Hello! I’m looking for some advice on which college to attend for undergrad: UC Berkeley or Pomona College? I’m looking to get an MBA in the future so the most important thing to me is that the school I attend will give me a good path to a top business school (i.e. Stanford GSB, Harvard GSB, etc.) as well as access to jobs and internships.
Below are some of my thoughts on each school:
Berkeley: Great recognition, which is kind of important to me, but is not the deciding factor on which school to attend. I’m worried about how large the school is – difficulty getting into classes and access to professors. I’m not a very aggressive person and the large size could either push me to become more aggressive, or I could get lost in the crowd. However, I think I would enjoy the vibrant social scene and the great athletics. I love to dance and I would absolutely love to join the dance team and such. Haas is also amazing, but I don’t know that it’s critical considering that I want to go to business school later. I also have a few friends in Haas that I can look to for advice, but I don’t know anyone at Pomona.
Pomona: After being in public school for so long, it’d be nice to go to a private school and the small class size is much more appealing to me. With the smaller size however, I’m not sure about the social scene at Pomona. I’m from northern California and it would be nice to go down to Southern California and be near LA. It’s difficult for me to compare Berkeley/Pomona in terms of post-graduation plans just because Pomona has much fewer graduates than Berkeley. I’ve seen stuff about med school, but not much about business school.
Price isn’t an issue for me, and I’ll be going to the admit days soon. I’m leaning toward Pomona, but I’m unsure about getting into business school after undergraduate so any info on that would be highly appreciated. I keep feeling like I’m settled on Pomona, but then I remember that Berkeley is such an amazing school as well; it’s all so confusing! I really just want to feel like I’m making the right decision for myself. Thanks all!