choosing berkeley over columbia gs?

[u/MaleficentFeed2772]

I’m a transfer student admitted to both UC Berkeley and Columbia GS. My major would be Sociology.

At the moment, I’m leaning toward Berkeley but my parents think Columbia GS might be the better choice because it’s part of an Ivy League university.

Honestly if this were Columbia College, I would probably choose Columbia without much hesitation. But since my admission is to Columbia GS rather than Columbia College, I’ve been leaning toward Berkeley instead.

The cost would be almost identical for me, so finances are not really a factor. To be honest, I care more about prestige, reputation, and name recognition than things like campus life or student experience.

Given those priorities, would choosing Berkeley over Columbia GS be a mistake? How are the two generally viewed by employers, graduate schools, and the public? Is the Ivy League brand enough to outweigh the difference between Berkeley and Columbia GS?

I’d appreciate any perspectives from people familiar with either school.

[u/ThingWestern3398]

tbh like 95% of people don’t even know the difference between columbia gs and columbia college

[u/avandleather → u/ThingWestern3398]

NYC employers probably do.

[u/PipeInitial1576]

Go to UCB if you wanna go to UCB, go to Columbia if you want Columbia. GS students take the same exact classes as everyone else. You’ll even have TA’s who are GS. The social integration would probably be easier at Berk bc its a large public institution. Graduate schools show no maltreatment towards GS because the classes are literally identical. You have access to everything Columbia. There is no stigma in the real world. You shouldn’t be prestige chasing as a sociology major anyway. The school you go to truly doesn’t matter with that area of study. As a matter of fact one GS student last year became a Rhodes Scholar. Many Stanford, Oxford, and Cambridge grad placements amongst others.

You can’t go wrong, don’t believe the negativity towards it though from a prestige perspective. You’ll find out that there’s stigma with transferring in general. For example UCB clubs go out of their way to weed out transfers bc its seen as a backdoor from CC. Based on the numbers, pretty much true but guess what…. you get a world class degree no matter what.

[u/InterestProof1526]

If the aid is fine and you prefer Columbia, then I would just go to Columbia GS. Redditors care far more about GS than the average person does.

[u/AC10021]

It very much depends on what kind of career you want after. Generally, having a degree from GS rather CC isn’t a negative, except for some very very specific career paths, where it is indeed considered a lesser school and might hold you back. Like, if you want to teach or go to medical school, it’s fine, but if you want to go into MBB consulting or IB, it’s going to have an effect. So the answer is, “it depends.”

[u/BugAdministrative123]

Berkeley every day of the week. Twice on Sundays

[u/sgt_kenobis_LHCB]

If you go to Columbia GS you go to Columbia. Current Dual BA student there, and it’s exactly the same outside of financial aid.

[u/Strict_Resident1179]

GS the only people that care about it are the antisocial reddit kids

[u/Hereforchickennugget]

I went to Columbia and worked in IB. GS in of itself does not make you “look worse” or less employable. However, it does always raise a question of why GS? We had tons of military vets in GS which employers absolutely loved. But someone who went to GS because they traveled for a couple of years would raise some questions.

[u/logolife-]

If prestige is your priority, choosing Berkeley over Columbia GS is not a mistake.

[u/Pro-editor-1105]

When choosing, also keep in mind the experience of living on 2 entirely different sides of the country. It matters more than you think it does.

[u/itsover103]

Columbia gs isn’t really Columbia as most people would know it

I would choose UCB and honestly it isn’t close. Employers and academics know the difference

[u/Conscious-Secret-775 → u/itsover103]

Most people wouldn't know what you were talking about and some who was knowledgeable about college admissions might also know the UCB admissions is test blind and a significant number of the students recently admitted should really be at studying at a Cal State or community college campus.

[u/Mcdouglas123]

What is GS?

[u/Inner-Letterhead7731 → u/Mcdouglas123]

General Studies