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As someone who has been a Harry Potter and a Twilight reader and writer for many years - Harry Potter since the early 2000’s, and Twilight since 2008, participating extensively in years-long fan collaborative writing and research efforts to build upon both series - I thought I would give my input.Simply put, both series have their respective differences. Both also have long-standing, literary cultural divides (British vs. American) in terms of their takes on the same tropes and topics, vampires included.First, we’ll start off with Harry Potter. In my humble view, explained in-depth in another answer of mine here, Harry Potter is, quite literally, “the series that started it all”, at least on a worldwide, or global, scale. It not only predates Twilight, and Twilight hype, by about a decade or so, but was also a pop culture phenomenon, growing and expanding along with the global expansion of the Internet.Thanks to author J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter was also the first YA-marketed book series to use, and largely popularize, a “fantasy world within the real world” premise and world-building, a technique later used by Twilight itself, and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. Both series are also examples of popular “escapist fiction”.According to Wikipedia:Escapist fiction is fiction that provides a psychological escape from thoughts of everyday life by immersing the reader in exotic situations or activities.The term is not used favorably, though the condemnation contained in it may be slight. Those who defend works described as escapist from the charge either assert that they are not escapist—such as that a science fiction novel's satiric aspects address real life—or defend the notion of "escape" as such, not "escapism"—as in J. R. R. Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" and C. S. Lewis's quotation, in his "On Science Fiction" of Tolkien's question of who would be most hostile to the idea of escape, and his answer: jailers.Genres that can include elements of escapist fiction include:Bodice rippers/Romance novelsDetective novelsFantasy fictionHorror fictionPulp fictionScience fictionSpy novelsThrillersRowling herself stated that Harry Potter was heavily inspired by “keystone”, or foundational works that had previously established the “high fantasy” genre, including J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series, among other Tolkien works.The main difference between Harry Potter and Twilight, due to the above, is that Harry Potter includes many more elements of “high fantasy”, whereas Twilight is considered a “low fantasy”.Many people consider Harry Potter to be “superior” to Twilight due to this, as well as Potter’s more immersive, extensive world-building, and classical “hero’s journey” narrative structure. However, I’d point out that many people tend to confuse the amont of detailing and worldbuilding to equal “higher quality”, but being “high fantasy” alone does not automatically make a series, or work, “superior”.According to Wikipedia: (also see here for Low Fantasy)“Hogwarts” - Pottermore.comHigh fantasy is defined as fantasy set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world, rather than "the real", or "primary" world. (i.e. “the Wizarding World”)The secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being set in the primary, or "real" world, or a rational and familiar fictional world, with the inclusion of magical elements.The romances of William Morris, such as The Well at the World's End, set in an imaginary medieval world, are sometimes regarded as the first examples of high fantasy. The works of J. R. R. Tolkien—especially The Lord of the Rings—are regarded as archetypal works of high fantasy.Many high fantasy stories are told from the viewpoint of one main hero (Harry Potter). Often, much of the plot revolves around his or her heritage or mysterious nature. In many novels the hero is an orphan or unusual sibling, often with an extraordinary talent for magic or combat. He or she begins the story young, if not as an actual child.In other works, the hero is a completely developed individual, with a unique character and spirit. The hero often begins as a childlike figure, but matures rapidly, experiencing a huge gain in fighting/problem-solving abilities along the way. The plot of the story often depicts the hero's fight against the evil forces as a Bildungsroman (i.e. “coming-of-age story”).In many books there is a knowing, mystical mentor or teacher (i.e. Albus Dumbledore). This character is often a formidable wizard or warrior, who provides the main character (Harry Potter) with advice and help. The progress of the story leads to the character learning the nature of the unknown forces against him or her, that they constitute a force with great power and malevolence (Lord Voldemort).Good versus evil is a common theme in high fantasy, and the character of evil is often an important theme in a work of high fantasy, as in The Lord of the Rings. Indeed, the importance of the concepts of good and evil can be regarded as the distinguishing mark between high fantasy and sword and sorcery.In many works of high fantasy, this conflict marks a deep concern with moral issues; in other works, the conflict is a power struggle, with, for instance, wizards behaving irresponsibly whether they are "good" or "evil".There is often some evil that must be defeated, sometimes, a mysterious Dark Lord, often obsessed with taking over the world and killing the main hero (Lord Voldemort). The evil character is sometimes an evil wizard or sorcerer, or sometimes a kind of god or demon. The antagonist usually commands a large army or a group of highly feared servants (Death Eaters), and the protagonists appear outmatched,Contrast “low fantasy”, as seen primarily with the Twilight books, and which is typically more looked-down upon, or dismissed, by authors as a whole:Low fantasy or intrusion fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction, where magical events intrude on an otherwise normal world, i.e. real world. It thus contrasts with high fantasy stories, which take place in a fictional world with its own set of rules and physical laws.Intrusion fantasy places relatively less emphasis on typical elements associated with fantasy, setting a narrative in realistic environments with elements of the fantastical (i.e. Forks, Washington / the Pacific Northwest in Twilight). Sometimes, there are just enough fantastical elements to make ambiguous the boundary between what is real, and what is purely psychological or supernatural. The word "low" refers to the level of prominence of traditional fantasy elements within the work, and is not any sort of remark on the work's quality.An alternative definition, common in, though not limited to, role-playing games rests on the story and characters being more realistic and less mythic in scope. This can mean that some works, for example Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian series, can be high fantasy according to the first definition but low fantasy according to the second, while with other works, such as the TV series Supernatural, the opposite is true.Fantasy fiction developed out of fairy tales in the nineteenth (19th) century [1800’s]. Early nineteenth (19th) century scholarship in folklore led to fantasy fiction dominating Victorian children's literature. The genre diverged into the two subgenres, high and low fantasy, after the Edwardian era. Low fantasy itself diverged into further subgenres in the twentieth (20th) century [1900’s].The forms of low fantasy include personified