<p>Given the budget cuts in the UC system - and how they've affected Cal so badly - will a Berkeley degree in a decade or two not have the value it has now? </p>
<p>Historically, as schools lose funding, their quality, ranking, and reputation falls too. </p>
<p>I have to choose between USC - a school rising every year in academics and prestige - and Berkeley - a school I know is currently better but is facing a massive budget crisis. </p>
<p>What do you guys think? Will Berkeley always maintain its prestige?</p>
<p>losing prestige takes a long of time. there are different unit of times, such as decades not just four years. Think of Sorbonne, which had a lot of prestige sixty years ago, but now, it is just mediocre. And I would suggest that the reasons for that were not directly related to funding, at least directly.</p>
<p>Ok…prestige will maybe get your resume noticed in your very first interview. After that, no one will care. We have engineers from Stanford, ASU, CAl poly, New Mexico, Berkeley and a bunch of other state schools in the East coast. And each of them are as sharp as can be, and NO ONE cares about the undergrad. In all these cases, the folks at these schools took advantage of college regardless of prestige. And by your second, third job, it does not matter where you got your undergrad but what you did with it.</p>
<p>Between USC and Berkeley, I would chose Berkeley. Again, choice should be based on your “fit” rather than a ranking. And if you are concerned about prestige, I dont think Berkeley will lose it. As it continues to attract top students, top research scientists and its proximity to the silicon valley hub…it will continue to remain up there.</p>
<p>I lived outside CA most my life, USC is just not as well known outside the west coast. Unless you have USC presidential scholarship, that may be a good deal. USC campus safety is also under scrutiny now with back to back incidents there.</p>
<p>USC is never going to be nearly as prestigious as Berkeley. Budget cuts haven’t actually affected anything. And the professors and employers who decide your future KNOW what a Berkeley education means. They’re not going to be swayed by a stupid biased ranking system that automatically gives private schools a huge advantage. Look at any other ranking and see how Berkeley compares to USC.</p>
<p>The short answer is that a Cal degree will hold its value for long time.</p>
<p>But you need to decide on your major. Annenberg at 'SC is much different than L&S at Cal. If you want a journalism program, 'SC is the obvious choice.</p>
<p>the budget crisis is UC wide, but the relative hit is not even. Berkeley, as the flagship, is not as impacted. It is taking steps, such as building up an alumni and parent funding stream since public funding is insufficient for the growth and improvement objectives going forward, as well as generating income from joint research facilities (e.g. Berkeley-Intel lab and several similar initiatives). The effects of the cuts are felt in ways that don’t impact the quality of the education or the opportunities open - reductions in the hours of dining halls instead of cutting professors, as an example. Some impact is felt in scheduling, because the number of graduate students that are paid to be the GSIs may be reduced in a department, forcing them to reduce the number of sections of a particular class they can offer per semester, which lowers the number of available seats. The facilities and the professors and the research continue virtually untouched. grad students supervise the small discussion sections of classes, where students can explore in more what the professor has taught in the larger lecture section. They also grade exams and papers and do other logistical tasks. </p>
<p>It is the professors, the research and the academic rigor that keeps the prestige of Berkeley very high among peers - regardless of the factors like endowment size that push Cal down on the major rankings, the professors and administrators of universities around the world consistently put Cal in the top few spots, sharing it with institutions like Harvard, MIT, Oxford and Cambridge</p>
<p>I’d like to see how the budget cuts have “affected Cal so badly”. For the students that pay, sure, but for the overall reputation of the school? Like 1/5th of Berkeley’s funding comes from the government. That’s not going to make all the world-renown professors suddenly jump ship.</p>
<p>The budget cuts aren’t affecting the school much. Cal will “go private,” ie, expand its endowment and get private research money, before it starts losing professors and cutting campus services. Tuition really should be higher, considering the market rate for a college degree: $25,000 for a Berkeley degree is a steal, compared to $50,000 for a USC one. (It never occurred to me to even apply to USC. Berkeley is cheaper and better.)</p>
<p>CAL vs. USC? You’re kidding.
Are you majoring in acting or musical production, or is it closer to Mathematics & Science? For the first pair, USC is a respectable, even preferable option.</p>
<p>205mom, I’m majoring in journalism at USC (Annenberg) and I’d major in English at Berkeley. Annenberg is an amazing journalism school so don’t throw shade…</p>
<p>Cal is about the top English Lit department in the nation - different focus obviously between Journalism and literature, so it depends greatly on you. Both can stand you well for a career in media, depends on how much you love the written language, novels, and the arts viewpoint. For pure occupational preparation, you have a tough choice. For a deeper exploration of English, there might be cause to feel Cal pride.</p>
<p>TBH, increased inflow of transfer students really made the degree to go down a notch. BTW, USC is not at the same level as Berkeley for any major.</p>