Consulting and ibanking in the San Francisco Bay Area
(Monkey, 34
Points)
on 4/24/07 at 9:59pm
Hi, I have a choice between attending UC Berkeley and majoring in electrical engineering and computer science, or attending Columbia University in New York and majoring in applied math, computer science, or financial engineering. If I want to attend Stanford for my MBA and work as a consultant, ibanker, or even break into the VC industry (with a tech focus no matter what career I choose) in the San Francisco Bay Area, should I go to Berkeley or Columbia? Thanks.
My opinion - Berkeley
In my opinion, you should go with Cal.
Cal has, arguably, the best EECS program in the nation (with Cal Tech and MIT). They are HEAVILY recruited into banking and consulting, so long as the GPA is even the slightest bit over 3.0
...especially if you want to work in the San Francisco area...
I almost forgot - if you're from California, Cal is a LOT cheaper.
*****The one program that UC Berkeley does NOT offer that you mentioned Columbia offers is "financial engineering."
That said, Operations Research and Haas both offer F.E. type classes.
Good luck,
+Hammy
thanks
I am from Cali - 40 min. drive away from Berkeley, and since I didn't get any fin. aid from Columbia, Berkeley will be 2x as cheap. I guess my only concern is grade deflation, and that I will have to work incredibly hard to get a measily 3.2 while someone from an ivy can breeze through easier classes and get a 3.5.
columbia.
columbia.
Berkeley is a lot more credible than
Columbia in engineering/sciences/math etc. Berkeley is one of the most prestigious schools in that field and Columbia is no way by any means as prestigious as Berkeley. especially in engineering. If you want to get into tech/live in norcal/study engineering why is it that choosing columbia would even cross your mind.
Berkeley especially the EECS program is very hard though. Columbia would be MUCH easier. I know some people in that program and I hear it is just brutal. Columbia would be a breeze though you should keep that in mind.
I could see someone having a potential problem choosing bewteen Berkeley, Stanford, Caltech, MIT. but if you get into any of those 4 schools it is pointless trying to compare them with others becuase they are in a league of their own for what you are trying to do.
If you're completely
If you're completely confident in your intelligence and absolutely positive you can perform well doing EE at Berkeley, that is the place to go. However, if you are just looking for the easiest route to banking, Columbia would be the better choice, as you would have a much easier time getting top grades.
Here's how I look at it:
Avg. Columbia students > Avg. Berkeley students
Top Berkeley students > Top Columbia students
Just saw the part that you
Just saw the part that you want to go to SF after undergrad - Berkeley has the largest alumni network of any school in that city, so if you do well there, your options would be as good as anyone's. And especially if you want to go the VC route at some point, Berkeley's EE program would be looked upon far more highly than anything you could do at Columbia.
If you are sure that you
If you are sure that you want to go into the finance industry, you should also look into IEOR at Berkeley. Students with IEOR degrees place very well due to the major's focus on quantitative modeling and analysis. If you are doing EECS, you can also double in IEOR or business (Haas), which would make you a very attractive candidate for all those fields you mentioned. Like what other people have said, if you just want a high GPA and an easy route to the banking world, then Columbia might be better.
Berkeley EECS major here.
Berkeley EECS major here. Really depends on what you want to do. As others have said already, if your ultimate goal is to do banking in NY, Columbia is the hands down choice (lots of cal students in SF in banking, much harder to get to NY from here though).
I'll also say that if you want to do consulting, particularly at Bain, BCG or McKinsey, I would also recommend going to Columbia. The consulting firms, for whatever reason, just like the ivies A LOT more than Berkeley. We place ok at Bain, not so much at BCG, and almost not at all at McKinsey.
If you want a tech background and then go into banking and ultimately want to work in the bay area, Berkeley is the way to go. If you want to work in tech somehow, Berkeley is ALSO the way to go. Even if you're not an EECS major, the EECS program here is so strong and you're so close to the silicon valley this is where you'll want to be.
As someone said earlier though, IEOR would also be a good option. It is MUCH easier to get good grades in that program, but still provides you the "technical" background. If you do decide to do EECS, I would recommend that you gauge very closely your first year to see if you can handle it, as someone who really wishes he did that himself. It gets much harder after the first year so yeah...if you don't have a 3.5+ after your first year I would recommend you get out at the end of the year.