Imperial College London

London

Imperial College London vs UC Berkeley

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despite what others say, Imperial isn't really that well known internationally. Perhaps in asia it is relatively well known, but if you went to other english speaking countries (US, aus, canada etc.), Imperial is unheard of.

Berkeley isnt too well-known internationally either; it will be known among academics (like Imperial) but the general public wont have heard of it. Its not like we're talking about Harvard.

Imperial College London

London

Reply 21

poohat

Original post by DynamicSyngery

I've heard stories about UC Berkeley. It tends to attract a certain kind of person: American students who are admitted mostly on the weight of affirmative action policies, with a persecution complex and not much in the way of academic achievement.

Youve heard complete nonsense, the largest minority students in top US universities are (East) Asians, who substantially out-perform whites, and are hurt rather than helped by affirmative action.

Berkeley is about 40% Asian

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 22

Moa

Original post by kka25

A* description.
...

Another example of typical imperial situation, why the **** they ommited the last property? Would make the question too easy? ****ing Imperial.

I'm off to bed.

OP go to California.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 23

lifeisgood.

QS isn't really a good ranking. But if you look at ARWU, Berkeley is usually top 5, above ICL.

Go for Berkeley. WAY more well known, and awesome place.

But I personally would like ICL better, since I love big, international cities like NY and london.

Reply 24

Cells

random. but you might want to create a poll for this?

Reply 25

YaaahSarah

Berkeley is my dream! How'd you get there? You're so lucky!

Reply 26

Pwn4g3_P13

Original post by freefrag

When it comes to possibilities after you graduate I can't imagine the difference between Imperial and Berkeley being significant at all. It's much more important that you put in the work and achieve a good grade at the end.

Given the choice, I'd probably head to Berkeley. The weather is much nicer :smile:

That's such an English response, you know aussies come to England to escape the heat?

Original post by Mierder

Uhm. not gonna touch this one, maybe troll. Imperial is extremely well known all around the world, especially for old school subjects.

Original post by Moa

I would choose Berkeley, dont look at rankings, imperial will demand a lot from you without really teaching you stuff, you will have to do LOTS of work on your own.

Typical imperial situation:

Go through lecture slides and notes, in great detail, start doing a tutorial sheet, half of the stuff was not covered in the lectures.

If you want to end up at canary wharf, Imperial will open a lot of doors for you.

The campus is gloomy and industrial-styled, weather is very "grey" most of the time.

If I was given a choice now, I would go to Berkeley.

I'm just interested, what gives you the idea that Berkeley are going to find the extra 10 odd hours a week required to teach you what Imperial isn't?

Reply 27

stevenz0601

Original post by kka25

A* description.

I find it weird asking something that is not even covered in the lecture or the syllabus and expect the students to perform well; there are thousands of topics out there on the net for the particular module and they expect the students to 'guess' which one might be asked in the exams? God.. Tutorials are poor as well. You expect 1-2 tutors can manage 100-200 students? ; I think the college needs to learn how to count.

I thought in universities the students are expected to do quite a bit on their own, is that not the case?

Reply 28

kka25

Original post by stevenz0601

I thought in universities the students are expected to do quite a bit on their own, is that not the case?

There's a difference between very poor education and studying on your own..., and to be honest, I dislike this sort of question because most who say these are very ignorant about education.

*but I don't mean you can't ask; it's ok to ask. It's just that some people are just delusional about these sort of things and insist what uni education is where as in fact, they have no clue what they are talking about or have never seen good lecturing/lecturer/material in action.

Even if you are studying the hardest module but if you have a good lecturer, you can go to the lib and read all the materials with ease because the foundation they gave is very adequate and strong. You can just continue doing reading other advanced topics on your own because you're confident of the foundations that they are giving you and you know it's right. This is when independent learning kicks into action NOT when you have no clue what the hell they are teaching or the way their teaching is just unstructured, obviously-cut-paste slides or topics that they purposely cut just because they "want you to explore on your own", and now you are expected to learn on your own? What the heck then you're paying them to do? You're not getting your money's worth.

