UC Berkeley vs. Boston College

Hello everyone,
I'm deciding between UC Berkeley and Boston College for undergrad looking to get into IBD. Many people might say Berkeley by a long shot, but considering the uncertainty of applying to Haas, is Boston College a stronger option, as I am already accepted into the management school? I've also heard some great things about the connections at BC but if anyone could comment more on its current rep in the finance world that would be great, as most threads about BC are years old. Thanks!

Side note: I'm confident that I can succeed at Berkeley, but the uncertainty of haas is clear to me as two people who I know with tremendous extracurriculars, internships, and gpas were both denied.

 

Berkeley is the better brand, but i honestly couldn't tolerate 4 years on that campus. Personally, it's the only top school that I'd discount strictly because of the culture.

Do you want to work west coast or east coast? BC is a good schooo and has decent OCR.

 

The culture on campus is definitely something I've been considering a lot. I'm more in favor of working on the west coast, but honestly am completely open to starting my career on the east coast and at some point, if possible, making it back to the west. With Berkeley though, I'm deciding if the huge school, intense competition, ridiculous grading, crazy culture are worth the in state tuition and "Berkeley brand." Any opinions? Thanks!

 

Unless you like everything (location, social scene, classes offered, specific program, etc.) about BC more, I'd urge you to choose Berkeley. I understand you're cautious about having an extra hoop to jump through, but it's a question of sooner or later. At BC you'll just have to jump through it later, when recruiting isn't as easy as at Berkeley. If you plan on failure, you should probably choose a different career.

 

It's not that I'm planning on failure. I've just heard from a number of Berkeley students that they see more unqualified than qualified students get accepted into haas. Therefore I'm wondering if it's a better bet to go to a semi-target where I'll be taking finance classes from the get go and will have the time to build up my resume get good grades, and search for internships.

 

In that case, if you're sure you want to study finance and that it really interests you, go to BC where you'll be able to study it unconditionally. You'll be able to get a job if you're motivated, but I'd still think about the other factors here as Berkeley haas a much better reputation. College is also more than just a place to find a job. These are two very different schools you're considering, so maybe talk with some alums and figure out where you'd actually enjoy more.

 

I really don't know of a school brand with such negative Connotations as Berkeley. Outside of alumns hiring alumns, I'd have a real strong opinion the school in general.

And I can't see the campus improving in the 4 years of Trump. Their anti American policies have made them a lighting rod for conservatives to speak at which in turn becomes a scene of violence.

Go to USC or UCLA if you want a West Coast.

 

Yeah, except I don't associate University of Phoenix with masked communists causing mayhem on a bi-monthly basis. I can't think of a university that has been in the news with as much negative press, on such a consistent basis.

I'd be afraid that it would spill over to the business school and "evil" capitalists. No doubt Haas is a great school, but it is impacted by the behavior of the university as a whole.

 

I am a Republican and support Trump. So that is where I am coming from.

But, the school has been getting a tremendous amount of press recently and it isn't press on the critical acclaim of its academics. It is basically violent protests whenever someone speaks on campus that isn't liberal. Right now it is clowns like Milo and Coulter that are getting silenced, but I've seen campuses shut down Charles Murray, an accomplished author. I'd be worried that this campus environment would start impacting the business school. Imagine a Wall Street banker speaking at Haas and these masked losers protesting that (real possibility).

All college campuses are liberal, but not all of them are going ape shit like Berkeley is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Berkeley_protests

The first event occurred on February 1 when Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to give a speech. Two incidents, which occurred on March 4 and April 15, were pro-Trump rallies met with counter-protesters. Another rally occurred on April 27; hosted by Brittany Pettibone, Lauren Southern, and others at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. This was scheduled after a planned speech by Ann Coulter was cancelled.

We have basically 4 years of Trump. Ask yourself, do you think things will calm down or get worse over those 4 years?

http://www.dailycal.org/2014/04/11/9-berkeley-stereotypes-absolutely-tr…

Oh, and here is a good example of what I was talking about.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/13/dilbert-creator-shouldnt-fear-spe…

I mean listen, the school out ranks Boston and will get more top firms recruiting. Nature of the beast. I just personally think the campus environment has reached a point where it is actually detrimental to go there.