animals; personified toys (including The Indian in the Cupboard and The Doll's House, building on the earlier The Adventures of Pinocchio); comic fantasies of exaggerated character traits and altered physics (including Pippi Longstocking and The Borrowers); magical powers; supernatural elements; and time slips.The fiction gives the author greater agency than allowed in the real world. Since being popularised in the works of E. Nesbit, the "low/portal variety" of fantasy has become a staple for its facility in challenging "established orders of society and thought”.Children usually read more low fantasy than high fantasy.The early 21st century is seeing an increase in prominence of the work of authors such as George R. R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire) and Joe Abercrombie, whose high fantasy novels (works set entirely in fantasy worlds) have been referred to as "low fantasy” [by some], because they de-emphasize magic and non-human intelligent races in favor of a more cynical portrayal of human conflict.Fantasy writer David Chandler considered this "rise of 'Low Fantasy'", to reflect the contemporary reality of the War on Terror—characterized by "secret deals", "vicious reprisals" and "sudden acts of terrifying carnage"—much as the horror genre reacted to the Vietnam War a generation earlier [in America].High and low fantasy are distinguished as being set, respectively, in an alternative "secondary" world or in the real "primary" world. In many works, the distinction between primary or secondary world settings, and therefore whether it is low or high fantasy, can be unclear. The secondary world may take three forms, described by Nikki Gamble in her explication of three characteristics of high fantasy:Primary does not exist (e.g., Dungeons & Dragons and The Wheel of Time) or is irrelevant (e.g., Discworld)Entered through a portal from the primary world (e.g., Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Dark Tower)World-within-a-world (e.g., American Gods, The Gods of Pegāna, The Magicians, and Harry Potter)A few high fantasy series do not easily fit into Gamble's categories. For example, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is set in the primary world of Earth in the ancient past, and he adamantly disagreed with anyone who thought otherwise.According to Tolkien, he had set it in the inhabited lands of geographically north-west Europe. The Professor himself disagreed with the notion that his stories diverged from reality, but rather defended his position that the "essentials of that abiding place are all there (at any rate for inhabitants of N.W. Europe), so naturally it feels familiar, even if a little glorified by enchantment of distance in time”.Nevertheless, Middle-earth is sufficiently divergent from reality to be classed as a secondary world, and hence, [is considered] high fantasy.J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is again set in the real world; however, while the primary setting, mostly the school, Hogwarts, is said to be located somewhere in Scotland, but is physically separated from the real world and becomes a "world-within-a-world".Hogwarts is, therefore, as much of an alternative world as C. S. Lewis' Narnia, which means that both series are in the high fantasy subgenre. […] Some sources place Harry Potter and His Dark Materials in the low fantasy genre.Karin E. Westman, writing in The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature, states that because "[J. K.] Rowling is much more interested in how fantasy provides perspective on everyday experience and the individual's place in society," and her inclusion of bildungsroman (a coming-of-age story) and the school story genres, "align her primarily with the domestic (or low) fantasy of authors such as E. Nesbit, Elizabeth Goudge, and Paul Gallico...as well as authors like Philip Pullman and Jonathan Stroud, who are also interested in the intersection of the personal and the political within quotidian experiences."Low Fantasy is related to a number of other genres or subgenres.Urban Fantasy takes place in a modern urban, as opposed to rural or historical setting, and thus, can be viewed as a type of low fantasy.Dark Fantasy uses fantasy to create a sense of horror or dread. Since it often has a real-world setting, there is an overlap with low fantasy.Paranormal Romance, of which the best-known variety is the vampire romance (i.e. Twilight), is nearly always low fantasy.Superhero Fiction may count as low fantasy, if the hero's powers have a supernatural, rather than a scientific (or pseudoscientific), explanation.Magical Realism has a largely realistic view of the world, but introduces supernatural elements. While authors such as Gene Wolfe and Terry Pratchett regard it as fantasy, it has been claimed as a different genre on the grounds that in magical realism, the supernatural events are usually included in the worldview of the human characters (i.e. Bella Swan), while in low fantasy, they usually violate it.However, while Harry Potter and Twilight differ on their delivery, primary focus, and type of fantasy, there are also many things that the two series, and authors of them, have in common, contrary to public perception.Likewise, for the context of how, and why, Twilight and Harry Potter are so similar, and yet so different, we need to examine the cultural (British vs. American) and personal backgrounds of both J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer.Both authors - J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer, respectively - wrote Harry Potter and Twilight as personal “wish fulfillment” and “escapist” fantasy as young mothers, borne out of their own, real-life relationship difficulties and struggles. Meyer admitted to basing Twilight off a dream she had in June of 2003, with the character of Bella Swan obviously based on, or being an author avatar character for, Meyer herself. Likewise, the Bella and Edward romance is, quite obviously, described and painted as Meyer’s own, personal “wish fulfillment” fantasy. Rowling stated she came up with Harry Potter on a whim while travelling by train in 1990, basing many facets of the series off of her own, personal life. Rowling also admitted to pairing Ron and Hermione together romantically out of “wish fulfillment” and “for very personal reasons”, with Hermione being “an exaggerated version of herself”, and Ron based off of an old childhood friend of Rowling’s, Sean Harris. Rowling also previously had been in an abusive relationship with her ex-husband, Jorge Arantes, followed by a period of separation, divorce, struggling, and poverty. It is not hard to see how - and why - Rowling created the fantastical Wizarding World of Harry Potter to escape her fractured reality, and the failure of her first marriage and romance. Likewise, Meyer, who was also a young mother at the time she conceived Twilight, also created her own “fantasy world within the real world” for her own escapism.