Which college? UCSD, UCBerkley, UCLA or Harvey Mudd

[InfectedMushroom]

<<
All i know is UCSD Computer Science people ripped Cal Tech and Harvey Mudd a new one but

Berkely got donkey puched by Standford

>>



Thanks for the links Ameesh. Cool stuff. I guess stanfords computer science department is getting better. Up until a few years ago I found a lot of companies in the Bay Area that would hire a Berkeley CS grad over a Stanford CS grad without even thinking about it. It seemed like the CS department at stanfurd (yes i went to CAL) was a lot more geared up to teach them the business aspects of the market rather than teaching them the theory/practical aspects of programming.

 

[SmackdownHotel]

Well I'm not a philosophy or CS major. I'm doing molecular bio and most of my profs are reluctant to even SCHEDULE office hours. I can still get a hold of them, I just meant to say it's gonna take like 90% of the effort on your part to do so.

 

[alee25]

hmm.. what im thinking in terms of now is how much harder is HMC than berkeley?

Becuase since i have to apply to grad school, a 3.3 gpa or so at hmc wont look as impressive as a 3.6 or so at berkeley. right?

but then on the other hand, i probably would do better on mcats and hmc than berkeley, so im torn again

 

[Capn]

I'd suggest the smaller school, within reason. Your mileage may vary, but in general, a smaller school will allow you the chance to get to know your professors better. Your professor recommendations play a big part in your grad school app. The difference between a generic "this student took my class and got an A" letter and one from a prof who's worked with you or that you've had for a number of classes is huge. Also, a smaller school will generally also be more interested in you as a student.

Anyhow, I just signed my commitment letter for graduate school and mailed it off today, good luck.

 

[calbear2000]

<< your gonna do your undergad work as an engineer i would reccomend that or UCSD, my sister went to Berkley and I went to UCSD, i visted Cal many times and i really didnt care for the atmosphere or the lack of breadth in their programs. ( im speaking about their engineering programs, their liberal arts programs are great) >>



Lol. Still bitter about the rejection letter from Berkeley ey?

 

[Ameesh]

<<

<< your gonna do your undergad work as an engineer i would reccomend that or UCSD, my sister went to Berkley and I went to UCSD, i visted Cal many times and i really didnt care for the atmosphere or the lack of breadth in their programs. ( im speaking about their engineering programs, their liberal arts programs are great) >>



Lol. Still bitter about the rejection letter from Berkeley ey? >>



lol, i didnt even apply.

 

[hans007]

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[b0mbrman]

<< Harvey Mudd is an excellent school with a really really small classes, in many years it has been more competitive then Cal Tech, Haravrd, and MIT to get into, if your gonna do your undergad work as an engineer i would reccomend that or UCSD, my sister went to Berkley and I went to UCSD, i visted Cal many times and i really didnt care for the atmosphere or the lack of breadth in their programs. ( im speaking about their engineering programs, their liberal arts programs are great) >>


:Q

Berkeley engineering is fantastic!

 

[Ameesh]

<<

<< Harvey Mudd is an excellent school with a really really small classes, in many years it has been more competitive then Cal Tech, Haravrd, and MIT to get into, if your gonna do your undergad work as an engineer i would reccomend that or UCSD, my sister went to Berkley and I went to UCSD, i visted Cal many times and i really didnt care for the atmosphere or the lack of breadth in their programs. ( im speaking about their engineering programs, their liberal arts programs are great) >>


:Q

Berkeley engineering is fantastic! >>



hippie.

 

[calbear2000]

<<

<<

<< Harvey Mudd is an excellent school with a really really small classes, in many years it has been more competitive then Cal Tech, Haravrd, and MIT to get into, if your gonna do your undergad work as an engineer i would reccomend that or UCSD, my sister went to Berkley and I went to UCSD, i visted Cal many times and i really didnt care for the atmosphere or the lack of breadth in their programs. ( im speaking about their engineering programs, their liberal arts programs are great) >>


:Q

Berkeley engineering is fantastic! >>



hippie. >>



Berkeley reject.

 

[manly]

I'm pretty sure he's being facetious, but judging an engineering school by their participation in one contest is absurd.

As InfectedMushroon suggested, Berkeley CS is Top-5 nationally (of course these types of ratings are subjective). If you go by academic programs, Berkeley easily has as many Top-10 departments as any university in many such ratings. Where UCB loses in the ratings department is in funding, class sizes, that sort of thing. There's a lot of bureaucracy to deal with, but that's symptomatic of any large public school.

Show me any other UC (or public university) that comes close academically.

The reason some hiring managers might prefer a Berkeley CS grad to a Stanford one is they know the hell subjected to a Berkeley CS student. This goes for a lot of programs at Berkeley. If you're not willing to work your ass off and compete against intelligent students more driven than you, then you're going to have a tough time in majors such as CS, other engineering, MCB, and business. CS and Haas are almost impossible to get into these days.

It's well-known that from an academic difficulty standpoint, Berkeley is easily in the 90th percentile (if not much higher). Back when I was in the college selection process, the only school that I consistently heard worse horror stories of was CalTech. It's also well-known that Stanford and most Ivy League universities are relative cake-walks. I don't know what the current policy is now, but not too long ago, you could drop a class at Stanford without any record on your transcript on the day of the final exam. In Berkeley engineering, you get 8 weeks at best (and it takes almost that long to get into the class :disgust: ).

I'll put it this way, if you got a 3.6 GPA in Berkeley CS, you'd be very highly sought-after by Silicon Valley companies and top-tier grad schools. It proves a *lot* more than a 3.6 GPA at Stanford, for sure.

Honestly though, if you want a better college experience and/or your work ethic/study habits aren't all there, then one of the other UCs might be a wiser choice.

 

[uclaxman]

major?

well whatever your choice is....UCLA is the right answer....=)

 

[calbear2000]

<< I'm pretty sure he's being facetious, but judging an engineering school by their participation in one contest is absurd. >>



Its usually the sign of a bitter grudge from a rejection letter masked to validate one's own self worth


Your description of Berkeley couldn't be more accurate