Why do people choose private universities if a good state school would offer a similar education?
California is a good example. UC Berkeley is the best public school in the nation, and it’s in the same vicinity as Stanford and USC. The one big difference between public and private is the class size. In UC Berkeley it’s very common to have students that number to hundreds in one class (800 was my most memorable record). This number is unheard of in private universities. The professors tend to be more attentive when it’s in private universities. But in the end it all comes down to the program that you’re interested in. Berkeley has a good engineering program whereas Stanford might have a better program in other departments, and people choose the program instead of the university itself. They also look at the career replacement program at each school. Companies tend to gravitate toward schools that have the best programs. So engineering companies like to recruit at Berkeley but that is not true with the business school, cause Stanford has the better business school.
