Your opinion on UC Berkeley

[RML]

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I think UC Berkeley is one of the top 5 universities in the world . I don’t understand why it is so underrated in American college rankings like USN&WR.

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<p>I share the same sentiments. It should be a solid top 8 in the world, along with Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford, Oxford, Yale, Princeton and MIT. But after looking at the USNWR criteria, I’ve learned that the ranking is basically a ranking based on college desirability, which some people say, is just about college convenience. </p>

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International prestige of a university is based primarily on its research discoveries in the sciences and technology. (That is what the rest of the world admire.) This is why a school like Berkeley is so highly regarded. A non-research, liberal arts college has little recognition on the international stage, no matter how selective its admission process is.

I don’t exactly agree. Yale isn’t quite up to par with Berkeley, Stanford, MIT and Caltech when it comes to research, specifically on scientific research and discoveries yet it’s a very well-regarded, highly respected school. The London School of Economics (LSE) is a globally famous school yet it’s only a social science school. Imperial College London is basically a science and engineering school and has many more nobel associated with it than with LSE, yet it’s not as well-known and prestigious as LSE.</p>