u/Icy-Opportunity-1680

I wanna work in marketing/product marketing/social media/media-related fields in the future. Career-wise, I know Marshall is probably the better fit for what I wanna do since I’m interested in marketing and media-related stuff. But I’ll probably go back to my home country for work, and people there care a lot more about QS/global rankings than US rankings, which makes NYU kinda hard to ignore reputation-wise internationally. Some employers there really do cut people based on school rankings alone.

So now I’m stuck between choosing the “better fit” school vs the school with stronger global name recognition lol. But at the same time, I originally liked USC more as its my dream school in high school.

Would love to hear honest opinions from people who know both schools internationally.

Hi everyone, I’m currently deciding between UC Berkeley (Econ) and NYU (CAS Econ), and I’d really appreciate some honest input.

A bit about my situation: I’m an international student, and budget is not a concern (the costs between UCB (out-of-state) and NYU are pretty similar). Personally, I’m leaning a bit toward NYU. I like that NYU seems more flexible academically, especially in CAS, where it’s easier to explore different classes and even try out different fields. I’m not 100% sure what I want to do yet (possibly marketing / product-related roles), so having that flexibility matters to me. Also, maybe it’s not as stressful compared to UCB?

From what I’ve heard, NYU also has smaller classes and more diverse or “interesting” courses, which might make networking and building relationships a bit easier.

However, my parents strongly prefer UC Berkeley because of its prestige. I know Berkeley Econ is very strong, but I’ve also heard that the environment can be quite competitive and stressful. I’m especially curious about course enrollment, is it really hard to get the classes you want? Do people struggle a lot with getting off waitlists? Is it really hard to get a high GPA?

One thing I’m also wondering is how big the difference really is between Berkeley and NYU in terms of reputation and opportunities. Is Berkeley seen as significantly “higher tier,” or is the difference not that big in practice?

I might consider applying to graduate school in the future.

Any honest thoughts would really help — thank you!

1. How hard is it to get into the classes you actually want (especially for econ majors)? Are there waitlist issues or enrollment restrictions?
2. What’s the average class size like for courses? Do you feel like you can interact with professors, or is it mostly self-study?
3. How competitive is the environment?
4. How stressful is the workload on a weekly basis? Is it manageable to maintain a high GPA?
5. Do you feel supported by the school (advising, career services, etc.), or do you have to figure everything out yourself?
6. Is grade deflation a real issue in econ classes?