Hi,
I’d like to get some honest opinions from UC Berkeley students/alumni about choosing a college.
I have been accepted to my state school with a full ride (covering tuition, books, board, etc), as well as Berkeley (EECS) and Cornell (CS). For Berkeley and Cornell, I would have to pay full tuition/cost (OOS for Berkeley). My state school is about as good as the University of Michigan at Computer Science (I do not want to say its name for confidentiality reasons). However, it’s not very good at subjects other than engineering (and is consequentially ranked pretty low overall).
Where do you suggest I go (considering weather, class sizes, success after graduation)? I am mainly trying to decide between Berkeley and Cornell. Berkeley has a great location (near Silicon Valley), but I’m worried about Berkeley’s huge class sizes. On the other hand, Cornell is also pretty big, isolated, and cold. My state school is actually in a pretty good location but I am not sure I would want to go there (lack of prestige, too many people I know, etc).
Money isn’t an issue, but I would like to get some opinions. If you could choose again, would you choose to attend Berkeley? I do want to attend graduate school (either Masters or MBA).
Thanks for the suggestions!
go cornell.
Don’t choose state school…Why would you choose a state school, you would make less in future earnings?
My son is a CS student (L & S) at Cal and if you’re main concern is the large lectures I wouldn’t worry so much about it. He spends most of his time in sections, which are much smaller. In addition, his professors have been accessible and helpful during office hours. Some of his professors have offered additional instruction in smaller classes for the top students.
Where do you want to live after graduation - east or west coast? I think most employers recruit at the schools closest to them.
A full ride at some school likw UW (either one), Georgia Tech, Purdue, Rutgers, UMass, or some other school that is “about as good as the University of Michigan at Computer Science” would be hard to turn down if your family is not made of money.
Agreed, full ride to a top program is golden. You will graduate with money in the bank from internships and be interviewing with mostly the same companies that recruit at UCB and Cornell.
Did you really have mostly Bs in your math classes? It’s pretty amazing that you have this choice to make, congrats!
Prestige is not as important as the location of the school, or how you feel comfortable with the school, or how you confident that you feel like you’ll do well. If your state school is good as UM, then that school is no slouch and you’ll learn everything you need to do well. If you are also looking forward to attending grad school, then it is just a smarter idea to attend somewhere nearby and then come to Berkeley or wherever else to really study and when prestige starts to matter a bit.
I promise college, especially undergrad, is not a matter of making a statement. If you can figure out what is important to you and what you are looking for from college, or what your state school is because I don’t care how famous or not, then we can give you more information that’s relevant.