“The seven-year period that followed saw the death of [J.K. Rowling’s] mother, birth of her first child [Jessica], divorce from her first husband [Jorge Arantes], and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997.” - Wikipedia, citing Marc Shapiro’s “J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter”“When Rowling was 27—five years before she published the first Potter book—she met and married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes. The marriage lasted only a year, and in that time they had a child, Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes. Rowling's backstory is legendary: a single mother, broke in a coffee shop, writing Harry Potter on a napkin.” - Anna Menta for Newsweek“Stephenie Meyer's subconscious has a lot to answer for. Almost 10 years ago, as a young mother in Arizona, she had a dream about an average teenage girl and a beautiful male vampire, sitting in a meadow, lost in conversation about the difficulties of their relationship. The specific problem was that if they became too close – if they gave in to the girl's intense desires – he'd hurt and potentially kill her. Meyer wanted to remember the story, but was struggling with her small sons' relentless needs, so began writing it down for safe keeping. It was the first story she had ever put to paper. A modest woman, a committed Mormon, she loved books, had always conjured up stories, but had previously thought the idea of writing anything herself would be presumptuous…Meyer, who is now 39, wrote the book [Twilight] because she needed an ‘escape from my original escape’, she says.” - Kira Cochrane, “Stephenie Meyer on Twilight, feminism and true love”Both the Harry Potter and Twilight book authors possess similar, college-educated backgrounds and education in English and classic literature. J.K. Rowling earned a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter in South West England, also extensively reading, and studying, English literature. Martin Sorrell, a French professor at Exeter, remembers Rowling as "a quietly competent student, with a denim jacket and dark hair, who, in academic terms, gave the appearance of doing what was necessary". Rowling recalls doing little work, preferring to read the works of Charles Dickens and J.R.R. Tolkien. On the other hand, Stephenie Meyer attended Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, where her former English teacher remembered her as "bright, but not overly so”. She attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she received a BA in English in 1997. The same year Meyer graduated from college was when the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, was published in the U.S. by Scholastic Inc.Both the Harry Potter and Twilight series were J.K. Rowling’s and Stephenie Meyer’s debut novels and series, respectively. Neither had any previous, formal writing experience. According to Wikipedia, “[Stephenie] Meyer had no experience as a writer of any kind and had never even written a short story before Twilight. She had considered going to law school, because she felt she had no chance of becoming a writer…Before becoming an author, Meyer's only professional work was as a receptionist in a property company.” As for J.K. Rowling, her only previously published writing was a 1988 short essay about her time studying Classics, titled, "What was the Name of that Nymph Again? or Greek and Roman Studies Recalled". Rowling’s essay was published by the University of Exeter's journal Pegasus.Both authors heavily based both of their series off of their own views, morality, and politics, and provide social commentary on the times (1990’s - 2000’s). Stephenie Meyer is often criticized for including her own socially conservative views in the Twilight books, seemingly promoting Meyer’s own idealism of traditional views of gender roles and romance, but few realize that J.K. Rowling also did this with Harry Potter…albeit differently. Whereas Meyer put romance at the forefront of her Twilight novels, nost notably, Rowling included heavily anti-conservative political themes as the main message of Harry Potter, among other aspects. The latter is expressed through the actions of Hermione Granger, Rowling’s own self-admitted “exaggerated version of herself”. However, both Rowling and Meyer portray idealized, teenage romances, largely reflective of the 90’s and 2000’s pop culture period, and both draw heavily from traditional Romantic literature and tropes in writing their own romances.However, aside from the previously discussed high fantasy vs. low fantasy aspects, there are also other main differences between Twilight and Harry Potter, which lend to just how different, and incomparable, the two series really are…and yet, how both could be considered within the same realm of literary world-building and tropes.The biggest of these is, most likely, the cultural divide between Harry Potter and Twilight, as well as a difference in intent, target market, literary tradition, and more. While both works were written as “escapist fiction”, both also heavily rely on basing “the real world”, and both “the world within the real world”, on the respective countries of their authors’ origins (United Kingdom vs. United States of America).Above: Leadenhall, a covered Victorian market in the City of London, and home to a selection of stalls and shops. It features in several Potter films.Harry Potter, written by British author J.K. Rowling, is very blatantly, patently, “British” in tone, setting, environment, history, culture, and nature. It also celebrates traditional British mannerisms and society, and, in many regards, taking a step into the Wizarding World is also taking “a step back in time”. Due to this, for many Americans reading Harry Potter, it is not just the fantastical Wizarding World they are visiting, but Britain as well.The Harry Potter books extensively include British-isms, language, and slang, as well as references; British food and dining habits (i.e. bangers and mash, among other traditional British cuisine, along with use of pubs); British school systems; the movies have British actors and British sets; and more. For example, Hogwarts is “located somewhere in Scotland”; the Ministry of Magic is based in London; and so on, and so forth.Above: A recreation of London at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme Park, Diagon Alley, in Orlando, Florida.Even the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks and film adaptations, which also had heavy input and guidance from Rowling herself, are also meant to reflect the British basis and culture of the Potter series as a whole, including British food and products.Above: The full menu at the Three Broomsticks restaurant at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park, based on British cuisine.Harry Potter himself, the protagonist and “hero” of the series, is written as an “everyman character”, with his friends - Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger - used as expositional sources by Rowling. The books focus primarily on a blend of mystery, action / adventure, and fantasy, as opposed to romance, as their primary themes.The characters, who start off as children, also go through a “coming-of-age” story and narrative, known in literature as a Bildungsroman.Likewise, Harry Potter pays homage to, and draws heavy inspiration from, British literary authors, such as J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, etc…) C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), and Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, etc…).This is, of course, in direct contrast to Twilight…Above: The depiction of the small, heavily forested town of Forks, Washington, in the film adaptation of Twilight.Twilight, written by American author Stephenie Meyer, very clearly is “American” in tone, setting, environment, history, culture, and nature. For American audiences, it is visiting a “familiar”, “every-day” environment - one relatively common throughout American literature - as opposed to being transported to Britain, and the Wizarding World, in Harry Potter.This includes American tropes, characterization, and language, as well as references; American food and dining habits (i.e. burgers, fries, TV dinners, and diners); American school systems; and more.For example, the Cullens are educated at various U.S. schools and