Northwestern vs Berkeley
International here looking to make a decision between the two. Not decided between Finance/Consulting and want to keep my options open. Any insights?
Trending Content - Investment Banking Forum
| +384 | Evercore Intern Seizure | 59 | 6h |
| +75 | JPM M&A is Gone??? Purely Coverage Banking??? | 35 | 11h |
| +64 | Is DCM actually underrated ? | 28 | 42m |
| +53 | How do I understand vs. just memorizing? | 10 | 6h |
| +48 | Losing my personality in Banking | 9 | 1d |
| +42 | Associate & Above IB exits | 17 | 5h |
| +37 | The good and bad with Wells Fargo | 7 | 9h |
| +33 | Incoming IB Analyst: Best Ways to Prepare? | 11 | 21h |
| +29 | Tech to IB Pivot | 20 | 10h |
| +28 | Sent my Claude prompt to 200+ Teams chat. MD wants to see me Monday. | 18 | 1h |
Career Resources
Northwestern is better for both finance and consulting and is more prestigious. Sounds like an easy decision.
Please don’t take Berkeley over NW, that would be a terrible decision. You’re comparing a top 10 school with 8000 undergrads with a public flagship with 33000 undergrads. An ivy / ivy equivalent (duke/uchi/nw) brand stays with you your entire career (hint: its extremely valuable).
It stays with you only if you aren’t an idiot. If you are, you’re the loser that went to Ivy/Ivy+ that got slammed by state school people. This isn’t related to OP at all by the way. Just people I know that go to these schools by luck and crash and burn
hahahahhahahahahahah cope harder hahahahhaha
.
Honestly people highly overrate NW
No one looks at NW the same way they do duke/chicago. They just don’t.
It’s “northwestern” lol i mean cmon
Downvote all u want but NW is closer to vandy/washu/gtown/cornell than it is penn/duke lol
Didn't go to Northwestern but this isn't true. Northwestern has been ranked top 10 for as long as I remember and I've always thought of it being in the mid-low tier Ivy + Duke level (my bank had it slotted at the Ivy/chicago/duke level below HYP wharton columbia whatever).
Sorry you got rejected from NW. must have been hard for you.
To many smart people at Berkeley and northwestern is way less competition
the average northwestern student is way smarter than the average cal student lol
No way this is true, at least for STEM students. Way smarter kids (outliers) at Berkeley than at Northwestern. Berkeley's STEM is likely much more rigorous than NW.
e: To anyone in doubt, just look at the Putnam for example. Most recent results show 15 Berkeley students ranking in top 500 vs 1 Northwestern student. If you see this and can't deduce that there are smarter outliers in greater abundance at Berkeley, and that likely the average Berkeley STEM student is smarter than a Northwestern one, idk what to say. There are levels.
No that’s not true Berkeley is way more competitive to get jobs than nw
Berkeley/UCLA STEM students on average are way smarter than Northwestern and lower-tier Ivy/Ivy-Equivalent school STEM students (Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Duke, Columbia). Most students from Berkeley who end up going into finance all started out as CS/Engineering/Pre-med. Berkeley is filled with hardos, Northwestern does have less academic competition and you can coast.
Northwestern for sure. Too many hardos at Berkley. Went to an Ivy and can assure you Berkley/UCLA STEM kids are smarter than most Ivy kids.
Definitely Northwestern. Alumni and placements there are great and my friend on NUIBC says most Northwestern kids have double digit IQs
can confirm, president of NUIBC somehow likes hiking but is pretty big..
del
Northwestern if you stay in the US but outside of the US and especially in Asia, Berkeley actually has the stronger brand by far
For VC and tech finance broadly, Berkeley will serve you better. For NY finance, and honestly every other type of finance, it will be Northwestern. Happy to answer any questions. I chose Berkeley over many "more prestigious" Ivies and other schools due to cost reasons (in-state + scholarship made it essentially 0 for me to attend) and because I was pretty set on doing tech finance. Can't comment on Northwestern because I don't know anyone who went there that well, but for Berkeley, the clubs are super important for recruiting. Like basically a must have, and if you don't get in you could be fairly screwed.
Friends placed into west coast MS and sent two to General Atlantic this year and a GS TMT SF
definitely berkeley especially Haas - so many placements at top VC firms like IVP and good PE funds - rarely seen any NW kids at the MF/UMMs. also all the ppl i worked with who are in tech berkeley > nw
Not true! I worked at a MF in NY and there were very, very little representation from Berkeley. We only have good representation on the West Coast.
NU fs
Northwestern if you're set on finance and want to work in the Midwest or East Coast. Choose Berkeley if you want to work on the West Coast and/or you want to be in Tech Banking.
Coming from a Northwestern student, some of the smartest people I know go to UC Berkeley. I can't say the same about Northwestern. Many people are here because they went to the Andovers, Exeters, St Pauls type prep schools. People at Berkeley are there because they grinded
Northwestern by a long shot. Unless you’re a purple haired lib
have you been to northwestern??
NUIBC clears
dude, why do u know u want to do ib when you are still a high school student?? get yourself a life and run
i literally go to cal and am in one of the arguably best finance clubs on campus (think BIG, CIB, BFC) -> recruiting strictly for nyc was a painnn but will say club connects go far for SF/bay area recruiting
Dolore aperiam recusandae et. Accusantium ipsa non autem veritatis sit mollitia cum. Ipsum explicabo expedita inventore. Alias possimus nulla et placeat. Autem tempora non sunt excepturi.
Repellat qui reiciendis accusamus sit est magnam architecto. Ea eius repudiandae maxime rerum. Perferendis ipsa consequatur fugiat. Dolorum ut et dolorum aliquid placeat.
Neque nam aut sint aspernatur exercitationem nihil. Eum porro quaerat sit provident error. Et eligendi impedit dolorem quibusdam delectus minima qui. Id at voluptatem placeat perspiciatis omnis neque maiores a. Optio esse in et iusto quo.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Aliquid et eaque quo dolorum omnis maiores veniam eveniet. Officiis qui nobis amet blanditiis a nam aut. Optio magni laborum optio voluptas eum in. Fugiat nesciunt sit minima dolores minima. Nam aut neque aperiam est magni. Vitae corrupti optio debitis ipsam.
Distinctio veritatis nam exercitationem tempore esse sit dolores. Amet excepturi commodi nesciunt atque quis perspiciatis. Sequi sed est architecto. In officia magnam recusandae ut.