<p>This thread is over a year old…I’m sure the OP has made his/her decision. </p>
<p>I agree Berkeley is a fantastic engineering school and in state is a good deal. I chose Duke over one of your 5 “elite” engineering schools, though. There must be some reason Pratt attracts students of (on average) higher caliber than Berkeley, Illinois, and Georgia Tech despite being “non-elite.” Berkeley clearly also benefits from its geographic location with the companies you mention (in addition to its great program). Despite being on the East Coast, Duke still sends a lot of its grads to Silicon Valley and I know plenty of people who got jobs at Google, Microsoft, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. In this ranking by the Silicon Valley business journal, Duke actually comes in 5th overall in a per capita basis (Stanford is #1, Berkeley is #10 clearly being harmed by the large size of its student body):
<a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/17/the-top-10-colleges-that-fuel-the.html?page=2”>http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/17/the-top-10-colleges-that-fuel-the.html?page=2</a></p>
<p>In any event, not suggesting in this situation, the OP should have chosen Duke; just that in certain circumstances, I could certainly see the argument, particularly since Duke has strong financial aid and Berkeley is very expensive for out of state students. </p>