universities, such as Cornell; they attend Foks High School; and Bella and Edward consider various U.S. colleges for the future. The characters wear American-style formal and casual wear, listen to American music, etc…Our human protagonist, Bella Swan, also starts off as a teenager in high school at the beginning of the story. She is also written as an “everywoman” character, with a special focus on her romance with the “secret” vampire, Edward Cullen.Above: Bella Swan and her father, Charlie Swan, receive their order at a local Forks diner in “Twilight”.It also differs from Harry Potter in focusing more primarily on elements of literature long associated with American tradition, such as small towns, forests, and the association of these with the supernatural, mystical, and fantastical.Above: Edward Cullen takes Bella Swan into the woods around Forks to reveal his “true nature”, and identity, as a vampire in Twilight.In this regards, Twilight is heavily based on both Gothic / supernatural literature and American literature, particularly fiction, including Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, based on colonial folklore; Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, based on Puritan colonial culture (which also largely survives in modern U.S. culture, especially Meyer’s own Mormon culture), and the Salem witch trials.The depiction of Forks in Twilight - which does not match the real-life Forks, but rather, Meyer’s depiction of it as a manifestation of this classic storytelling trope (i.e. Small Towns, Town with a Dark Secret) - is also analogous to the other “small towns” portrayed in traditional, American folklore…including Salem, Massachusetts, both recently (i.e. Hocus Pocus) and in older accounts.Salem was a small Puritan settlement in the Massachusetts woods, not far from the coast. It was not a particularly successful settlement, with its villagers struggling to grow enough food to survive, and always wary of the forest surrounding them. In their minds, the trees could be hiding murderous Indian raiders, or demons, or any number of evils.Thus, it was not a happy, cohesive community - this was not helped by the recent outbreak of smallpox; the Puritans’ sexist practices of women being absolutely deferential to the men in their lives; and the belief that women were more susceptible to the Devil's charms. With everyone living in each other's pockets, it was impossible to keep secrets - everyone knew everyone else's business.[…] If one were to ask someone in Salem Village how the witch trials began, that person would know the story like the back of their hand. The slave named Tituba was accused of witchcraft, along with two other women. The Devil, supposedly getting people to sign his book in their blood. A group of girls, accusing people of being witches left and right. And this was only the beginning of the madness that started in the little town of Salem Village. People literally started to go insane, neighbors were afraid of each other, and all hell broke loose in Salem.Now, one might wonder why these girls wanted to accuse these people, and lead them to their death. But remember; in a Puritan society women had less rights than men, and it could be rare for a women to be listened to. So when the entire community started turning to these girls for help, it was only natural for them to start making up more and more accusations to get even more attention.But the threat of the Indians was also on their doorstep. Surrounding the town of Salem was a forest, and within the forest there were animals and Indians. These people [accused of witchcraft, and the Indians] knew the forest too well, and could come out and attack any time they wanted to.So as soon as there was the threat of witches, people started to combine the real world with their imaginary one, with the devil and witches. Because of this, the Governor Phipps set up the Court of Oyer and Terminer, a specialized court with specialized judges for witch accusations, using spectral evidence as their main rule. Thus started the Salem Witch Trials. (Source, Source)As per Wikipedia, “Another well known novel in [the Gothic] genre, dating from the late Victorian era, is Bram Stoker's Dracula.” Dracula is well-known to be the “foundational work” of the supernatural, or vampire, romance, and also helped to promote the “extreme form of romanticism” found in many Gothic works as a whole.Above: The 1931 classical film adaptation of Dracula.The Gothic movement was also the first to popularize vampires, and vampire fiction:[…] Another famous penny dreadful of this era was the anonymously authored Varney the Vampire (1847). Varney is the tale of the vampire Sir Francis Varney, and introduced many of the tropes present in vampire fiction recognizable to modern audiences — it was the first story to refer to sharpened teeth for a vampire.The formal relationship between these fictions, serialised for predominantly working class audiences, and the roughly contemporaneous sensation fictions serialised in middle class periodicals, is also an area worthy of inquiry.Likewise, the Gothic movement is heavily associated with tropes used in Twilight, but not Harry Potter, including Meyer’s writing of the educated, sophisticated, intelligent vampire Edward Cullen as a tortured, brooding Byronic hero.As per Wikipedia:The poetry, romantic adventures, and character of Lord Byron—characterised by his spurned lover Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad and dangerous to know"—were another inspiration for the Gothic, providing the archetype of the Byronic hero. Byron features, under the codename of "Lord Ruthven", in Lady Caroline's own Gothic novel: Glenarvon (1816).Byron was also the host of the celebrated ghost-story competition involving himself, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, and John William Polidori at the Villa Diodati on the banks of Lake Geneva in the summer of 1816. This occasion was productive of both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) and Polidori's The Vampyre (1819).This latter story revives Lamb's Byronic "Lord Ruthven", but this time as a vampire. The Vampyre has been accounted by cultural critic Christopher Frayling as one of the most influential works of fiction ever written, and spawned a craze for vampire fiction and theatre (and latterly, film), which has not ceased to this day.Mary Shelley's novel, though clearly influenced by the Gothic tradition, is often considered the first science fiction novel, despite the omission in the novel of any scientific explanation of the monster's animation and the focus instead on the moral issues and consequences of such a creation.[…] The influence of Byronic Romanticism evident in [the work of Edgar Allan] Poe is also apparent in the work of the Brontë sisters.Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847) transports the Gothic to the forbidding Yorkshire Moors, and features ghostly apparitions and a Byronic hero, in the person of the demonic Heathcliff.The Brontës' fiction is seen by some feminist critics as prime examples of Female Gothic, exploring woman's entrapment within domestic space; subjection to patriarchal authority; and the transgressive and dangerous attempts to subvert, and escape, such restriction.Emily's Cathy and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre are both examples of female protagonists in such a role.That being said...which is better, Harry Potter or Twilight?In the end, given all of the above, I’d say it merely comes down to a matter of preference, as well as one’s own education and culture. And in the words of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling…

