Williams vs Berkeley for either premed or CS/tech?

College Search & Selection
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I got into Williams and Berkeley and am so conflicted. I’m not entirely set on what I want to do, but I’m leaning towards working in tech. However, I still want to leave premed open as an option. I know Berkeley is amazing for computer science, but I’m concerned about the size, competition, housing, and student to faculty ratio. Williams is super good for premed and research, but they have fewer majors that I’m interested in. I am leaning towards Berkeley now because of the location, sports, student life, size, and diversity, but people are telling me to choose Williams. If you know anything about either school please let me know!

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Is there a cost differential? Are you a CA resident?

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I’m not a CA resident, but cost isn’t really an issue.

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So…if your family can pay the full cost of attendance at either college…I think you need to pick the one that you like best. But do check and make sure that the net cost at Cal is affordable.

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But is one school significantly better than the other? I’m from the west coast, and nobody knows what Williams is. I also want to live on the west coast when I graduate.

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Agree with @thumper1. Both are great choices but they are very different schools and different cultures. Both have their pros and cons as you have listed yourself. So if cost is not an issue, pick what speaks to you.

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UCB does require a 3.3 GPA in the three prerequisite CS courses to declare the L&S CS major. About half of the students in those CS courses earn B+ or higher grades.

Pre-med can be done with any major, although adding the pre-med courses to a CS major can fill up a lot of your schedule.

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Somewhat reflexively, people tend to recommend the more selective school in comparisons such as this. As an opinion, I think you should choose the opportunity that you prefer based on your range of preferences. These seem to favor UCB. Williams, of course, offers more than its share of appealing attributes. However, this isn’t especially relevant if these attributes don’t appeal to you personally.

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I just feel like I would have more research and grad school opportunities if I went to Williams, but I don’t even know if I want to go to grad school at this point.

10

That’s not true.

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Going into the admissions process, I was pretty open minded with the schools I applied to, but I really do want the typical college experience with football games and sorority life. But I have also convinced myself that a small college experience could be good, but I think I’m just lying to myself.

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So if I wanted to work at Google, which school would be better?

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Neither of these schools will give you a guaranteed job at Google. Is that what you are looking for?

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Might I remind members of the forum rules: “Our forum is expected to be a friendly and welcoming place, and one in which members can post without their motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics being questioned by others."

This user is different than the other UCB v Williams user, and regardless, one should flag a post for a moderator to review, not call the OP a troII

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Depends on your definition of “better”.

For CS academics, the apparent differences are:

  • Breadth and depth of CS courses: greater at UCB.
  • Class sizes: much larger at UCB (over 1,000 for the first introductory CS course, upper level CS courses still have hundreds) than at Williams (two sections of introductory CS capped at 36).
  • Gateways into the CS major:
    • UCB L&S CS requires a 3.3 GPA in the three introductory CS courses.
    • Williams has no apparent limitation on declaring the CS major, but it does look like its introductory CS courses are completely full, and mentions that entry is by lottery if overenrolled.

For prestige factors and how employers may view:

  • UCB is probably better known on the west coast and for CS specifically.
  • Williams is probably better known on the east coast and among certain types of elite employers (management consulting, Wall Street). Note that many on these forums are on the east coast and have a strong private school and liberal arts college bias.

For pre-med, consider the following:

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19

Thank you

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If you can, try to visit both schools again before committing and talk to students and professors there. It is a very different experience visiting schools as an admitted student than pre-application and may give you more clarity into your options.

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If any employer on any coast, US or otherwise or any place in between or outside, doesn’t know Williams, they are frankly clueless.

If finances are not an issue for you, either are great bets. If finances are an issue for you, either are great bets.

Just to add: on another UCB v. Williams query, I honestly think you really need to see your views on the two campuses, which I think are really different. I, and others, have written in great detail about this.

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I would not be surprised if lots of people (including those at employers) outside of these forums (which are about colleges, so posters are more college-aware than most people) would not know much about colleges outside of their region. Some people may not realize that “UCB”, “Berkeley”, and “Cal” refer to the same college. Even among forum posters, some apparently do not know which colleges are in or not in the Ivy League, which is much better known than the NESCAC that Williams is in.

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Williams students, as you already probably have learned through your research, are more athletically oriented than those at nearly all other colleges: The 25 Schools Stocked With Jocks. Nonetheless, the social characteristics that you suggest you would prefer in general appear to align with UCB’s atmosphere.

Depending on perspective, this could describe either UCB or Williams.