Probably most people have no clue what the flag of “Islamic State” looks like. I.e. it just looks like some random unrecognizable flag.
I don’t think that Cal is at Stanford’s level, but for working in Silicon Valley, few other schools are better.
Cornell a peer of Cal? Sure. Vandy a peer of Cal? Eh. Depends on what you’re looking for.
But USC on Cal’s level? Outside of a few fields, you’re going to have trouble finding folks outside CA who believe that.
In any case, put down Cal if you want. It’s a free country and we can all rank/tier however we want. Just don’t be surprised if you find people who don’t agree with your stereotypes.
BTW, you do realize that different rankings and people rank/tier by different criteria, don’t you?
That Cal is top-notch in research can’t really be denied.
“I wanted to gague other regions’ mentality because i know others regard vandy, cornell, etc better or on par with berkeley.”
Most all college reputations are strongest in home region, so why would Berkeley be an exception?
It’s not really on radar screens here in Chicago from my perspective. The people I’ve known who have gone there were bright enough, but average-bright, nothing to write home about.
International reputation is often completely superficial impressions by people who know nothing about American higher education. It’s like saying Rolex is the best watch just because a lot of people have heard the name.
I remember a young woman in Germany squealing at the sight of a UCLA Tshirt, “I loooove Oooklah”
@PurpleTitan If you believe that the point of this conversation was to put down Cal, then you are clearly mistaken. I state over and over again that Cal is a very good, top ranked, respectable university. If you think that this thread is about rankings, then you are clearly mistaken.
Additionally, your few years of work experience in the Silicon Valley in attempts to show your pretentious qualifications doesn’t impress me. I’ve lived in the Silicon Valley all my life and yes, I agree that in my subjective opinion that Cal is a notch lower than Stanford and Cal Tech.
Furthermore, I am very aware that Cal, Cornell, Vandy, and Emory all have a very strong home base reputation. However, the purpose of this thread, again (for the millionth time) is to understand why Vandy and Emory seem have mainly a southern regional reputation and Cal has a strong national presence when I, personally, as well as many other rankings data in regards to academics claim that all four of these schools are similar in many regards. Yes, Cal is ranked top ten in many of its programs, however, that does not mean Vandy, Cornell, and Emory (among others, Notre Dame, Northwester, etc) all have top ranked undergraduate and graduate programs on many different subjects as well.
So if they have so much in common, I don’t understand why Cal has a stronger national presence while the others have primarily a regional reputation (well, not including Cornell due to its Ivy name)
I would say that Northwestern and ND aren’t just regionally respected.
Vandy is starting to make a move up from being regionally known as well (just like Duke did in the '70’s/'80’s). We’ll see if they reach Duke’s level in 40 years or so.
In any case, Cal is big, is perceived to have top-notch academics, and churns out many bright successful grads (due in part to being big) so more people will have met them. Ergo why it may have a more national/international reputation. The reputation of it’s grad/professional schools also helps. The average Joe/Ahmed isn’t making a fine-grained distinction between undergrad and grad when it comes to university reputation.
It’s the same reason why you’ll find more people impressed by UMich than by WashU even if WashU undergrad has a lower admit rate than UMich undergrad.
As an aside, I wondered if I should be snide and say that your zero years of work experience and year or so outside your home region doesn’t impress me either, but, eh, you’ll learn. Hopefully.
“So if they have so much in common, I don’t understand why Cal has a stronger national presence while the others have primarily a regional reputation (well, not including Cornell due to its Ivy name)”
I disagree with your entire premise - that Cal has a national reputation and Cornell, Vandy, and Emory have “merely” regional reputations. You’re sitting there in Silicon Valley, a stone’s throw away from Berkeley - of COURSE those around you are going to be heavy Cal-boosters and you’re going to think its presence on the national scene is far, far greater than what it actually is in other regions of the country. (BTW, who even knows it as “Cal” outside of California? If anyone outside California thinks of it at all, they think of it as Berkeley.) From my vantage point sitting in the midwest, I’d say Cornell and Vandy have bigger national reputations.
Berkeley essentially shares the same rankings with Cornell, Vanderbilt and Emory, yet, it’s roughly half the cost. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?
@Pizzagirl, yep, in my experience, it’s pretty much only Cal grads who insist on calling UCB “Cal”.
To the OP:
As for international reputation and whatnot, keep in mind that prestige is dependent on who you talk to. Also that many people blindly follow the rankings like lemmings. Then note that the international rankings all weigh research prowess heavily while USN weighs heavily stuff like student:faculty ratio and per capita endowment that the big publics will do badly in.
When it comes to public perception, it probably tracks the USN peer reputational ranking closest: http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2013/02/28/which-universities-are-ranked-highest-by-college-officials
Finally, when it comes to reputation/prestige/whatnot, people who didn’t attend a school aren’t going to particularly care how competitive/comfortable/whatever a school may be. McK/GS/Google/etc. are just looking to get the best talent they can.
“Berkeley essentially shares the same rankings with Cornell, Vanderbilt and Emory, yet, it’s roughly half the cost. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?”
What’s the cost of Berkeley OOS compared to Cornell/Vandy/Emory?
I think so many people in California are really kind of oblivious to how little the rest of the country really focuses on what’s hot in California.
Berkeley OOS costs are $55,046 or $49,588 (on-campus and off-campus – most frosh live on-campus, but most others live off-campus).
http://admissions.berkeley.edu/costofattendance
Cornell costs are $63,604, except for NY residents at the NY state portion.
http://finaid.cornell.edu/cost-attend
Vanderbilt costs are $62,320 ($63,024 for frosh, higher for engineering).
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/financialaid/costs.php
Emory costs are $61,344 ($54,720 for frosh/soph at Oxford).
http://apply.emory.edu/apply/tuition.php
However, Berkeley financial aid does not cover the $22,878 OOS additional tuition. So Berkeley OOS would be less costly only for those paying list price or close to it, or those for whom CSS Profile used by the other schools would be highly disadvantageous for financial aid compared to Berkeley’s FAFSA-only calculations (e.g. those with uncooperative NCPs).