UC vs IVY LEAGUE

iv4me
Sat, 27 May 2006 14:04:20 +0000

I personally chose Princeton over a Regents Scholarship at Berkeley. Here’s my take on the issue.

I got into some great schools, but Berkeley was still in my top 5 choices. After the super-elite schools (HYPS), Berkeley can compete with anyone at the undergraduate level. I would’ve chosen Berkeley over both Duke and Cornell.

That being said, I AM an engineer. Berkeley’s engineering is, in my opinion, better than every ivy league’s and far more prestigious. If I wanted to be a pure engineer, I would’ve gone to Berkeley in a heartbeat. It’s an amazing place for an engineering education.

When it comes to the humanities, I think Berkeley has both good points and bad points. For huge majors such as bio and econ, Cal students get the shaft. That’s where you have the huge classes and uber-intense competition, and it just isn’t necessary. Otherwise, for those art history majors, Berkeley offers you all of its resources with very small classes.

This has been stated before, but for humanities classes, I think that they are very diluted, even at a world-class institution like Berkeley. It’s far easier to get into Berkeley for a CA student than even a lower-tier Ivy, and it allows for many more students who just dont care as much about school.

From a cultural perspective, Berkeley and any Ivy are COMPLETELY different. Overall, I think the Ivies are far more diverse in thought. The overwhelming majority of UC students are Californian. Most of my friends who go to UCs have friends very similar to their friends in high school. For example, I have many Indian friends in high school. I know several who went to Berkeley, and sure, there’s diversity at Berkeley, but who do my friends hang out with? Other Indian kids from the Bay Area. Seriously, they go around in little packs of kids who have all had very similar experiences. I’m not saying this is the norm, but from my personal experience, this happens a lot.

Ultimately, I did not think for a second that I would be receiving a BETTER education at Princeton. I felt that I would be receiving a much more well-rounded education with richer elective classes . I also thought my overall experience would be much richer, with more doors open to me, accessible professors, and a diverse student body. That said, I think Berkeley’s a great school and if I had any financial concerns whatsoever, I’d go to Berkeley in a heartbeat.

Notice in my entire post, I’m referring ONLY to Berkeley. I think only Berkeley (and maybe UCLA) can compete with the Ivies. We can’t talk about the UC system as a whole, only the very top of the UC system.