Dartmouth vs UC Berkeley

DSC
Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:32:17 +0000

Pretty much any state school will be weaker in many key areas relative to top end privates.

This is due to some obvious factors. The government can’t spend as much per student as the privates can. This leads to larger classes, less anything per student, and so on. These state schools may have excellent professors, but they will have larger classes and less involvement with students on average than those at Stanford or Dartmouth or some other premier private. These factors lead to a very very strong applicant base and student body.

Berkeley’s top 4000 students are probably as good as those at Dartmouth or any other school, same with UM, UVA, or other top publics. However, there is another large segement of the student body where state residency becomes a huge benifit and leaves a large number of students that is not competative for nationally super selective schools. This is demonstrated in the test scores among other things - 1350-1550 for Dartmouth compared to 1220-1450 at Berkeley. That is a huge gap. UFlorida is at the 1160-1360 spot, and no one(at least that I know) would compare UF to UCB, so why is UCB being compared to Dartmouth?

UCBerkeley has one of the best educations in the nation AVAILABLE to those who fight for it(and have some luck at getting classes), while Dartmouth will GIVE you one of the best educations in the nation.

At the junior/senior level, I would probably say that you are at comparable schools, as the ‘chafe’ would be separated, and Berkeley would offer classes that are smaller, like Dartmouth’s. Research opportunities would be more available at that point too.

Berkeley’s upper level and grad courses are as good as any in the nation. However, you could easily find a more academically rewarding first 2 years. Dartmouth will offer those great classes for all four years.

Any Berkeley grad - you recieve my respect for one of the best educations in the nation. Same with UM and other top publics. However, from a learners perspective, the small collaborative classes offered at a Dartmouth could not be passed up.