I don’t see any BMW here, they are mostly Lexus, which is an high end version of Camry.
I think what needs to be said is that colleges aren’t in some sort of strict hierarchical ladder, like car brands.
Car brands are not in any strict hierarchical ladder either.
My post is in response to post #15. It depends on the major but if this is EECS and you want to start startups in Silicon Valley, then Berkeley is the BMW.
If your interest is in engineering, Berkeley for sure. If your destination is Wall Street, then it is Georgetown. For pre-med, definitely Hopkins.
“Car brands are not in any strict hierarchical ladder either.”
Agreed. But I’d take it even further. Under holistic considerations, I’d prefer a good bicycle to any of the car brands mentioned. With respect to that, I would have chosen the college which is most bicycle-like.
Which relates to you, OP. Different students use different criteria when selecting their colleges. As long as your decision was made thoughtfully, then it was certainly the right one. Best of luck to you at Berkeley.
From his posting history, he is CS and Computer Engineering major. So that’s where the fit comes in.
From my experience, a lot of the entrepreneurship at Cal comes out of Haas rather than EECS. The engineering job reports (which is unfortunately down right now for some reason) show very few people working at the current top startups and mostly people going into the top tech firms. Comparatively, it seems Stanford and MIT are a lot more entrepreneurial in their engineers, while Cal feeds well into the brand-name tech firms. However, the Haas entrepreneurs are most often working in the tech industry.
The Haas major I know is working at Google and was a consultant before that. Another one switched to study medicine. I think all those 3 schools are comparable for tech startups, it really depends on the person, not the school.
@hzhao2004, JHU has a lot of pre-meds but that does not mean it is the best place to be a pre-med. Key difference.
OP, how did you know it was a fit? what advice can you give to others in similar situations to determine what ‘fits’ them? how did it feel?
Well, to be clear, I was initially applying to EECS, but switched into L&S at the last minute, aware of what @puzzled123 said. This way, I can do CS (yeah, I know about the GPA cap, I think I can probably take it) or Haas/Econ (I was pre-admit to U-M Ross, so I think I can possibly get in).
@otoribashi let me be clear, it’s not like Berkeley is any different from the other schools in prestige. JHU was ruled out because of pre-med (I am not a pre-med), but all of the other schools (Cornell, Gtown, Vandy) are similar in prestige.
Narrowing down entrepreneurship as my focus, I eliminated JHU, Gtown, Vandy, and UCLA. (Also, @PurpleTitan is very right. From what I’ve heard, pre-med can be done effectively anywhere, and JHU is extremely competitive in that sector of learning).
When I visited Cornell, I fell in deep love with the campus, and the feel. It was wonderful. I definitely envisioned myself to be there. It was 10K cheaper than Berkeley.
The day after, I visited Berkeley, and I committed that very day. Berk didn’t feel like a ‘wonderful’ place, it just felt like home. I know entrepreneurship is my life goal, and Berkeley, even from my home in Ohio, is known, along with Stanford/MIT/Harvard, is one of the largest beds of entrepreneurship in the world.
Berkeley is known for having bad class sizes, but I’m an entrepreneurial person. Hand-holding has never mattered to me. If it did (which is perfectly fine), I wouldn’t have chosen UCB. Same with grad school (I do not want to attend).
In the end, though, it’s rankings and visibility didn’t really make my choice. That’s a bad reason to choose.
I just liked the campus, and my other choices were 1) not known for entrepreneurship 2) not exceptional in the field of study I liked.
BTW, CMC, a liberal arts college, gave me a full ride, but I chose not to go, as I realized after applying that a big college suited my needs much better. Smaller /= better for some people.
Which colleges would have been better/comparable for tech entrepreneurship?
Post #31, I think your reasons are solid for entrepreneurship. The real world, particularly startups, won’t handholding you for anything. In fact, I might be so bold to predict that the UCs or most state schools can prepare you for startups. As Elon Musk told the press, he realized he could live on $30 a month, eating ramen noodle, sleeping at the office, taking showers at the YMCA, he could follow his dream and became entrepreneur.
@PurpleTitan among the schools that OP listed, I believe Hopkins is the best fit for pre-med.
Just curious, what are your extracurriculars that landed you a full scholarship at CMC? My daughter had better gpa, similar coursework and same ACT and was not admitted.
@hzhao2004, I actually believe otherwise.
Post #33, Best fit if you go there and get good GPA otherwise it’s poor fit for premed. JHU is best known for premed but may not be best fit.
@acemom 35act, started a company, decent grades, sent in a video.
These links bring numbers that attest to VC funding, which is a (albeit poor) metric for startup activity.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236912
http://www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2014/07/30/startup-schools-americas-most-entrepreneurial-universities/
I think, in the end, the location made the decision.
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/top-universities-producing-vcbacked-
I believe the above list is more accurate than the list from Forbes because Michigan and USC are two universities that I think are more entrepreneurial than some of the colleges on the list.