Berkeley vs NYU vs Northwestern

<p>I can't decide which school. I visited all of them, but I feel like i'm okay with environment for all. I'm not definite on what I'm studying for college but i'm leaning towards business direction. Most likely study something like finance. Here are just some of the pros and cons for each. Please feel free to correct me if any of my facts are incorrect. </p>

<p>Berkeley
Pros:
Nice weather
Good campus/college town life
Haas is a terrific business school</p>

<p>Cons:
Earthquakes
Cali is broke, and berkeley is a public school so im afraid of them increasing tuition
I have to apply to Haas and I can only apply once
No financial aid</p>

<p>NYU
Pros:
Quarter scholarship
Stern business is great
Good opportunities for jobs and internships</p>

<p>Cons:
Expensive city overall to live in
No campus (no undergrad experience?)
Not as safe
Don't know if for sure I want to do business and everyone at stern has a clear goal in mind and know what they want to do in life
mediocore school if i want to change to diff major</p>

<p>Northwestern
Pros:
Great school overall for everything
Name recognition
liberal arts education </p>

<p>Cons:
Can only study economics for undergrad and im afraid about job opportunities/ wont be able to find job after undergrad
No financial aid</p>

<p>NYU is not a “mediocre” school and if it is significantly cheaper I would go there easily.</p>

<p>please anyone else?</p>

<p>Northwestern is the EASY choice here. IMO, a liberal arts degree – econ – beats undergrad biz by a large margin (unless you want to be an accountant). Many jobs posted request undergrad biz or econ, so you won’t be limiting your options.</p>

<p>NYU would only be an option if you had a strong desire for The Street, or if $$ was an issue. But still, I think NU is a much better undergraduate experience by $10k/yr, assuming the parents have the money. (full disclosure: I’m not a fan of urban campuses.)</p>

<p>Cal is just too expensive OOS, and there is no guarantee that you can transfer into Haas. If not, you’d end up with an Econ degree there, as well, but even the Econ major is impacted so you have to apply into it.</p>

<p>^ Seconded. If you can afford NU, go there. A true campus experience is very important, imo. And you’ll get a great one at Northwestern.</p>

<p>Blue, Cal econ > NU econ.</p>

<p>Based purely on job placements,
Cal Haas = NU econ
Cal Econ < NU econ</p>

<p>

These Northwestern “pros” apply more to Berkeley than NU…just saying…</p>

<p>NU cons:
Chicago winters
Plain vanilla, sterilized suburban environment
Big Ten sports doormat</p>

<p>UCB:</p>

<p>I don’t doubt that Cal Econ is higher ranked than nearly every other college. (Heck most of Cal’s departments are ranked higher than any other college but HSM.) But having high ranked departments doesn’t mean much if the OP can’t get into them! And the OP clearly posted that studying Econ was a “con” to him/her. In addition to Haas requiring a Junior year application, Cal econ is impacted, and requires an app as well; thus, even Econ @ Cal is no guarantee. For the same price…beautiful campus on a Lakefront. Better advising. Less bureaucracy. </p>

<p>fwiw: Personally, I would not put Evanston into the “sterilized, suburban” category…that is a much better label for a place like Irvine. :)</p>

<p>^ If you read econ as a con, then why are you recommending NU? It’s more limiting in opportunities than Cal.</p>

<p>Yes, Evanston > Irvine</p>

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<p>Answer (again):</p>

<p>In addition to Haas requiring a Junior year application, Cal econ is impacted, and requires an app as well; thus, even Econ @ Cal is no guarantee. For the same price…beautiful campus on a Lakefront. Better advising. Less bureaucracy.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your input. I actually don’t mind chicago winters and the environment overall there. I think it’s beautiful, and the weather doesnt really affect my decision. Economics is not really a con for me because I find the subject interesting. However, I was just afraid that I won’t be able to find a job easily with an economics degree.</p>

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<p>I’ll spot you the winters but how could you possibly describe Evanston as “plain vanilla sterilized suburban”? I don’t think you’ve been there.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I’ll give you the Mildcats. But at least NU doesn’t have faculty meetings every year demanding cuts to the sports teams. (How could anyone in their right mind cut baseball?)</p>

<p>^ Ummm, hey it worked…I think it was a strategic move by the admin. It served as a rallying cry to alums to put up some money.</p>

<p>yeah it did, but it will still hurt future recruiting across all sports. Other coaches will use the example (lack of administrative support for athletics) as a reason to spurn Cal and go live on The Farm for a few years. Beyond beisball, the rugby cut really sends a message.</p>

<p>Berkeley, obviously</p>

<p>Blue, they reversed their decision…about baseball and rugby. The admin misjudged the level of support. Fortunately they were able to turn that around.</p>

<p>Sandy is from Wake Forest and Robert is from MIT…they’re outsiders who don’t understand Cal.</p>

<p>No offense guys but can we return to the topic of choosing a college and not sports?</p>

<p>NYU.

  • It’s the only school that gave you a scholarship.
  • It has the Finance major, that Northwestern doesn’t have.
  • NYC, plenty of internships, and don’t worry about it being unsafe. There are plenty of people at anytime of the day.</p>