<p>Not simply in prestige, but take everything into account, including cost of tuition (is it worth it to pay more for that university to go to instead of Cal?), etc. Purely YOUR opinion.</p>
<p>NYU
Boston College
Duke University
Amherst College</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Duke only.</p>
<p>It depends on the major. But if your asking for my opinion on this and since I’m a business major. None of them are better than UC Berkeley since Haas is cheap, incredible with recruiting for business students, and it’s close to San Fran.</p>
<p>None, I’d choose Cal over all of them</p>
<p>I would rate them as follows putting into account cost, prestige and quality of education:</p>
<p>1.) Amherst-- this is in my opinion one of the best institutions of higher LEARNING. And they have a no loan policy.</p>
<p>2.) Berkeley-- I think this is one the best research universities with the brightests minds doing the teaching in the entire world, and is extremely affordable. The teaching could be better though.</p>
<p>3.) Duke-- it has the name recognition and extremely bright students, but I think it’s name does more for it than its actual academics.</p>
<p>4.) NYU-- really bright minds, in the middle of Manhattan, but the cost is excessive for the education you get.</p>
<p>5.) BC-- it’s conservative. Need I say more?</p>
<p>none
10char</p>
<p>I would choose Duke or Amherst over CAL. Let’s be serious, people.</p>
<p>Did you get into these schools, missyujin?</p>
<p>I don’t think Duke’s quality of education relative to Berkeley’s justifies the cost. It’s an expensive private which is not on par with schools of its caliber in terms of financial aid. I would choose Amherst in a heartbeat though. </p>
<p>I don’t think Amherst’s decisions have come out, have they missyujin? Plus, the competition for an admissions offer is outrageous.</p>
<p>Never mind, I was thinking of Notre Dame (I’ve slept like three hours people), not the Blue Devils. Duke above Berkeley. Really bright students and good curriculum and awesome faculty.</p>
<p>^ for some reason, I also associate Duke with Notre Dame. Weird, haha.</p>
<p>All of these are great schools. If you have gotten in to all of these schools, you are lucky and have a great selection of schools to choose from! Congrats! </p>
<p>They are also all very different, as many of the other posters have pointed out. I know quite a bit about NYU, Amherst and Cal and can tell you more, if you want me to.</p>
<p>Please do not choose a school simply based on ranking. Academics are important, but all of thses schools are very prestigeous! You should choose to go to the school where you feel you would be happiest.</p>
<p>Amherst, for example, is a very prestigeous school (on par with Harvard and Yale) and it knows how to take care of its students. It is also in a rural part of Massachussetts and has a small student body. Because it is a smaller school, its name recognition may not be as high (outside of academic and HR circles). It is also a very different experience going to a small school (especially as a transfer) in a town/small city when compared to going to a school like NYU… a school right in the center of one of the most vibrant cities in the world. You will need to decide which experience would suit you better.</p>
<p>Berkeley, on the other hand, is a large state school (with all of the negative consequences of that), in a college town that is just a subway ride away from a very unique city (although SF is not nearly as big as NYC).</p>
<p>Again, all schools are very different. I could go on and on because I actually had to choose between Cal and Amherst and I have a relative who is a transfer there, but I’ll stop here. Again, let me know if you need any more info!</p>
<p>Duke. </p>
<p>I’m applying for Grad School. Couple of my friends from HS got accepted, went to visit. Hahaha. [:</p>
<p>This comment is kind of OT, but you know what really turns me off about Cal? The students that always throw the prestige factor around. I went to Berkeley this weekend (Fri and Sat) and sat through many, many presentations and all I got from it is, “Berkeley is #1. You want your diploma to say BERKELEY! I chose Berkeley because of its ranking.” I think that we all get that by now. What I would like to know is what Berkeley can offer me ABOVE and BEYOND what other high ranking institutions can offer me. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s different for me because finishing school is a personal goal, not a career aspiration or a selling point to potential employers, suitors, friends, etc. </p>
<p>It just gets kind of old after a while.</p>
<p>duke and amherst. i hope u get in to all of em!! but seriously. I know u are an english major, and I did a lot of research into all of the english programs and Cals is weak. It leaves you with the broadest knowledge of english in all the genres. It sort of turned me completely off of English as a major at Cal. But Amhersts is to die for. If i choose cal over other schools because of Financial Aid, i am NOT going to continue with English and I will do some area studies or something. >(</p>
<p>and KC, you are so right. The majority of ppl at cal are REALLY local minded. They will stay in Cali their whole lives and the farthest they have been to is like… las vegas or washington. So in that respect, CAL is one of the best schools they can get. but yeah, they can be really limited in scope. I said last weekend to those same students that I was waiting for decisions from Chicago (rjectd but expectd b/c i didnt finish one essay), NWstern, Hopkins, and Swarthmore. They are like <em>I never heard of those schools and why would you want to go to a place that no one has ever heard of?</em> im like ***? no one? how about just you and your local californian minded peers?
its super frustrating… but im not from cali, i just moved here and I noticed that ppl think cal is SOO great academically. It is great, But seriously? Over Amherst and Duke?</p>
<p>Amherst is way above all the rest on that list. Definitely worth the money–in addition to being one of the top three LACs in the country, it has all the LAC advantages of small classes, great atmosphere etc. </p>
<p>Next Duke,
Next Cal
Next NYU. </p>
<p>Would pay full price for Amherst, not for the rest.</p>
<p>1)Berkeley
2)Duke
3)NYU</p>
<p>1) Amherst
2) Duke
3) Berkeley
4) BC
5) NYU</p>
<p>grey has it right.</p>
<p>No, I didn’t get into any of those schools. I haven’t heard from them.
I did, however, apply to these schools. I don’t really think I’ll get in, though.</p>