Worldwide University Rankings

sakky
Mon, 20 Dec 2004 01:57:57 +0000

I agree that Stanford’s professional programs are better than Berkeley’s.

However, at the risk of sounding like california1600, many if not most of Berkeley’s PhD programs are equivalent to or are better than Stanford’s. Here is where california1600’s assessment of Berkeley’s strength is spot-on. For example, the Berkeley PhD chemistry program is generally considered to be better than Stanford’s - something confirmed by both USNews and the NRC study. Don’t get me wrong - Stanford’s PhD chemistry program is top-notch, but the bulk of the evidence seems to indicate that Berkeley’s Phd chem program is better. Berkeley’s PhD mathematics program is generally understood to be better. And if you want to look at the PhD humanities programs, they tend to break strongly in favor of Berkeley. English, history, sociology, poli-sci, anthropology, etc. are all points in favor of Berkeley. Again, don’t get me wrong, that’s not to say that Stanford isn’t strong in all of these departments, and that’s not to say that Stanford doesn’t have such departments in which it is stronger (i.e. Stanford’s PhD psychology program is probably better than Berkeley’s), but the trend is clear.

I will agree, and have always agreed, that from an undergraduate standpoint, there is no contest between Stanford and Berkeley. In fact, I think the undergraduate program is Berkeley’s Achilles Heel, far and away. It is the weakest program in the whole university, and the fact that it also happens to be the biggest program makes its problems even more striking. Again, that’s not to say that the Berkeley undergrad program is bad, because it is still pretty good, but it just doesn’t match Berkeley’s PhD programs.

However, if you’re a true PhD candidate who is strong enough where getting into a PhD program at Berkeley, Harvard, or Stanford is actually a viable option for you, then I think you will understand that you will be choosing your PhD program not for its pop-culture name recognition, but for the appropriate resources and opportunities that it will give you as a PhD student. In that regard, the Berkeley PhD program does just as well as anyone, and the strength of the Berkeley PhD is eminently recognized by anybody who actually matters for that sort of thing. To offer an analogy, very few regular people know what UCSF does, but among doctors and hospitals, UCSF is generally understood to be the best medical school in California. I don’t think even rooster08 would seriously dispute this. Sure, regular people have no idea about the strength of UCSF. But what does that matter. The medical community, and the premed community, know about the strength of UCSF. And ultimately, that’s what really matters. Similarly, the academic community understands the strength of the Berkeley PhD programs, and that’s what ultimately matters.