Yale vs Caltech vs Berkeley M.E.T. - I'm so torn!!!!
Hello all, I'm a senior from a high school in Southern California. I want to study Computer Science and Economics and hope to enter either Software Development or Finance someday.
I am interested in potentially pursuing Quant or IB but am not sure which college I should attend in order to better my odds/happiness in the long run. Decision Day is May 1st and I need to narrow down my selection by then.
My options:
- Yale, $$$
- I loved the campus and the people. I know it can get my foot in any door. I'd be the happiest there. Yale Network is excellent, so I've heard.
- Caltech, $$$
- Kind of dead socially, but I know I'd graduate significantly more intelligent and prepared than my other options. The downside is that there is no finance network besides 5-10 quant grads per year.
- Berkeley (Similar to UPenn M&T), $
- I got M.E.T. (a 50-kid, Engineering + Haas specialty cohort) and the Regents Scholarship. The vibe was okay on campus.
Cost is a slight consideration, but I didn't really get financial aid anywhere. I also want to have a little bit of fun in college.
What should I factor into my decision?? Should I go to grad school? Please share y'all's thoughts :)
Thanks
Yale by a mile
If you want to do Software Development, Caltech > Berkeley MET > Yale, but the differences between these 3 aren't as big as if you want to do Finance.
If Finance, Yale >> Berkeley MET > Caltech.
Overall great choices to have man. Yale's acceptance rate is 4.5%, I wasn't familiar with Berkeley MET but see it has a 2% acceptance rate, and Caltech has a 2.7% acceptance rate. I'm 100% sure you're smart enough that you could get the same software dev opportunities out of Yale you'd get out of Caltech/Berkeley MET, and the finance opportunities will be better out of Yale.
Also, you're definitely going to have the most fun at Yale. I've been very impressed by Yale grads I've met (truthfully probably more so than Princeton and Harvard grads I know) and the vibe I get is that behind Brown, it's kind of the most "chill" Ivy.
This is a great perspective. Thanks for your kind words and for sharing your reasoning as well. I'm leaning towards Yale (I think!) bc of what you said, but I will keep you posted.
No worries.
And after Yale, its hard to not really like the Berkeley situation too. Much cheaper than Caltech, the MET thing probably allows for some real asymmetric outcomes relative to overall UC Berkeley (like direct to VC, probably would place lights out at GS TMT, MS Menlo Park, Qatalyst and other top tech IBD groups), and I'm sure going to Berkeley would be fun (its still a D1 school and the weather is going to be good-ish year round, and its big enough that you can find your pockets of fun).
I don't think the network will matter as much at Caltech because everyone knows you're a genius. With that being said, sounds like you like Yale and you should follow your gut -- just bring a jacket
Given what you said, you're probably going to want kys if you do IB or even PE lol. Go to Berkeley or CalTech and become a quant (these, along with like MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, UChicago, CMU, UIUC, Cornell, and Princeton, are probably the top/most represented schools for quant). I'm in MF PE right now and have a bunch of friends who are quants because I was a STEM major... quant, AI research, and to a lesser degree, SWE are definitely way more intellectually stimulating than IB/PE.
Yale
Also a high schooler in socal. Do u mind sharing stats/ecs?
1550 SAT. Lots of programming projects. Skipped 3 years of math with community college. Leadership in 2 non profits with small but meaningful impact on my neighborhood. My advice for you: genuinely care about what you do. I didn't do anything for college and just had passion. Admissions officers have a super good BS detector and can sniff out a "stats monkey" effortlessly.
Thank you. Really appreciate it. Congrats on your acceptances.
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