<p>“Anyway, I would save the $$$ and hang out on Telegraph ;-)” ahh, I hate telegraph! I always feel so sketched out when I walk around there! The only good thing about telegraph is Cafe Intermezzo… and North Oakland/ Temescal, but few Berkeley kids venture into Oakland anyway.</p>
<p>I don’t think Berkeley is inherently worse/less prestigious/ whatever than U of C because it is a public school, but the problems I have with Berkeley (academically) would definitely not be a factor if the school had more funding, or if monies were allocated differently. I feel like a LOT of the budget goes toward simply maintaining appearances, ie investing in athletes with state-of-the-art athletic centers, building flashy new department headquarters that attract media attention, etc etc. I’m sure this is the case with most schools, maybe even more so with private schools, but it’s extremely frustrating to me when departments I really value get cut 50% (that happened this year) because of budget limitations… while the school just announced flashy additions to some football training center.</p>
<p>Berkeley is a lot cheaper than U of C, but I still feel like for the amount of money I’m paying, I should be getting more attention. The faculty I’ve had the opportunity to interact with at Berkeley has been BRILLIANT… but so inaccessible! I hadn’t even met my adviser until I needed her to fill out a form for my transfer applications 2 months ago. If money isn’t an issue for you, I’d go with the education that offers more individual attention from actual professors.</p>