, but I'm also not too knowledgable about how manageable large classes are at Berk or how often students have large lectures at WashU/Cornell</li>
<li>strong PoliSci and foreign language departments</li>
<li>fun, spirited, social student body</li>
<li>interesting and inexpensive surrounding area. I want a school where I wouldn't be bored on or near campus</li>
<li>thriving alumni network at the undergrad level</li>
</ul>

<p>I feel as though all 3 of these schools are very similar, so I'd love some input about the differences in teaching style and student life on the campuses. I'll be visiting each school in the upcoming few months. Thanks!!</p>

2

<p>Current Wustl BME (though I know a bunch of poli scis).
Our intro courses in certain popular majors (psych for example) are rather large, as are our premed courses. Everything else is fairly small. Ex: My hebrew course has ten students this semester, and 7 last semester. I’m not particularly knowledgeable of the differences between the various poli sci departments. Our student body is fairly nice/sociable. I like st. louis, but not everyone does. It has a lot of fun attractions (Forest Park FTW!) though I’d probably put Berkeley higher for location (SF is awesome). I know our alumni network is pretty epic in engineering/science/medicine. Not really familiar with other disciplines. I doubt this is as big a deal in poli sci, but I find our students to be more chill than most (ie. less competitive, more willing to team up).</p>

3

<p>Can you comment on the strength of WashU BME program as opposed to Cornell or UMichigan</p>

4

<p>You can access the WashU course listings online without having to be a current student, and can see the maximum number of students allowed in each class.</p>

<p>For PoliSci classes, the intro freshmen classes will be 100 or 200 students. But after that, the classes are typically limited to 20 or 35 students, and a wide variety of classes are offered. </p>

<p><a href=“WU Course Listings”>WU Course Listings;
The classes offered Fall 2011 can be found here:
<a href=“http://polisci.wustl.edu/files/polisci/FL11_Course_List.pdf[/url]”>http://polisci.wustl.edu/files/polisci/FL11_Course_List.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Even as a freshman, students have access to small classes from the freshman seminars and FOCUS programs. The 2010-11 programs are listed here:
[First-Year</a> Programs & Seminars Application | The College of Arts & Sciences](<a href=“http://college.artsci.wustl.edu/first_year_programs_application]First-Year”>http://college.artsci.wustl.edu/first_year_programs_application)
[A</a> & S Getting Started](<a href=“http://magazine.artsci.wustl.edu/Getting_Started/]A”>http://magazine.artsci.wustl.edu/Getting_Started/)</p>

<p>I’ve also been impressed by the pre-law advising, with many JDs serving as the main academic advisors.</p>

5

<p>Not an expert on Michigan/Cornell. I’m 95% certain our BME is better than Cornell. I know we were (I think we might still be) in the top 10, but I don’t remember Cornell there (I think it was 20’s or 30’s). I believe Michigan’s BME is in line/slightly better than ours by rank (basically equivalent). It’s a tough call.</p>

6

<p>ber ke le y</p>

7

<p>Didn’t they teach you to read dates at Berkeley? This thread is 2.5 years old, LOL.</p>