Original post by Pwn4g3_P13

I'm just interested, what gives you the idea that Berkeley are going to find the extra 10 odd hours a week required to teach you what Imperial isn't?

Even if he doesn't know that, he already knows the situation in the College so he has a point.

Original post by Moa

Another example of typical imperial situation, why the **** they ommited the last property? Would make the question too easy? ****ing Imperial.

I'm off to bed.

OP go to California.

Ha! We had the same problem as well. It is as if they cut out the real/crucial examples, where as it is a matter of fact that those are the ones that you need to have in order to understand more about the topic. Some world's top Uni.

Owh, the lib's cafe is infested with mice. Thought I clued you in about it.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 29

kka25

Original post by stevenz0601

I've heard you can complete your undergraduate and masters all together in 4 years at Imperial, which I do like, but after that, is it easy to go outside of UK for doctorate studies or even employment?

Won't the US not recognize the MEng as a Masters degree? (I'm not sure, check it!)
A UG in the US is 4 years. In some countries, they won't recognized an MEng UG to be a Masters.

Reply 30

Pwn4g3_P13

Original post by kka25

Yes. But my point is, he was making a comparison between styles of university, i.e Imperial teaches you less of the curriculum and expects you to do more yourself, and assuming that isn't the case. my counter argument is that how can he know that Nottingham teach more of the syllabus, without doing identical degrees at both?

Reply 31

kka25

Original post by Pwn4g3_P13

Nottingham? You mean UC Berkeley?

I think what he meant was go somewhere else instead of the College based on the evidence he gathered. And besides, he didn't make much of a comparison really; he was just basically saying 'go somewhere else' as I mentioned earlier.

Reply 32

Moa

Original post by Pwn4g3_P13

I'm just interested, what gives you the idea that Berkeley are going to find the extra 10 odd hours a week required to teach you what Imperial isn't?

Its not the problem of hours, it is the problem of the content of the course and materials provided for the course when compared to what is required on the exams.

Reply 33

stevenz0601

Doesn't the lecture quality depend on the lecturers and the subjects? There has bound to be good lectures at Imperial, right?

Reply 34

f1mad

Original post by poohat

Berkeley is also higher ranked than anywhere in the UK when it comes to mathematics except maybe Cambridge.

Maybe?

On prestige, Cambridge can easily take on the top Unis of the USA for Mathematics.

Reply 35

f1mad

Original post by Moa

Another example of typical imperial situation, why the **** they ommited the last property? Would make the question too easy? ****ing Imperial.

I'm off to bed.

OP go to California.

Thank **** I didn't bother with Imperial in the end.

Reply 36

lotsofq

Original post by f1mad

Maybe?

On prestige, Cambridge can easily take on the top Unis of the USA for Mathematics.

There's a lot of hype with Oxbridge.

I'm afraid the toughest maths questions are in the Far East.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterfoster/10010196/China_exam_season_questions_to_make_you_quail/

The Chinese consistently win the International Maths Olympiad.

Reply 37

f1mad

Original post by lotsofq

Did you bother reading what I wrote?

PRESTIGE.

Look it up.

Reply 38

kka25

Original post by stevenz0601

Doesn't the lecture quality depend on the lecturers and the subjects? There has bound to be good lectures at Imperial, right?

I took 9 courses and I could vaguely remember only 2 were decent and the 2 were so busy that I didn't bother contacting them. I can barely remember their names either since interaction between the students and the lecturers was poor. I remembered I made an appointment with one of the two and I had to wait 3 days to see her. When I went to her room, I was only allocated 10minutes because she had "something" to do; not worth the bus journey going there...

The rest of the lecturers... I can't even put in words...

Reply 39

lotsofq

Original post by poohat

Berkeley isnt too well-known internationally either; it will be known among academics (like Imperial) but the general public wont have heard of it. Its not like we're talking about Harvard.

The two best unis on the West coast (IMO) are Stanford and Berkeley.

Stanford is entirely private whereas Berkeley is 50%, hence less prestigious but still a top uni.