Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Dear All,

I am very much in the same boat as all of yas: namely, gotta choose that place you're gonna spend the next 5+ yrs of you life. One such place I am considering is Berkeley. Now, I have heard that Berkeley is "past its glory days", but then it still seems to land a lot of faculty positions for its grad students. What is your opinion on this institution? Does its prestige factor pale in comparison to the MITs and Princetons of the world, or are they all the same? One reason I am interested in this place is my love of the outdoors, and this is the only top-6 school that provides good access.

Cheers,
Douglas

I think Berkeley is still good. But from what I have heard they are not as good as they used to be. Different professors told me different things, but something was common. There are two top schools: Harvard and MIT. Princeton is considered a little worser. Berkeley, Stanford and CalTech were told to be much worser. Two guys even agreed thet Stanford has some good people, but the program and output is going down.

Hope this helps.

It's interesting that the two top programs in the third largest country in the world by area are within walking distance of each other.

It is interesting that Berkeley, Stanford, and Caltech could be considered "much worser". I would consider all these schools pretty good.