Thanks for the A2A! Not in order of importance, just written as I think of things….Get recommendations from professorsIt doesn’t matter if you want to go in for a masters or not. A recommendation from a professor has value for you. I didn’t know this, but you can actually ask a professor for a reference your freshman year, most universities will keep it on-file for later.Create a linkedin profileAfter you create it, do your best to develop your profile ASAP. Include work samples of your projects and the names of those that worked with you on the project. These people can add a linkedin reference on your profile.Get an internship during school, even if it cuts into your social life and sleeping timeEveryone has a college degree these days. You need to do more than just graduate. You need to have a high GPA and experience. If you can’t find an internship, become a tutor, really anything showing that you are engaged with an organization. Don’t be the person that sits in their room by themselves watching Netflix all day.Join a campus club or even better, create your ownThis one is so easy. If you are lacking things to put on your resume. Walk into a club meeting and pay the $20 entry fee. It doesn’t even matter if you attend any other meetings because now you can technically say, “club member” on your resume.Obviously, you want to be the leader of the club, but not everyone can hold a leadership position. If you were really being smart, I would reach out to a professor that likes you and ask them to be the host professor for your new club. It is a lot harder to do your time and play the politics game in a club than it is to come up with a new club idea. Plus ‘creator and president’ looks better than just being the president of a club.You can probably just google your universities regulation for what is needed to start your own club. It is probably easier than you thinkMake it known to the world that you are in the job market and you are looking for a specific job in a specific industry.When I first graduated I stubbornly wanted to find my first job on my own. I didn’t want to find a job because my parents knew someone that could give me a position. This was really stupid! Milk your personal connections for all they are worth. That is how people get jobs. If you deny yourself this option, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.Understand yourself /Cultural fit with a companyOf all the items on this list this is the most important, but it will be the most overlooked. As a recent graduate you will be more desperate to find a job than you have ever been. The clock is ticking for your student loan to become due. you are tired of grades, professors, doing all of the work in group projects, and you want to change the world with your new knowledge. Sometimes it is tempting to take the first job that comes you way. DON’T!You will learn this later after you have worked a few years. You want to get along with your co-workers and boss. You want a job that is fulfilling where you can use your skills. You want to spend time with your friends and family and have a life outside of work. You will regret taking an extra $5,000 a year if the alternative could have been you spending time with people that you like all day.Quadruple the amount of time you spend researching company strategies and their culture. For me I didn’t do this at all. It turns out 30 years in a 9–5 is a long time to be spending with people you hate.Alumni are helpfulYou will likely find yourself in a world where there are people that you have to work with that have nothing in common with you. They are 30 years older than you and hate social media, which is probably the center of your life. (I know I am an ageist, right? Sorry but stereotypes were made because the majority of the time, they are correct) Another co-worker probably has a family of 4 and their oldest child is about to graduate high school, which for you wasn’t that long ago (at least from the perspective of someone who has 15 years of experience.) People will look at you like they do their children, young and inexperienced.Networking with people that are from the same university is a common tie between generations. Both young and old can relate to good times in college, there is a strong bond for fellow ‘Vikings’ or whatever your college mascot was. Use this to your advantage. It is no coincidence that 4/6 people on my current team all came from Utah State University, it is because that is where my boss attended.Career fairsI don’t need to speak to much to this one. Just go to them. Learn more here if you want to better prepare for a job fair.Use your universities pipelineCompanies know how to find people they want to hire. They strategically connect with the universities that continually produce them top talent. Your college probably has good relations with local companies and their leadership. Your alumni probably work there.Get the contact information of friends in your program and maintain relationships with themDon’t think of your peers as your competition. Think of them as your network for future jobs. Think of them as friends in your industry. That is exactly what they can become if you keep in touch with them. Plus in the future you might have industry specific questions you want to ask, who better to ask then your friends in the industry. They are in similar stages of life and you can learn from their wins or even mistakes. You will likely reach out to the for people to hire onto your team when you become a manager. You won’t have this asset if you don’t engage with them right now.Visit your professors during their office hours and befriend themBesides the obvious potential for recommendations which has already been discussed, they have usually been in the same industry for years. There are probably few other people in the world that have as many good connections with people in your field as they do. They taught the people who entered the work force 5 years ago i.e. the people that might be your future boss. Professors probably know of openings in your field before you do, they just won’t tell you about them unless they like you.Read up on your professors published research and go and discuss it with them. Ask for additional reading material onside of the regular class work. This is their passion, make it yours and you will hit it off with them.The cohort president in my masters program was on such good terms with his professors that him and his wife were baby sitting their kids! Guess who had Four offer letters from Fortune 500 companies before he even graduated… The cohort president!Online applications are not your friendStart trying to find a job now. All of the good jobs will be taken before you even realize it.Your first thought probably is to apply to any and all jobs. This is wrong! Don’t assume that their is safety in numbers when applying for jobs. Customization is the key.If you are interested, you are welcome to join my facebook group to learn about finding your first job out of college.

