<p>that’s a tough decision : / i’d choose harvard lol but i dont have the monetary reasons so…doesn’t really pertain to me. Where ever you decide to go, you’ll most likely love it!</p>
<p>Your major will definitely play a big role, if your doing engineering or business I would say you made the right decision. Why did you already submit your SIR if you are still contemplating your decision??</p>
<p>business at harvard > berkeley. lots more recruiting and opps to work on wall st. if that’s what you want.</p>
<p>harvard and other ivy leagues do require a “summer contribution” which often puts the cost about 3-4K/year higher than berkeley’s regents.</p>
<p>i think it was a bad idea. i personally didnt apply to any ivy league schools because i didn’t believe in paying so much when berkeley is just as good of a world-class institution. but after the budget cuts, this school is going downhill. it is so hard to get into classes when you have late telebears. if you are in science classes, the test averages are so low. your grades aren’t as good. ivy schools tend to inflate their grades. so you can get a 3.8 at harvard vs a 3.5 at berkeley, but with harvard’s reputation. thats just my two cents though.</p>
<p>
Telebears has always been a pain, that’s an artifact of a large school and not necessarily the budget cuts. Once you have enough units to get senior standing for your last few semesters, scheduling isn’t as much of a pain. At any rate I don’t know anyone graduating late because of scheduling problems.</p>
<p>As far as things going downhill, the university is stabilizing. Granted there are probably going to be yet more problems with the CA gov’t next year, but the university has next year’s budget with the lack of state money accounted for. In some ways private schools got hit harder by the market crash because, well, a larger portion of their endowments was in the market. Berkeley as an institution is doing fine and mainly they’re seeing a slowdown in hiring new faculty and cutting back on frivolous expenditures.</p>
<p>
Averages don’t matter much when there are curves. The actual average GPAs aren’t horrific either…</p>
<p>
Yes. I won’t argue that in general, Harvard’s name is stronger than Berkeley’s. However I believe that nearly every student who got into Harvard for purely academic reasons - not backed by AA or legacy - would do very well at Berkeley. (At least, that’s been my general observation by looking at those who turned down Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, etc.) Maybe a 2.0 student at Berkeley would get a 3.0 at Harvard, but a 3.9 Berkeley student is probably going to be a 3.9 student at Harvard.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>While I fully agree with you, we should note that there are very, very few people who get into Harvard in my eyes, fully on academic merit. If not AA or legacy, there are things like out of school involvements, leadership, etc. Typically the Harvard students I know were fairly smart but did a ton of other stuff and were very active in general. There are of course the few exceptional academic stars who go to Harvard, but they’re hugely in the minority. Academic stars are in the minority at almost any university, in fact.</p>
<p>That’s a good observation. I guess I should extend my definition of “academic achievement” to include extracurriculars that are academic in nature, such as conducting research or participating in a science fair, writing books, winning academic contests or tournaments, doing speech & debate, starting a company, and the list goes on. Basically, I believe that those whom Harvard accepts for non-political reasons would do well in most academic environments, Berkeley included.</p>
<p>Still, I can’t think of many reasons to pick Berkeley over Harvard. Although Berkeley might even be better in some fields, the Harvard name alone can get you places. There would have to be a significant difference in cost for me to turn down Harvard… (a bit ironic considering I didn’t apply ;P)</p>
<p>Actually bsd, the reason for my observation was more in support of attending Harvard than not. The reason I said it is literally all the people I know who made it into Harvard were active, achieved in many different senses, and were not purely academic intellectuals. I’m sure they could do well at Berkeley too, though I doubt getting a 3.9-ish in a hard major here would be something they’d necessarily be well trained to do. And here, in my humble opinion, one of the best reasons to attend is if one has very academic inclinations, since we’re so good at everything in that regard. I think a student who got accepted to Caltech would be relatively likely to do well (perhaps very well) at Berkeley’s hard majors, and might actually benefit from considering Berkeley seriously, because if academically well-trained, we offer things to stretch any academic boundaries one would want.</p>
<p>So in conclusion, I think the general Harvard population is just a different student body on average, and I imagine when Harvard does admissions, they try to look for a variety of students of certain kinds who would fit into the environment they are trying to build, hence the title “super-selective school”. The highly academically inclined probably would get roughly as much out of each school, though these are of course in the minority at any non-Caltech-like schools. </p>
<p>I think Harvard’s name would help most in something like preprofessional school and most professional tracks due to the correct connections (notable exception: our engineering connections probably are way better). I am not aware that a stellar recommendation from Harvard faculty is any better than one from ours in a standard graduate school admission process. </p>
<p>Purely based on campus location, etc, I think there are a good number of people who would prefer Berkeley’s environment. As far as school/career reasons, they are summarized above.</p>
