<p>I've been grinding over this for the past few days and I'm truly at a loss as to which to choose... Any advice on how to decide or any suggestions in general would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>My concentration will probably be either in International Relations or East Asian Studies, with the eventual career goal of going to a (strong) business graduate school. I'm not quite sure what my specific job will be, but I want traveling and living in another country to be part of it. </p>
<p>I am still considering UCLA and USC for various reasons; it's simply that I had the strongest and more favorable impressions from UCB and Tufts. </p>
<p>My general thoughts on both schools after visiting...</p>
<p>Tufts
- I love the campus and how you can tell by talking to the professors that they truly care about the undergraduate experience
- The campus is gorgeous, with Boston just a T ride away
- I know I'll get a lot of personal attention if I go to Tufts
- The social life didn't really impress me; while students were nice enough, it seemed like there was no real excitement or enthusiasm
- Going around in Boston, I didn't get a very favorable vibe from the people in general, especially in comparison to California people (I'm from SoCal)
- Tufts doesn't seem to have a strong Asian Studies department and they don't have an East Asian Studies department at all, which would mean I'd have to cross register at Boston College or Boston U (I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing) if I wanted to either minor or major in it</p>
<p>UCB
- I ADORE the campus; the architecture is so pretty to look at, even if the inside of the buildings look really dirty
- The area towards the back of the school is scary <em>_</em>
- I love the excitement and the sheer amount of activity going on; most students seemed to really like it there and be really involved
- I'm really worried about disappearing in the sea of people and coming out being simply mediocre </p>
<p>General points I'm worried about or focusing on right now:
- Enthusiasm, an active social campus, general school pride is important to me
- I am not using money as any kind of deciding factor because every university will be costing me about the same amount to go
- I want a place that will put me in a good position to apply to strong graduate schools and actually have a chance of getting in
- I'm adaptible enough that I can deal with being either in a small or large campus, but I'd prefer my professors actually know my name
- Asian Studies/East Asian Studies is something I'm very interested in and it is important to me since I do plan on studying abroad in China or Korea
- I come from a very Asian community (I'm Vietnamese Chinese), and I'm not sure how I feel about jumping from Asian Central to another Asian Central (Berkeley) or Asian Minority Status (Tufts) and dealing with which situation would actually be good for me</p>
<p>And... yes. UCLA I'm still considering because I got into both the Honor's Program and the Alumni Scholar's Club which practically guarantees me all the classes I want, and USC seems like a better mix of everything I want (except I really did not like the campus or the overly laid-back attitude of the students, which is why it's not strong on my list of colleges to go to).</p>
<p>Help would really be appreciated. Most everyone I've talked to has told me I can't go wrong no matter what I choose, but I'm not sure if I'm overlooking some factor or... what. <em>_</em></p>