It's going to take me a while to flesh this answer out, because like the proverbial blindmen trying to describe an elephant, it can be answered in multiple ways (like Rashomon in a way). I'll try to give you a couple ways of seeing various answers to the question.So I'm a 3rd generation Californian, born in the same hospital in Los Angeles that my mom was (my Dad was born in Montana and raised with my uncles in Utah and further grew up in Chicago). I've also worked with 7-8 generation Californians. So during WW2 mom was allowed to finish high school (Los Angeles High, later used as the backdrop for the series Room 222) and started internment in a horse stable in Santa Anita Race Track.One way to answer this question is to give observations I had in life about life elsewhere like: one of my first plane trips when I was young was to Salt Lake City, UT. This trip and later numerous business trip to Washington DC surprised me by the number of brick (dirty brick from when coal was burned more) buildings and structures. Europe had similar coal stained buildings with other older materials as well.Many people elsewhere value the old, tried and tired, and staid. California is one of the places where a 20 year old can become a billionaire with good reason.California homes and buildings are code covered from a 1925 and a 1933 earthquake standard. We use more stucco, glass, steel, and brick (where it appears) are mostly found in few remaining chimneys. At least 3 friends own and live in geodesic dome homes (or have an attached dome). One friend lives out of 2 tee pees (no, she is not a native American, and she used to own an Alaskan wolf, oh that's another issue). Several friends own and raise what might be termed wild animals (one professionally for use in the TV and movie industry (another acquaintance owned 200 armored vehicles (tanks and more) used in various movies)).Until recently, ranch style homes had more yard space. I grew up with a front yard and a back yard where we kept 3 desert tortoises (you can't take them as pets anymore) and variously dogs, cats, a chicken (got small eggs), etc. Now you can only find homes like that in the Central Valley.The main population centers in California are the Los Angeles corrador which depending how you count extends South to San Diego and NW to Ventura, or Santa Barbara ...Santa Maria, SLO ... or ... and the San Francisco Bay Area. The population centers have a democratic (note small 'd') emphasis which make them think everything is for them (this is the story of the country mouse versus the city mouse). I'll say a little more about that in the next section. Of course there is all kinds of weird music about all these California locations.One difference: odor, if and when you travel South into Mexico, south past Ensenada (but you can experience this South of TJ if you go in land into the mountains (which go up to 9-10K ft), you don't smell the trash burns in the country side. The odors are different in a number of ways, and you can experience them when you get here. The LA Basin was where Arnie H-Smit did his first studies on smog, and I can recall seeing the San Gab (Mtns) when we switched to un-Pb gasoline for cars. LA Basin smog is bad for the topography (the highest point of LA County is over 10K ft, and the highest point in So Cal is over 11.5K ft, and the lowest pass is just over 2K ft (from sea level). People have proposed tunnels with fans.Life has a considerable Spanish/Mexican motif. The differences are slight and subtle. In LA they tell you to go visit Olivera Street in old LA. SF only has the Mission District (you need to find out about Fr. Serra's Missions), and Redwood City for instance. You will pick up Spanish/Mexican phrases by osmosis. Cities like Santa Barbara (1925 earthquake) architectural Review Board force building review for a Spanish motif. You will also get a little of the Catholic religion forced upon you, since that came with the Spanish/Mexicans. Anglo students in elementary schools get some Spanish language exposure. However, this is changing since there are now other ethnic groups having a hard enough time with English. Hola! See separate lower paragraph on the 2 Baja states.Annoying: non-locals and newbies who mispronounce Js without using an H: like La Jolla or Jesus or Juanipero or Jorge. Try these city names: Eureka, Ukiah, Yreka, Yucaipa.Earthquakes are a great topic to scare prospective residents off. That and fall fire season (you know what Phos-check and aluma-gel are), and winter flash foods and mud slides. And spring hay fever season.What's unique about the State of California's geography is like Chile: a long narrow skinny state (not as extreme as Chile). We span 10 degrees of latitude as opposed to original states further East which chose -East-West expansion. It's also where the 10 degrees at a transition belt in a temperate area: the South part of the State is desert, and the North is forest. This is why we have water problems. CA is comparatively narrow in a N-S sense.Our state requires extensive water movement for a population to live in its pseudo-Mediterrean climate (I've been to Cadiz and Tarifa, Andaluccia, Spain as well as Gibraltar: you almost can't tell the difference in veg.). The critical clever idea was to tap the annual snow pack for water. This is because it requires the use of fewer smaller dams. The phase change of 80 Cal/cc (almost 2 orders of magnitude) from ice to water is what makes our water system useful. This is accomplished by 2 (3) major N-S mountain ranges: the coastal ranges and the Sierra Nevada/Cascade ranges. The total relief in CA from sea-level to almost 14.5K ft. squeezes water out of the air and forms snow. Snow is far more important than water because of that 80 Cal. difference. California is a 3-D major state.The Central Valley (Sacramento River Valley in the N, and San Joaquin River Valley in the S), and the lesser Salinas and Imperial Valleys are major ag centers. These are slowly being converted into urban areas. These Valleys as well as San Diego and Orange Counties for the major part of the conservative political base in California. You will even find the hints of both the California Nationalist Socialist (Nazi) Party (the documentary California Reich), KKK, and JBS (John Birch Society with "Get us out of the UN" signs).The State Government is composed of 58 counties in a State Senate and an Assembly. By now, I may have visited all of them (not intentionally). This is mostly about agriculture (land). They have very little concept about technology (GPS and chemicals are used extensively in agriculture but before that it was map, compass and surveying equipment). I've had discussions (representing the Feds.) in Sacramento, and they were good ones (I was challenged to visit 4 counties to see Internet connectivity: 2 good ones, and 2 poor ones (this was a geographic knowledge test (Siskiyou and Shasta (I had no problems), and then Inyo and Plumas (I've friends in the first and may retire fully there), and at the time I was stumped briefly (have been to Quincy a number of times now (including small plane flying)))))). A book about all county high points exists.I should note that if you want a survey of the whole State, visit the Cal Expo in Sacramento from the end of August to the beginning of Sept. This is the State Fair. Some city folk will poo-poo Fairs, but this is a survey of activity, not all agricultural in every CA county. I took a 2nd place for technical drawing (I drew an incomplete drawing for a Sikorsky S-64 Sky crane) while in Jr. High School and I started getting college offers while still in 9th grade. This is the kind of thing which distinguishes you in college and life.A neighbor and I have landed at over 100 public airports in CA (mostly Northern Calif. including OR, WA, NV, AZ, and UT, over 260) in a small plane.The urban Democrats learned the lessons of their defeat in the 2004 Presidential elections (too much time in the cities), and went into Nevada, AZ, and OR (the first two were difference) in 2008. Various Republicans are irked. Interior counties are more red but not like the East coast, ditto Orange and San Diego counties.So I know where Republicans live; in the Central Valley from Redding to Bakerfield (Demo studying rural health care economics). My HS mentor moved to Visalia. Friends