Caltech or UC Berkeley: Which is better for studies in USA?

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) vs University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley)

California Institute of Technology popularly known as CalTech is a well-renowned research institute for Science and Engineering. It is one of the hardest institutions to gain admission in USA.has achieved the #1 position in education subcategory of America’s best employers according to Forbes, 2022. The university provides extensive career support to its students through the Career Development Center. The University of California Berkeley is a public research university. It is known for being the #1 public university in the world. It is widely known for STEM courses.

Overview Comparison
California Institute of TechnologyUniversity of California
Collegedunia Score8.3 Out of 108.4 Out of 10
ranking (overall)# 10 QS World University 2026
# 7 Times Higher Education 2025
# 10 QS World University 2025
# 17 QS World University 2026
# 8 Times Higher Education 2025
# 12 QS World University 2025
Subject Strength# 5 for Engineering by US News 2025
# 34 for Data Science and Analytics by QS World University 2025
# 140 for Medicine by QS World University 2024
# 3 for Engineering by US News 2025
# 4 for Data Science and Analytics by QS World University 2025
# 29 for Medicine by QS World University 2025
ProgramsUG Programs -27
PG Programs -13
Doctorate Programs -16
UG Programs -31
PG Programs -42
Doctorate Programs -11
Acceptance Rate3.0 %16.4 %
Exam ScoreDuolingo-130
IELTS-7
SAT-1530
TOEFL-100
GMAT-700
GRE-310
IELTS-7
SAT-1450
TOEFL-90
Cost to StudyAverage Tuition Fees   56364
[For UG Program]
Average Tuition Fees  56364
[For PG Program]
Hostel + Meal - 27636 Per Year
Average Tuition Fees   47346
[For UG Program]
Average Tuition Fees  27864
[For PG Program]
Hostel + Meal - 56000 Per Year
placement (average package)

Annual salary offered is 111,000 USD per annum and ROI is 7.9%. Top recruiters are Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Apple Computer Inc, etc. Graduate Employability Rankings (2020): #74. Doctorate students were the highest-paid ($138,000-154,000). 


Some programs and the average salary are:

  • Executive Masters : $195,000 
  • MBA  : $150,000 
  • Masters in Finance : $144,000 
  • PhD : $143,000 
  • Doctorate : $140,000 
  • Bachelor (Other) : $121,000 


application requirements

International students can apply through Common App and Coalition Application. When applying through the latter, you need to provide additional CalTech questions. Teacher evaluations are mandatory. 

LORs (usually three);
SOP;
Resume;
Test Scores (such as TOEFL, IELTS, SAT, GRE, etc.)

Campuses and B-SchoolsNAHaas School of Business
CollegeDunia Reviews7.9/10 Read 3 reviews6.9/10 Read 11 reviews
General Facts Comparison
General FactsCalifornia Institute of TechnologyUniversity of California
Type of UniversityUniversity
University
Established1920
1868
Student:Faculty Ratio3:1
17.8:1
Male:Female54% Male, 46% Female0% Male, 0% Female
Location Facts

124-acre campus located in Pasadena, California. The campus lies on the northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is at a walking distance from Pasadena Playhouse District and Old Town Pasadena.  


Overlooking the San Francisco Bay, UC Berkeley campus is spread over approximately 1,232 acres of land. It is the oldest of the ten campuses of University of California.


Library

Has Sherman Fairchild Library; Includes print collections on Applied Sciences, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, etc. These six libraries together offer 412,217 records and collections to explore from. As per the library catalogs, you can access up to 412,271 resources. 


UCB Library is the fourth largest library in USA comprising 24 libraries, 325 employees and 832 student employees. UCB Library has 13 million volumes in 300+ languages which includes printed books, journals, e-books, etc.


Campus Life

It is Pasadena’s largest employer; Has Caltech Today and Caltech Matters to update students about events of the university; Has Diversity Centre, Wellness Centre, Performing and Visual Arts Centre etc. You can enjoy or indulge in 20 varsity sports and various theatre, music, art groups. 80% of students (UG) are a part of athletic teams and 65% play a musical instrument.  


UCB consists of the Sather Tower, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Hall of Science, Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Botanical Garden, UC Museum of Paleontology, UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA).


Hostel#Housing/Room - $11697
#Food/Meals - $7353
#Room & Board - $16000
#Room & Board--Apartment - $18000
#Room & Board--Residence Hall - $22000
Famous Alumni

Over 22 Nobel Laureattes, 6 Turing Award winners; Edwin McMillan (synthesized first transuranium element), Donald Knuth (father of the analysis of algorithms), Harrison Schmitt (Astronaut), Arnold Beckman (invented the pH meter), William Shockley (father of Silicon Valley), etc.


With a total of 520,566 alumni, UCB has 31 Nobel Laureates, 207 Turing Award, 20 Academic Awards, 20 Pulitzer Prize winners.
Steve Wosniak (co-founder of Apple Inc.);
Gordon Moore (co-founder of Intel);
Chris Pine (Actor);
Prithviraj Chavan (17th CM of Maharashtra, India)


City Life

Pasadena is located 15 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Some of the top companies in Pasadena are Jacob’s Engineering Group, Green dot corporation, Tetra Tech, Wesco Financial, etc. It has a wide variety of comedy clubs, outdoor cafes, night clubs, etc.  You can shop around Rose Bowl Flea market. Unemployment rate of Pasadena for July 2020 is 16.80%


Berkeley is in close proximity to San Francisco which is only a 20 minutes ride with public transport. You can hike up to Beverly Hills, explore the oldest museums, Victorian architecture, and more. Flying to Vegas and Los Angeles is also easy or drive to lake Tahoe, Berkeley’s location is within close distance to most locations. There are a lot of bars, restaurants, coffee shops, parks, etc. The unemployment rate for Nov 2022 was 3.3%.


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