it’s the last day to commit to a school and i am still unsure of which to choose. i’m interested in majoring in political science. i’m concerned about berkeley’s class size and lack of support for students. i’ve also heard a lot about depression rates and general unhappiness and stress of the student body. at wellesley, i’m concerned about how it seems like a bubble and is all girls. it also makes me sad that people haven’t heard of it. i know it’s superficial in some ways but i appreciate that berkeley is a big name that most have heard of. i like that both are close to big cities, but wellesley seems more isolated. help!!!
taking all of these things (class size, location, happiness) into consideration, what should i do?
What’s the cost for both?
@tigerman333 cost is around same for both for me (~$40k) but a little higher for berkeley bc i’m out of state
You understand the differences and need to make a choice. I would only add that anyone who “matters” (ex. grad schools, future employers) would know of Wellesley. But nobody on a blog who has never even met you should presume to know which of these very different environments would serve you best over the next 4 years.
YOU are in charge of yourself. Knowing the risks of Berkeley you can make sure you are not in the minority who have the problems. Poli Sci at Berkeley? Wow. I would never give up that opportunity. As a Wisconsin woman in Chemistry I had women friends but was with plenty of males. I would not give up the male perspective at all. Even at large U’s there are students who find a way to be engaged and stand out. There are office hours. Many more voices to be heard at a larger campus. I’m an independent woman and never needed hand holding. Support comes in many forms. Likeminded friends. Activities. Opportunities to go for it. Can do mentality.
Berkeley.
For the same price, I would recommend Wellesley over Cal, and I say that as someone whose father and brother are Cal alumni. The main complaints I hear from Cal students are exactly your concerns. Getting your best undergraduate education is most important. Whichever one you pick, though, will be great.
I wouldn’t pick UCB for undergrad at OOS rates, especially since Wellesley is cheaper. At Wellesley you won’t have to worry about state budget cuts. You’ll have a personal adviser and a stipend if you have a summer internship in a high cost area.
Whoever hasn’t heard of Wellesley doesn’t know much. You’ll get an elite education (it’s like a Little Ivy) and opportunities open to Wellesley grads are superb (on par with the Ivy League, in part because specifically it’s a women’s college.)
Finally, you only get one chance to attend a LAC whereas if you really love Berkeley you can still attend as a graduate student.
I went to a women’s college. It’s a truly amazing experience, IMO. You’re in a place where all of the leaders around you are women - both the administration (women’s colleges tend to have women presidents, deans, provosts, etc., at higher rates than co-ed colleges) and the student leadership (SGA president, club presidents, etc.) It’s empowering to sit in classes where women’s history and issues are just a standard part of the curriculum and not a side note. And the sisterhood is amazing! I meet alumnae of my college and it’s like finding a long-lost sister. Just the other night I met an alumna at a party and she drove me home afterwards; we’d known each other for a few hours, lol.
It is a little bit of a bubble, but that’s not a bad thing and almost every college or university exists in a bubble somewhat.
I know it seems like you will care that people don’t know your college, but really, in 5+ years you won’t care. First, I think you might be surprised at how many people in your social circles have heard of Wellesley. When you’re college-educated and in the work world, you’ll really be associating with a different group of people and many of them will have heard of Wellesley. I always start to explain my college (Spelman) and am usually stopped by people who are like “yeah, I know Spelman!” (As an aside, while many people will have heard of Berkeley, a lot of people will only know it for being a UC; they aren’t necessarily familiar with how good it is, particularly on the East Coast.)
But the important part is really, you won’t care as much anymore. Once you’re working, most of your future jobs will be gotten on the strength of your prior work experience. Your college will mostly come up in idle small talk. And people asking you about it will give you a chance to share a little of your experience with them!
As an OOS applicant, it should cost your family a whole lot more than $40,000 to attend Cal?
The “hand holding” expression comes up often in comparing LACs with universities.
Usually it has negative connotations and IMO misses the point of what you can get at a LAC. Choose a top LAC to be challenged, not coddled. Along with less bureaucracy and better student-faculty engagement (not just during office hours but every day in class), you also get the challenge of having to defend more frequently (and from year 1) what you say in class discussions or in writing assignments (graded, with critical comments, by a professor not a TA). You can sleep in the back of a 500 student lecture hall, but when you arrive for a 15 student discussion class at a top college, you’re expected not only to have read the material but also to have thought about it.
That’s not to say YOU will spend 4 years sleeping in the back of 500 student lecture halls. Yes, if you’re motivated and persistent, you can find opportunities at a big RU that you can’t at most small LACs. On the other hand, at Wellesley you can cross-register at Babson, Brandeis, MIT, or Olin. You’re at the edge of one of the most dynamic college towns in America, home to over 150K students (many attending some of the most prestigious schools in the country). Boston-Cambridge is one of the biggest, best academic Meet Markets anywhere. It’s centered in an interesting historic city with good rail connections to other interesting cities along the NE corridor.
@amazinganna, where did you enroll? I saw this too late, but if you are not in California, you may be unaware of the amount of political activism on UC campuses. You need to make sure you are comfortable with seeing large groups of protesters on campus every day. It can be very distracting and some of these protests border violence!
Plus, if you are going to study politics, be aware that all your professors will be very liberal. There is no political diversity in UC systems, and you will receive very one-sided worldview (to say the least). Hope you chose Wellesley. My DD decided on Babson, so you can be neighbors.