grew up in Fresno. The other major areas at Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties and San Diego as well as the North Coast and Central Coast. Dad rose to the level of Dept. official in the American Legion.The motion picture industry (it's not called Show BUSINESS for nothing) is a major force in So. Cal. So much media is recorded here, that when the video is placed, residents can identify when and when something was recorded/filmed. The house I grew up in (just a middle class house) was used in a film. Because of the aforementioned latitude location, you can just about find any natural environment for filming, and they have location scouts for this. Yeah, you can tour studios, get jobs, grow up into the industry. Friends from high school and college work in the industry: I see their names roll by on credits occasionally. I briefly considered, when younger, working for WED Enterprises (Walt E. Disney) in Burbank as an Imagineer. Friends from my ACM/SIGGRAPH chapter (in the Bay Area) did (Jim has since died from Covid-19).Lucas made effective use of his time in Modesto and Petaluma.Because of WWII, a lot of aerospace industry is in So. Cal. and a little in Northern California. This has shrunk substantially, as has the oil industry (on and off shore). There is a gun culture; it's the Democrats who own cannons (really; I’ve attended cannon shoots). Some places do Renaissance Faire and Civil War reenactments. But the car culture reigns big (hot rods, motorcycles, etc.). The Conservatives count gays and Lesbians among them. What you will occasionally see are the Libertarians (people citing Ayn Rand are common (Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead)) around the coastlines and the Green Party in the far NW.Proposals to splint the state go from 2 (5 degree dividing line in CA 145 thru Madera near the geographic center of the state), three, and most recently 6 States. If you travel to the North you hear about how they almost combined with Southern OR (don't forget that part, they have their problem with OR government) to form the State of Jefferson (prospective State insignia of 2 Xs for Double Cross).Education is a big deal. It's not as snooty as the Eastern Ivy League. If you examine the very first ARPAnet map, 3 of the first four universities were in California. The 4th (Utah) was still in the West. They were thinking about the future of technology back then. They didn't have excess baggage. Unfortunately the education system is stressed. The first think tanks were here (e.g., RAND Corporation).Smokers in CA are basically very accommodating of non-smokers. It was tough dating one, but she was the finest woman I ever dated (her dad was a Caltech physics prof who recently passed away, she was not your average smoker).When you went to elementary school, you learned we are the Golden State for the brief Au rush. Other important California topics were citrus (can you name the types?), what was the California fishing, in particular tuna, industry (they were the cause of Chile and Peru to adopt 200 mile limits from the earlier 12 mile and 3 mile). The cultures which moved here, got clobbered here, would all be studied.The weather helps an outdoor health craze to this day (not that every one partakes). Public transit is poor and attempting to catch up. Distances are long and people feel forced to buy cars (Teslas are coming on but also other electrics). The Eastern US talks about the Atlantic and Ellis Island and Columbus (Italian, much less Leif Erickson). California has the Pacific and Angel Island. Some of our parents got rounded up and interned, this was overruled, and some people still to this day complain about that action (the over turning).Slavery didn't have a big hold during the Civil War. CA was part of the "North". This is lost on many on the East Coast, South. The Mason-Dixon Line took a turn South at Texas. The natives enslaved by the Missions weren’t counted.You can be in a snow storm (winter is optional; we go have quite a number of real glaciers) one moment and in a desert dust storm in a couple hours. The best place to experience this is the Palm Springs aerial tramway during a serious winter storm, but not so bad as to shut the tram down. Doesn't require car chains.Surfing is another story. Said enough.And Woody Allen noted the cultural advantage is the ability to make a right turn at a red light (not all, make certain to read all traffic signs). Many in CA like it that simple.You do need to be mindful on freeways and highways of road rage. This includes your pets.You have remaining tall Redwoods of various species (most were cut down). You have some of the oldest Bristlecone pines. Agriculture is still a big industry which many city dwellers tend to discount. Prisons are the new industry in part due to the three-strikes law. They are most visible at night in areas away from population centers. Some counties have rejected prison jobs.Many foreign countries have consulates in California. The Russians have major signal collection facilities from the Soviet era. We have the People's Republics of Berkeley, Oakland, and Santa Cruz.Tourists are always wondering what to see. We have more ghettos than people realize; some have corporate HQs like Nissan, Toyota, and Honda. Californians tend to drive more Priuses, than Honda Insights: a friend from Houston once commented.I know 3 German markets, a Scandinavian market, 3 Japanese markets, numerous Chinese, Mexican, Indian/Pakistani/Afghan markets. Mexican food isn't just tacos and burritos: it's mariscos, too. Abalone is a complex eating issue now (caught by self North of SF Bay or farm raised (hope this works)).Some of us residents have to put up with the meat and potatoes crowd making fun of our eating rice and raw fish. And tofu. The lactose intolerant have to put up with the assumptions of the lactose tolerant.Upper and middle class people pay to play harvesting wine grapes. Meanwhile, Mexicans are doing it in the Central Valley as professionals. Friends and I are caught in the middle doing it as a neighborly thing. I'm accused to taking high value PhDs and turning them into slave labor (they are just glad to get away for the day). Does this increase the value of the grapes (and then the wine) if people knew who picked them?The status car is a Tesla (one friend at google owns 2: one West coast, one at their East coast home) or various other electrics like RAV4s or EV-1s when they were out. Volts are coming along. Gas powered cars for an older generation or live in the Central Valley (Camaros, Chargers, Mustangs and many other foreign gas powered cars). I just had my car broken into (3x in my 2 vehicles now).....Many of us bike. And someone tried to steal my bike (couple of different times, it's a cheap bike, now stolen, got a donated bike from a friend). I live in a neighborhood of multi-colored bicycles most of which are single gear. We also have weird self driving cars, street view cars, etc. And they aren't all from google. They include bing (.com) and other panoramic mapping cameras, and other self driving cars from Michigan and the major automakers.Growing up as a kid, many white kids thought that the Asian kids knew Tae Kwondo, or Judo, or Karate. So I picked it up. (Actually, my parents said we descended from archers, so I've tried archery (actually recently got a gift bow (a compound model not a simple recurve bow) for a friend's son who joined the Scouts). I have to wrestle with the lethal force problem (to stay current), and may be purchasing a shot gun for trips to Alaska. I've expended $200 in 2 seconds (ammo for an M-134). Jumped out of perfectly good planes. Did the