sakky

Well the differences are quite small. But, basically, yeah, I would say that Berkeley is a slightly better engineering school than is Caltech. Keep in mind that Caltech freely admits that it is more of a pure science school than an engineering school.

But the rankings don't fully capture just how desirable a particular school is for a prospective student. For example, one of THE most annoying aspects of Berkeley is the notion of the impacted major: some majors, including ALL of the engineering majors, have fewer available spaces than there are interested students. If you go to Caltech intending to major in a science and then decide once you're there that you'd rather major in engineering instead, you just go right ahead and switch. Nobody is going to stop you. Not so at Berkeley. Plenty of Berkeley students who decide they want to switch into engineering are denied from doing so. The reverse is also true: if you are a Berkeley engineering student and you decide that you want to switch into something else, you may be prevented from doing so because the individual non-engineering colleges at Berkeley may decide that they don't want to take you. The same is true even if you want to switch from one engineering major to another. If you come in as a ME student and decide that you'd rather major in EECS, you have to apply to switch, and you may not be approved. Hence, plenty of Berkeley students end up in majors that they don't really want.

In fairness to Berkeley, it should be said that Berkeley is not the only school with impacted majors. Plenty of other schools have the same problem. But the key takeaway is that Caltech does not. As a Caltech student, you can choose any major you want and switch at any time.