 

I'd vote Boston College here. You can DEFINITELY achieve your stated goal of IBD from BC, and can focus on prepping for interviews immediately (as opposed to dealing with the uncertainty of getting into Haas). Furthermore, BC has a much, much better culture thank Berkeley.

 

I'll say this and then I am out. OP, you ask this question about any other top ranked school (Duke, MIT, Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, UVA, etc) and the answer will be pretty much those over BC. You're not going to see people say "Go BC because Dartmouth campus burnt down a building because someone with a different opinion spoke"). Something "unique" about Berkeley that as really gone into over drive this year.

Me, personally, I'd go Berkeley over say Idaho State or Mid North Dakota University. Over BC, a place with tons of passionate alumni, sports, semi target OCR, etc, not in a million years.

 

In practice that's easy to circumvent. All you need to do is declare yourself a "proud ally" and make hyperbolic statements about how Trump is both literally Hitler and completely incompetent at the same time.

Fitting in with progressives isn't complicated in general. It's mostly about being against things, which is easy to fake because it doesn't require any actual effort on your part.

 

TNA has overblown the Berkeley culture thing so severely I am certain he not only has never been to Berkeley even just to visit, but also gets all of his information from alarmist media sources with 0 data to back it up. TNA, you can't provide such shit advice to someone based on your own anecdotes and perception of the school. Give him something substantial like a survey on employer opinions of different schools.

@toubs here's some data you might find useful

Here are the self-reported Haas outcomes I found on the internet: https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2016HaasBusi… https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2015BusAd.pdf https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2014BusAd.pdf

Here's Haas' acceptance data and requirements: https://haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/class_profile.html https://haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/ucb_admissions.html

Berkeley friend showed me this one. Pretty crazy resource to check out classes https://www.berkeleytime.com

Do your own analysis and figure out if you think you'd do well. I may not go to Berkeley but I at least have the intelligence to give some decent information and not spew poorly informed opinions.

 

Looks like we found the Berkeley student.

1) I've said repeatedly that UCB is the higher ranked choice.

2) the culture is very liberal and in the news all the time recently. Sorry but CNN has been reporting over the riots and violence.

3) BC is a very good school.

And as I have said, I personally would not want to go there. The schools band is now associated with anarchy, anti free speech and absurd safe space shit.

And you're hyperbolic response basically solidifies my opinion.

 

Not a Berkeley student if you actually read what I wrote before writing another uninformed comment. I'm not denying the culture is overwhelmingly liberal nor that it is in the news. Anyone can see that. I am denying that those facts should play into his decision-making process.

He's there to get an education, meet smart people, and set himself up to work in IB. It's great that you wouldn't personally go there, but that means nothing to him. He doesn't know you so how is your opinion supposed to weigh into his decision?

He should be weighing the educational quality, quality of students/environment, and prospects in IB. At best you could argue that the liberal environment will somehow hinder his chances in IB, but of course you have no conclusive information on that. You're likely just going to say that Berkeley's current issues will hinder his chances because you assume all major decision makers for hiring IB candidates think about the world the same way you do.

You're saying my comment is hyperbolic but in reality it tries to put high quality information in front of him and ignore the uninformed opinions he's been given. Give him something substantial to work with. We're on this board to help each other out, not shove our worldview down everyone's throats.

 

There are 100 reasons why you should choose UC Berkeley, but 1 why you shouldn´t: the mental disorder called Liberalism is spread all over campus. Watch yourself.

Don´t say this in a banking interview: Which superhero would you be and why? I want to be like Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor - me.
 

I go to school in the East Coast, but I've been to Berkeley plenty of times to visit friends these past couple years. While I think most colleges now have a liberal bias, Berkeley does take liberalism to another level. (I consider myself fairly liberal).

With that being said, even though most people are liberal at Berkeley (like most college campuses), I think what gives Berkeley a bad rep are the few ultra liberals on campus, and if you're doing business, you won't be hanging out with those few kids anyway.

Seriously, go to Berkeley. You won't regret it. The weather is great. Tons of banks in the SF area to intern at and gain experience. Cheap food and culture.

 

Some people on this thread are giving Berkeley a much more terrible rap than it deserves. Definitely a tier or two above BC, particularly if you want to work on the West Coast. Recent press coverage shouldn't discount it, as that's usually just the extremes. Middlebury recently got some bad press, but that doesn't knock its reputation in finance.

If you're cut out for IB, then you will get into Haas.

 

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