sail plane thing with my high school chemistry teacher. In turn, I taught him the basics of night sky astronomy.Many of the new rich don't feel the need to wear suits. Zuck legitimized the hoodie. The old rich (I know a few: I had Thanksgiving dinner at the SF Yacht Club: you will know if you know the rules of dress there) are disgusted by this. Women are caught in the middle of this but pull to the old, conservative. Ditto other non-whites.I see less ROTC, and church going, compared to other parts of the country.Let's see: I finished hiking the Muir Trail at the end of the 1980s. Climbed the 14Kers a number of times by various routes by that time, too before heading out of state for other objectives. We have the university which developed the atomic bomb (in another state no less, but they brought it back here later).I, at least, had a nice time in all my schools (public). Had fantastic educational experiences. Got to know a few Nobel laureate families. Met a few veterans in their time. Traveled the roads extensively (from Alturas (I edited a Knuth paper mentioning it) and Likely in the NE (Cedarville is also very nice) to Algondones near Yuma, National City to Crescent City. Our state has islands and a lot of interesting ocean. Nuclear reactors and accelerators, National labs and space and aero facilities. All Mach 3 planes were developed here.We have Death Valley. We have to share Lake Tahoe and the Colorado River with neighboring states. We have a 3rd world country to our South (rapidly changing toward 1st world). We have a fence which is porous with tunnels with a cross section for trucks which are found underneath it.We have a lot of privately owned wide open space. We have a few playas, but Nevada has more easily accessible day lake beds (CA's are used for bombing ranges, etc.; well El Mirage is open (flew in a sail plane (an S-33-2 with my HS chem teacher here)).One stands in a crowd. And some annoying person notes that everyone here is an immigrant to California, not even acknowledging that some of us grew up here.California is the home of both Sunset magazine and Scotts Lawn care products (Scotts Valley). If you are a keeping up with the Jones type, this is our version of Martha Stewart.If you are a real geek or nerd, you will know how to pronounce "halted .com". If you are a software person, your pronunciation can be forgiven. You know what district of Tokyo to visit.The most irksome thing about new California drivers is that they fail to pay attention to the road or freeway they are driving. When they miss a turn or ramp, they will attempt to cut across 2 or more lanes of traffic to make the ramp or turn, instead of realizing they blew it, get off at the next ramp and backtrack. You try to be too smart/clever and be overly quick to make up for your failure of attention. This is how you might cause a traffic accident here.Cars I have owned. This is a common computer security verification question. Largely economy cars. I've owned a car which got over 50 MPG, 4 decades ago (got over 300K miles on it). I've owned 2 SUVs (1 got over 400K miles on it), and I use 4WD low with some frequency (like yesterday in Silicon Valley). 2 of my new vehicles I didn't even bother to buy an AM/FM radio (this should give you an idea how dull I am). I care almost nothing about their color except urban camo (see my answer about Do men care about the color of their computing devices?), and thermal issues.I have met some amazing people growing up in California. Part of that was via correspondence (paper letters: introduced me to a now long time friend named Marvin Minsky, had nothing to do with computers). Then in college, I had the ARPAnet (no email at the time) and with email I was able to email people in computing like Marvin. Work allowed me to meet Nobel laureates. And Usenet was a great way to expand Internet horizons. While I didn't grow up in Silicon Valley and didn't get into microprocessors until later, I had contact. And most of these guys I run into grocery shopping. Or sometimes we carpool together (John McCarthy of Stanford was one such friend). You'd get bored with this if you didn't understand the place.California also refers to 2 States in the United States of Mexico: Baja California and Baja California Sur. Not nearly as populated, and most news concentrates on immigration (legal and illegal), but some very nice small towns like Loretto, Tecate (yes that's where they make the beer), the wine growing region. La Paz, Guerrero Negro, Todos Santos. Yes, there is crime, but there's also snowy 10K ft. peaks (possible to X-C ski). The largest Chinese population in Mexico is in Mexicali (they speak Spanish; do you expect them to speak English along with Chinese?). The Baja California States are not quite treated like the mainland Mexican states.Silicon Valley: if you have or hear of a problem (tech), you hear or get the weirdest reactions. An early noted OCR software, had an early version problem. So I called Tech Support (which just happened to be in Los Gatos). And the person on the phone said that Yes, that was an early bug and we fixed that and can mail you the update. And I gave my work address. "Do you know Frank ...?" Yes he's one of our Branch Chiefs. "He's my dad. I'll see him at dinner this evening and give him the disk then." And I got it in an interoffice mail envelope (this was back in the 1990s).East coast positives: Seasons: summer time fireflies are quite amazing. East coasters cite fall colors (New England). I've now visited Maine. California has nothing like that, but in certain higher elevations in the various mountain ranges where snow falls, you can get select fall color, like places where there are Aspens and cottonwoods. You just have to work on it. The duration and areal extent are shorter and smaller than the East coast. We have many more evergreens and scrub oaks. We are a little like coastal Spain. Better beaches (gradual slope).If you don't "Like" California, you can leave. This is why Oregon came up with the word Californication. We now have to deal with Oregon tourism ads (“It’s the economy, stupid”).For college summer jobs, I worked and climbed in Yosemite Valley. Ask me my zip code. So I have answers to tourist questions there. Friends still live there, but it’s best for me to visit them in winter or at least the off tourist season. Following that I drew masks for thin film circuits for 2 summers, so I’ve also have VLSI development.My body shop mechanic, Hispanic, once said, “You have to know 5 languages to do business in this place (Redwood City).”The furtherest South Russian colony/settlement was Fort Ross, CA, just North of SF.CA isn’t for everybody, but some of us were born here. And 1 friend’s relatives were here before statehood and were among the Donner Party rescuers.The Chinese-Americans can spot the Chinese spies (intelligence operatives trying to recruit Chinese-Americans) in Chinese restaurants. You can even read about them here on Quora (company).Quora (company) is here. It’s why you are reading this. It’s also the home of Facebook (See the movie Social Network? ever wonder why?), google, Yahoo!, even Microsoft, IBM, Wal-Mart know to have labs and offices here. The bio-tech Silicon Valley is South San Francisco where Genentech and it’s associated companies. Amgen has an office on the other side of the Bay.If you have a life variable you want addressed, let me know.Reference links:What was Mountain View, CA like before Google? Did Google have a huge impact on the development of the surrounding area, or was it just another piece of the growing puzzle?What facts about the United States do foreigners not believe until they come to America?