Why are the top privates considered to be better than Berkeley?

UCBChemEGrad
Sun, 30 Mar 2014 03:55:00 +0000

coolbeans, congrats on your acceptances. I would say if you are any bit interested in engineering, I would choose Berkeley over Yale (granted of course, out-of-pocket costs are about the same for both). Berkeley EECS is a fantastic program and the location is beneficial for Silicon Valley recruiting.

Regarding switching majors at Berkeley, I say it’s much easier to switch OUT of a major like EECS than getting into EECS.

This is what Berkeley says about switching majors within the College of Engineering and out of the College of Engineering:
http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/prospective-students/faq/prospective-freshman-faq.html

7. Is it difficult to switch majors within engineering?

For students admitted as freshmen, it is fairly easy for most of our majors, as all freshmen are required to complete the same core courses within the first year (i.e., math, physics, and reading and composition). The earliest freshmen can apply to change their major is after completion of their first semester. Some of our majors are more impacted than others (currently EECS and BIOE), so change of major into these programs is competitive and requires more than one semester completed before application. Students considering a change of major should meet with their Engineering Student Services (ESS) adviser.


Is it difficult to switch out of engineering?


Students who decide to switch out of the College of Engineering should meet with their assigned Engineering Student Services (ESS) adviser for referral to advisers in their desired college.