<p>^^ It’s pretty obvious that Berkeley and UCLA are going to dominate the popular mindset. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if those schools were more well known than say, Princeton.</p>
<p>But I thought we were talking about halfway-educated people here. The only people who really matter for your own prospects are those who will make determinations of your employment or serve as a future connection. I would say that among the pretty well-educated population in East Asia, Chicago beats UCLA quite handily (not sure about Berkeley). </p>
<p>At least from what I’ve seen as a government worker in Japan, people think UCLA is prestigious simply because “[Big City] University” must be prestigious. (At least, that’s how it works hereabouts, where public institutions are the most prestigious.) However, they usually haven’t heard of UCLA otherwise. For Chicago, a much greater percentage of educated people know about it. Most of the time, I’ll get “Ah! Booth.”, and many will ask “Isn’t that an Ivy League?”</p>