Why is UC Berkeley ranked low?

[UCBChemEGrad]

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Not necessarily true. Pay scales at UC Berkeley, for example, are on the whole lower than at many elite privates. Yet Berkeley has historically had little trouble recruiting and retaining top faculty in almost every discipline. Why? Well, academics like to be paid, just like everyone else. But at least at the top levels, they tend to be driven as much or more by academic prestige. Many will join a more prestigious faculty over a less prestigious faculty, even if the latter pays more, because being on the more prestigious faculty is a marker of professional success. And once they’ve been there a while, family commitments and lifestyle choices may lock them in.

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<p>Berkeley has two qualities that attract academic talent. You touched on one, academic prestige. The other quality is its public nature. A lot of professors are egalatarian and have some social responsibility sense…many professors graduated from public universities and have a feeling to sort of “give back”.</p>