Is Purdue harder to get into than UC Berkeley?

Yes. UC Berkeley is generally more selective overall than Purdue, even though both are very well known for engineering and STEM. Berkeley’s admissions are more competitive across the university, and its most sought-after majors and colleges can be especially difficult to enter. Purdue is also selective, particularly for engineering, computer science, and other high-demand programs, but in overall admissions reputation and difficulty, Berkeley is usually the tougher admit.

For a student looking at broad campus-wide selectivity, Berkeley sits in a different tier. It draws a huge national and international applicant pool, has very limited space, and is widely seen as one of the hardest public universities to get into.

Purdue fits the student who wants a top public STEM school but is comparing overall odds rather than just program strength. Purdue admissions can be very competitive in specific majors, and direct admission to engineering or computer science matters a lot there. Still, outside the highest-demand programs, Purdue is not usually viewed as selective at Berkeley’s level across the whole university.

If you are comparing engineering specifically, the gap can feel a little narrower because Purdue engineering is very respected and attracts many strong applicants. But if the question is simply which school is harder to get into overall, UC Berkeley is the clearer answer.