Really conflicted on where I should go. I've been working in the industry for a couple of years so I saved up enough to afford my own place in a city like Austin. But I also don't care THAT much about money; after all I'm quitting my SWE job to be a broke PhD student.
Entrepreneurship is my #1 goal. If I fail, I'd rather go into academia than come back to industry.
I think Berkeley stands out because the Bay Area is startup Mecca but I've also heard that the workload is intense and half the admits get filtered out by the prelims. I do want to try to start something while I'm in school and not 5+ years later...
Do I take the gamble on Berkeley and see if I can have a reasonable WLB or do I take UT and see if I can make something happen there with a fraction of the Bay Area's resources and talent?
In terms of research and advisors, I'd say Berkeley is slightly stronger but they felt more cutthroat.
