Excellent that you are planning out your career so early! Looks like you’ve done your research. Except, I would have to say, maybe I’m a little biased, but UCB’s astronomy research is superb. Most of the exoplanets? Found at UCB. New groundbreaking research usually comes out of UCB. MIT is one of the world’s best engineering schools, but UCB is not far behind. In fact, MIT and UCB are top 5 in engineering schools in the US. Caltech’s astronomy program is indeed great, but to be honest, whatever new discoveries that would be made in the field of astronomy, would probably come out of UCB. (And whatever movements, like free speech or civil rights, also! It’s great to be a part of history. Berkeley is the place to be, seriously) I’m a little biased, but, I’m glad you asked this question because I am a student AT UC Berkeley AND I am an intended astrophysics major =)) FYI Astrophysics isn’t all fun and games, isn’t all about black holes and quasars and all that fun stuff. Astrophysics 7A at Berkeley is basically a super advanced physics course (with some astronomy stuff thrown in there). Make sure your math and physics foundations are calibrated to perfection. GeoffG is right. You will get a better overall education at UCB. Although MIT and CalTech ARE superb, they are primarily engineering schools. AND yes you do study astrophysics as a grad student, so make sure you spiff up your math and physics skills early on! 🙂 P.S. I have a friend at MIT and he says it’s absolutely brutal. I will have to say, your time and experience at UCB will be far greater than if you went to any other school because UCB is a place where you grow, where you have to do everything yourself and learn. You are basically in real society when you reach UCB. other schools I’ve heard already does everything for you. You will learn to basically live on your own as an adult. I say, UCB is the best choice.

Good Luck