#duke kunshan vs berkeley eecs

72 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

timber idol
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Only way this is even debatable is if u have literally dreamed about China your whole life and can’t wait to live in China

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If not, EECS no question

dawn basin
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hear me out first 😭

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Duke Kunshan vs Berkeley EECS

Major: EECS for Berkeley, Major isnt declared for DKU until end of sophomore year
Even though I got into EECS, i’m still not a 100% sure that I want to go into cs. If I dont do cs, I would still want to do something in STEM (probably physics or bio)

Similarities:
-Cost is 30-40k per year for both

  • rigorous (i think)

DKU Pros:

  • food is rly good and cheap
    -safe location
  • more room for major exploration
  • has lots of research opportunities (?)
  • smaller classes and more personal attention
  • good grad school placements apparently
  • learn chinese and be in super diverse community
  • students get personal advising on applying to gradschools/fellowships

DKU Cons:

  • hard to get internships/work bc of visas
  • apparently kunshan is boring ?
  • not a lot of info abt it bc its so new
  • less (?) prestige than berkeley in comp sci
  • weather is rly humid
  • dont rly love the architecture of the campus (dumb reason but still)
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Berkeley EECS Pros:

  • eecs clout
  • norcal: i rly like norcal
  • favorite weather
  • already know ppl that go there
  • really like the architecture / vibe
  • i like the vibe of berkeley in general
  • city environment
  • biking culture is cute

Berkeley EECS Cons:

  • unsafe
  • bad dining halls :(
  • competitive ?
  • overenrollment?
  • hard to talk to professors , kinda big bc im a bit introverted, but also could be good for personal growth

Any feedback would be highly appreciated! If I was really set on EECS then Berkeley seems like the obvious choice but bc Im not 100% sure wat I wanna do, DKU seems nice bc of the personal aspects of it. But also, idrk how much of a problem the overenrollment and competition at berkeley actually is. Also, idk much about DKU’s reputation bc its so new, and how that might affect job searches during and after school

timber idol
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Gd

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Gimme a min to read all this lol

dawn basin
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lol ofc ofc

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oops the berkeley pros didnt get sent

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hold up

timber idol
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Do u wanna live in china or us post grad?

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Yea send those

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Ok if ur tryna do grad school, it might be a different ballgame

dawn basin
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honestly i think the biggest problem is that i dont really know what i wanna do in the future😭

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but i think im leaning more towards grad school over industry

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not sure about china vs us yet tho

timber idol
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Ok ok interesting

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Well i wouldn’t say it’s a no brainer anymore

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Ngl, i still think EECS is too good to pass up and you can do study abroad in china/wherever

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But I’ll understand if u choose kunshan

dawn basin
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the biggest thing that im considering honestly is just the lvl of attention i would get from the teachers and stuff

timber idol
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Not having to sort out work visa stuff/never having to explain ur university is also underrated

dawn basin
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like im scared that at berk it would be hard to actually survive

timber idol
nocturne cobalt
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Gotta put in my two biased cents! I just graduated Berkeley CS. Berkeley EECS is S tier and will change your life. You can always switch to another major in COE if you don’t like it. Berkeley is an amazing place and you will learn an unimaginable amount. Grad school opportunities are plentiful post-undergrad! DM if you have any questions at all 🙂

dawn basin
nocturne cobalt
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One of my closest high school friends was a part of Duke Kunshan. Although he liked the studying abroad experience, he transferred after a year bc he wanted to work in the US post grad. Would def recommend kunshan if you see yourself working abroad. However, if you want to go to any grad school at any place in the world brand name and the rigor that comes with Cal matters a lot

dawn basin
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i see i see

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where did he end up transferring to?

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and so would u say like berkeley general stem > duke stem in case i do decide to change majors ?

nocturne cobalt
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He ended up transferring to UIUC and then Emory to study finance, will be graduating in 2024!

nocturne cobalt
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Berkeley stem is elite

timber idol
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Emory finance is good tho

nocturne cobalt
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Yeah lol he was an interesting guy 🙂

dawn basin
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ngl idk much abt berkeleys prestige, i know some ppl on the east coast say duke is better but on west coast it seems like berkeley is overwhelmingly better

nocturne cobalt
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Berkeley CS is in the big 4 (Cal, Stanford, MIT, CMU) and all the other engineering disciplines are highly ranked

dawn basin
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yaa thats what ive seen too

nocturne cobalt
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For context, I’m from the east coast and my dream 4 yrs ago was to go to an Ivy lol

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Got rejected from all of them and got into Berkeley, committed there

timber idol
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I live in nc and even i’d say berk stem > duke stem

dawn basin
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LOL ok 😭😭

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also sorry for so many questions but are the dining halls rly as bad as some ppl say?

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my sisters friend said she found maggots in her salad or something and food is kinda important for my experience i think 😟

nocturne cobalt
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They’re average from what I’ve seen and heard from my friends at other schools

nocturne cobalt
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I haven’t heard that one before

dawn basin
nocturne cobalt
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I’m back here after 4 yrs bc my little sister got her college decisions

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nostalgia is hitting xd

dawn basin
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ooo i hope it went well for her !

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how was the competition in eecs ?

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and was the courseload incredibly difficult or was it about what u expected ?

spare wharf
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EECS all the way imo

nocturne cobalt
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I came from a very competitive high school so the competition was the same. However, the kids who do well in Berkeley CS fall in to two non-mutually exclusive categories:

  1. Previous CS background
  2. Love the coursework -> work hard bc they love it -> build passion around it
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My freshman year roommate came in as EECS and never took a CS class, he did just fine and will be graduating in a few months with flying colors

spare wharf
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@nocturne cobalt sorry this is unrelated but does Berkeley EECS still take people off appeal letters in your experience

nocturne cobalt
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I found the courses super cool and there is definitely support whenever you need it!

nocturne cobalt
dawn basin
spare wharf
cursive pollen
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Berkeley EECS and it's not a question, even if you're not sure about CS

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it's much easier to switch from EECS to physics than the other way around

nocturne cobalt
# dawn basin that about lines up with what ive heard from others!! did u go into it loving cs...

I came into Cal as an undeclared business major LOL. Wanted to be a finance/consulting bro bad. I took all the CS courses in my HS and had been doing a lot of CS extracurriculars but didn’t want to become a “code monkey.” Came into freshman year and took 61A (intro to cs), found it hella boring and was kinda pissed I had to take stuff I had already taken in HS. Didn’t take any CS courses for a sem and took a bunch of random stuff. Then took 61B (data structures) and fell in love with CS all over again. Switched careers to SWE (software engineering) and haven’t looked back since 🙂

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It was gradual and the community is fire 🔥

dawn basin
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i see! that makes me a lot more hopeful thank u 😭😭

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im def leaning towards berkeley now but i think ill still be doing campus visits to make my final decisions 🙏 tysm for all the help :))

nocturne cobalt
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Yeah definitely! And feel free to DM or @ me if you have any more questions!

Best of luck to all you guys!