UC Berkeley vs. Amherst College
Hey guys,
I just got off the waitlist at UC Berkeley so I'm somewhat confused what to do. There's definitely more representation in finance for Berkeley (especially in San Francisco), but I think that's just a result of it being so big. I've talked to alums at Amherst and they said that everyone who wanted banking got positions. There's virtually no competition compared to Berkeley. Adjusting for size, Amherst kids get way more positions compared to Berkeley kids.
Anyways, if you guys have any insights please share.
I would go with Amherst.
Amherst.
How much are you paying for each? Berkeley in-state >>>>>>>>>>>> Amherst full price. To get a better idea of the type of education Berkeley offers, I'd recommend reading this http://www.quora.com/University-of-California-Berkeley-1/What-reputatio…. It's a comparison by Anant Sahai (Berkeley undergrad, MIT PHD, Berkeley Computer Science Professor) comparing Berkeley, MIT and Stanford. Obviously it's going to focused on the CS/Engineering side, but from my experiences I feel that it generalizes fairly well to the rest of the university.
Berkeley is great if you know exactly what you want to do and put in the effort needed to reach your goal. The resources, faculty attention and career opportunities for top students are amazing. But the caveat is that the school kind of ignores you if you're an average to slightly-above-average. There are just too many students and not enough funding for them to hold your hand. You probably won't get to know your advisers/professors very well unless you make an effort to reach out to them.
On the topic of banking recruiting, looking at the number of students who pursue banking/total student population is a pointless comparison. Berkeley is massive compared to Amherst and way more diverse in terms of social-economic background. The percentage of Berkeley students that were even considering banking is likely low. I personally had no friends doing Economics/Business that wanted to go into banking (most wanted to and went into something tech related in San Francisco). But consider this, Berkeley is essentially the top school for all banks in San Francisco, since we have way more graduates than Stanford. To network in SF, I basically looked up random companies that seemed interesting, go to their contact page and just browse for Berkeley grads. Being close to the city, students can easily intern during the school year also. I think if you go into Berkeley intending to do banking, then you will have no problems getting a job.
Now I will end with a complete reversal. If I can do undergrad over, I'd apply to more private schools and would personally go to Amherst over Berkeley. I had no idea what I wanted to do until early senior year and definitely could have benefited from a more supportive environment early on in college. But you probably won't have this problem if you're already looking at possible careers now.
Both are top notch schools and I have a lot of respect for Berkeley, but I think Amherst is a better school for a few reasons. From speaking to my friends Berkeley is extremely competitive due to the large number of smart Asians. There is a lot of grade deflation so it will be tough to really stand out GPA wise. It also has a big school feel which is a good thing and a bad thing, you will get much less personalized attention whereas at Amherst you'll be able to become very close with professors and classmates.
While the Amherst name recognition might not be as strong as as HYP, it is definitely up there and kids from Amherst have access to pretty much all opportunities that kids from Ivies have and in some cases even have an advantage. The alumni connections at small prestigious schools is extremely strong and Amherst alums always look out for Amherst grads. With that being said Amherst won't get as much OCR as a big school like Berkeley so you'll have to network a little harder, but after networking your chances at landing a BB or something like that are probably higher at Amherst.
To touch on school difficulty again, Amherst will probably be easier and you'll be able to be successful regardless of your major/gpa( within reasons). What I mean by this is that at Berkeley if you go to an info session for a bank and there are 200 other kids there with 3.7+ gpas and you have a 3.5 its going to be tough to standout. At Amherst far fewer people want to go into finance/consulting so being an econ major and having decent grades is more than enough to help you find a job in finance.
Tl:dr is that both are great schools, but Amherst will be easier, in a more personalized and tight knit community and will probably give you greater exit ops across the board. I would really only pick Berkeley if you 1. Really want to be in California 2. It is saving you a large amount of money like 250k for Amherst vs full ride at Berkeley. My advice is take Amherst and don't look back, people turn down ivies for Amherst and it the long run I think it will be a better environment, even if you already think you know what you want to do with the rest of your life. Things change and Amherst will give you a well rounded education and opportunities to do whatever you want.
thanks guys so much
UC Berkeley vs Amherst College (Originally Posted: 05/09/2014)
Hey guys,
I just got off the waitlist at UC Berkeley so I'm somewhat confused what to do. There's definitely more representation in finance for Berkeley (especially in San Francisco), but I think that's just a result of it being so big. I've talked to alums at Amherst and they said that everyone who wanted banking got positions. There's virtually no competition compared to Berkeley. Adjusting for size, Amherst kids get way more positions compared to Berkeley kids.
Anyways, if you guys have any insights please share.
They obviously both place pretty well, as you said. I think it comes down to whether you want to work in NY or SF. I'm sure you can make it to NY from Berkeley, but sounds like it may be a bit easier from Amherst.
amherst all the way
CAVEAT: if you want to join a frat, go to berkeley amherst just banned all fraternities and sororities
amherst
You should also consider the college experience. Berkeley has a more diverse student body and you can basically find anything you want since there are so many people. Amherst is really good in terms of liberal art education. The competition at Berkeley is huge though.
Unless there is a big price gap, take Amherst all the way. It's the best LAC in America. That reputation stays with you all your life.
I lean towards Berkeley. If you ever decide to change your mind about finance and want to go into tech, Berkeley opens more doors.
If you do stay in finance, I believe Berkeley is superior. It's such a large school that there will be many more alums on the Street than you can find at Amherst.
By the way, I hold no affiliation to any of the two schools .
Amherst ...
Really can't go wrong either way, good kids will thrive in either environment. I'd lean towards Amherst for pure placement numbers, but culture/university experience is much more important than griping over a couple of spots.
Amherst for sure. Way less competition for a few spots.
thanks guys so much
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