<p>I faced the same dilemma a few years ago: Cornell Biology or UC Berkeley....and I chose Berkeley. My 3 years at Berkeley were fantastic (I'm spending my 4th year at Stanford getting an MS degree), and I cannot imagine getting a better natural sciences education than the one I received at Berkeley (between you and me, the quality of undergraduate Bio education at Berkeley is better than the one my undergrad friends at Stanford are getting). Although Cornell was a strong contender to Berkeley, the cost and location led me to Berkeley....and in retrospect, going to a UC school for undergrad should have been a no-brainer for a California resident such as myself.</p>
<p>You have to understand that the mandate of the University of California is to provide the best education to the most students at the cheapest price possible...but if you are motivated, you can easily "horde" the resources and get an education that easily surpasses the one I'm getting as a graduate student at Stanford, and for in-state tuition if you are a California resident.</p>
<p>As much as I think US News Rankings are garbage, I am forever grateful to them. If the naive over-achievers in high schools truly understood what an undergraduate education was worth in the real world, understood how arbitrary college rankings are, and really understood how great the quality of education at the University of California schools are, I really doubt I would have been accepted at Berkeley years ago. Instead, many over-achievers (from my cohort and yours) choose to shun the UC schools, and instead dish out loads of money and travel across the country for what they perceive as a better education. "Of course, it's an Ivy League school". Prestige is reputation by affiliation, not reputation by any meaningful accomplishment. You could go to any elite school and you will find that many, if not most, of the grad students and professors went to “no-name” schools…….. In this day and age of standardized education and electronic resources, the quality of education you receive is almost completely dependent on YOU. Your aptitude will always fall short of opportunity, at Cornell, Berkeley, or Cal State (for those of you not familiar with California’s public colleges, Cal State schools are regional 4-year public colleges that are universally viewed as being “inferior” to the University of California schools) ….and this Cal State girl is going to Harvard Medical School: <a href="http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=10667%5B/url%5D">http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=10667</a>
College is what you make of it. Your school will give you a piece of paper and an affiliation, YOU will give YOURSELF an education. </p>
<p>Regarding pre-med at Berkeley: Berkeley’s relatively low admit percentage can be attributed to two things: 1) As with Cornell, Berkeley does not have a pre-med committee that screens applicants to determine who can apply and who cannot; 2) 90% of Berkeley pre-meds are California residents, and California’s state medical schools (UCSF, UCLA, UCSD, UCI, UCD) are all ultra-competitive to get into. In other words, being a California resident is a disadvantage because the state schools are actually harder to get into than most reputable private schools (Cawaiigirl, you’re a California resident, so you’re going to be at a disadvantage whether you go to Berkeley or Cornell). Now contrast this with Cornell, which has a more broadly represented student population- the NY resident at Cornell can apply to private schools but has the less competitive SUNY medical schools as “backup”, the Texas resident has a whole slew of state medical schools as “backup”, etc etc. For a California resident, the reputable private schools often ARE the backup. Stanford being 50% California residents may explain why Stanford’s med acceptance rate of 75% (according to my pre-med friends at Stanford) is lower than you’d expect from a school of Stanford’s reputation. </p>
<p>College “advising” is over-rated. Maybe it’s just my personality, but I found it a burden to have to constantly meet up with major/college advisors at Berkeley- there are plenty of electronic resources out there such that YOU can school your advisor. It’s just a matter of being lazy and having things fed to you, or taking the initiative to do things on your own. I prefer the latter. </p>
<p>About being an art major at Berkeley…. I cannot tell you much. I only knew one art major at Berkeley, and she’s in Dartmouth Medical School now. </p>
<p>As a final note: SAVE THAT TUITION $$$ FOR GRAD/PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL! But if you are going to Cornell, you might be lucky to have one of my best friends from Berkeley as your TA- he's starting his PhD there soon.</p>
