u/ritzcraackerz

i know of someone who was accepted into UC Berkeley EECS (5% acceptance rate) and MIT (also 5% acceptance rate). he was upper middle class and instate, so MIT was 400K for all four years while Berkeley was 200K. he ended up picking Berkeley EECS.

his reasoning was very valid. he picked Berkeley not only due to cost, but also because EECS students aren't at a disadvantage within Berkeley. EECS is one of the most coveted majors at Berkeley and is one of the majors the school is globally known for. being declared EECS there automatically comes with a lot of benefits like reserved class seats and dedicated career fairs, which solve the traditional caveats of a public school.

based on pure ranking, both EECS programs constantly shift within the top 3 and are tied some years. both Berkeley and MIT have no shortage of amazing professors within the field and a lot of them are alma maters from the other (ie Cal graduates as MIT professors and vice versa). furthermore, for in-state students, EECS at Berkeley has among the highest ROI of any university globally, and would be significantly more than if that same in-state student chose MIT, Stanford, CMU, etc at a higher tuition.

I would honestly apply this same logic to any other T1 school within your major. if you've made it within that tier, there is no reason to pick one that costs more and is more of a financial strain. if you receive aid at any of the schools within the same tier for your major, by all means pick the one that is the most cost effective because they are in the same tier for a reason: the actual academic differences, connections, and network amongst them is marginal. even if your college degree is externally funded by your parents, I think being financially smart and aware is an extremely valuable and conscious skill that will carry forward throughout the rest of your life.

personally, as a senior this year, I was choosing between Berkeley EECS instate and CMU for ECE, and I ended up picking Berkeley due to cost and Silicon Valley connections. I didn't get into MIT, but I think it worked out for the better because I know I would've blindly picked MIT if I did get in, which may not have been the smartest decision financially for my family as I'm not sure if it truly would have given me that much benefit in the long run.

I just wanted to share these thoughts for any other seniors struggling because they did not pick "the more prestigious option".

hi! im an incoming EECS freshman and was wondering if anyone could give me insight as to what it looks like to transfer into the MET program after sophomore year.

is it extremely competitive? and what would be the possible reasons for adding it on (ie do the career prospects vary that much between EECS and MET?)

from what I understand, if I want to even consider applying to MET in sophomore year, I need to have been on the MET EECS course track from now, so Im wondering how many people actually end up transferring and if my time would be better suited pursuing research / internships instead of extra Haas classes.

my immediate post grad goals is to move on to a PhD in EECS.

afaik, the programs are very comparable, barring that Berkeley has a higher acceptance rate for in-state students for other majors and that it has larger class sizes for lower divs.

EECS is one of the most competitive major at Cal so I was just wondering how it compares to MIT, which has the best EECS program in the world. if students from each were to collectively work on a project, would MIT students view Cal students as significantly behind or unprepared?

is there a lot of intellectual exchange and collaboration between these two universities across EECS? I know Stanford and MIT students work on research together often, but wondering how often EECS students from Berkeley do as well.

PS I did search online, but the results were mainly from Quora and from people in the workforce who were looking at it from a hiring perspective. My question is more academic and project oriented.

I looked through past posts regarding adding a degree in Business Administration from Haas in my junior year at Berkeley, but couldn't find much information.

For context, I'm an incoming EECS freshman and I'm looking into a couple dual major options. Business Administration is one of them, and I wanted to know what the process looks like and if I should focus on certain business / finance related extracurriculars and internships in my first two years before applying.

I checked the MET website for prospective students already in Berkeley, and as long as I follow the MET academic track and maintain a good GPA, will I be able to add the degree? How common is it for EECS sophomores to come into the program their junior year?

Is there a way for me to get a Business degree from Haas along with my EECS degree without being in the MET program?