<p>Eh, it’s not like you turned down Harvard for Terrible University X. There is a difference in quality and prestige between the two, but it isn’t that huge (certainly much smaller than CC kids make it out to be). I like it how everybody uses the “budget cuts” trigger words for Berkeley, but fails to remember that no single university is in its best financial period right now.</p>
<p>IMHO, You’re such a dumbass for choosing Berkeley over Harvard. Seriously? You obviously belong in Berkeley, aka the “looney bin,” for making this decision. The UCs are not financially stable right not either. And for Christ’s sake, you turn down HARVARD to go to friggin Berkeley. Hope you like marijuana.</p>
<p>With that being said, you’re not a bad person by making this decision, but a foolish one. Good luck with life.</p>
<p>Disregard what was posted by the idiot above. He posted speculation rather than fact. The budget problem is not hitting the UCs as hard as some people on CC think, and the economy is beginning to recover anyway. iCalculus is also implying that marijuana is rampant at Berkeley, yes there is marijuana, but it isn’t any worse than average. Berkeley is certainly not a “looney bin” when its students and faculty which awards and acclaim yearly.</p>
<p>^afc10ns, you decided on Berk? And what was your major again…Chem Bio?</p>
<p>If you are going to Berk for engineering like I am, it’s definitely worth it.</p>
<p>Despite being ranked lower in specific fields, in particular engineering, Harvard has churned out a great deal more notable undergraduate figures, such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, than Berkeley. (Yes, I realize neither of them graduated but they’re points to Harvard nonetheless.) </p>
<p>While this may in part be attributable to the sheer greater talent of the Harvard student body, it still strongly contests rankings such as those of USNWR’s where the weight of a program is put on the faculty instead of students’ success. This may build a perception that Harvard shows results whereas Berkeley has a number that says its the greatest.</p>
<p>I will be attending Berkeley in the fall, at this point I will be majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, though it is subject to change for another hard science. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I most likely won’t be going to engineering at Cal, but I know those that do often find great success in their field.</p>
<p>the valedictorian at my School chose Berkeley w/regents over Yale because he said when he went to Yale the students didnt seem very happy. plus he dosent like the cold and Berkeley is offering him more money. He is undecided on his major but it is definately going to be Science related. also he does not apply to the 60k/year rule or 100k/year both his parents are HS teachers and they make about 120-130k combined. </p>
<p>also UC Berkeley is an overall great school when considering Undergrad and grad schools</p>
<h1>3 in the world behind Harvard and Stanford <a href=“http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp[/url]”>http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp</a></h1>
<p>on a side note, the OP smells like a ■■■■■</p>
<p>Honestly, I think the whole worry as to whether someone is ■■■■■■■■ or not is overplayed. Whenever one reads a forum online, it’s best to go in with the attitude that you’re searching for a dynamic of responses by many to certain queries, with the intentions for posting likely mixed, and often undecipherable. The key is that it can alert one to different modes of thinking on the same matter, which one can then attempt to confirm with one’s own research. I.e. I think the point should be exposure to new principles and perhaps a few facts, but all mainly a way to signal what some interesting things to learn more about may be.</p>
<p>If someone is spreading misinformation, whether as a ■■■■■ or as an idiot [possibly both], attempt to clarify should be made.</p>
<p>Wow, that’s a huge gap between the schools there. However, congratulation on being accepted to Harvard!
In my opinion, its mostly you who would make the best out of your college experience. Plus, I think you would get a hold of the education in Berkeley easier than Harvard and saving a bunch of money.</p>
<p>A huge gap? People in different countries consider Harvard and Berkeley the same tier.</p>
<p>I believe that there is often too much emphasis placed on presitge. Just going to Harvard doesn’t make you sucessful. You still have to put a lot of work into which ever university you end up choosing to succeed. </p>
<p>Students should go to the university where they feel the most comfortable with. In my opinion, the reason that quite a few Berkeley students would quickly choose to leave is because they chose this school for the prestige rather than a school they would better excel in and enjoy. </p>
<p>Berkeley isn’t for everyone, but the same can be said for Harvard. Personally, I dislike the pretenious attitude and sense of entiltlement that quite a few Harvard students have.</p>
<p>this is not a mistake. although harvard is a great university, you will not miss out on much should you attend berkeley. </p>
<p>in my case, im choosing berkeley over yale and other top schools because of financial aid, plane and simple. i hate the fact that we had to fill out CSS/PROFILE for ivy league schools (on top of FAFSA) because it considered the equity of my parent’s house in determining my financial need. because i live in a decent home in southern california, yale was expecting almost 20k a year from my family which is simply ridiculous. my family is barely middle class! </p>
<p>on the other hand, i pretty much get a full ride at berkeley. i also get priority registration which is amazing to have specially in a huge public university like berkeley</p>
<p>really, an ivy league education is not right for everyone. i still aspire to go to one. but i shall wait for grad school :)</p>