Chicago Pros
1. prestige and focus on intellectual life (the CORE!!!)
2. Quarter system (Can someone explain this)
3. Challenging and focus on academics
4. Smaller student body more opportunities to interact with faculty (?)
5. Research opportunities
6. Chicago
Berkeley Pros
1. Transfers 55+ credits!!!! ( I don't want to graduate early tho)
2. Weather
3. Half the price of Chicago
4. More people and more abundant social life (??)
Irrelevant:
1. Sports
2. Intro level class size since I won’t have to take them
Chicago Cons
1. Costly
2. The wind, the bitingly cold wind
3. Doesn’t more renowned faculty also mean less time spent on entertaining undergraduates(?)
Irrelevant:
1. Crime rate/safety
Berkeley Cons
1. Huge student body (less sense of community)
2. Greek life (I just don’t think I'd fit in, probably not)
3. Budget cut(?)
I come from one of the biggest cities in China, a science oriented Chinese sending school and a very rural, also science oriented early entrance program in the states (hence the 55 credits) I am very interested in the humanities aspect of colleges, but was raised to become a doctor (an entire family of them). I am not sure what to do with life/major choices in general. Unlike many of the amazing kids who already know their true passion, I am more… adrift… in a sense, although I feel like I would succumb eventually and try to apply to med schools (maybe I will get in one). The only thing that I know for certain is that I can’t do Math/Physics/CS.
I don’t really know much about Berkeley, it’s more like another tick mark when I applied to LA as my safety school. But now that I know about that credit transfer it has gradually became a more and more attractive option. I am not sure what focus I would pick in bio so I applied Cell & Molecular Bio. Chicago seems to have a rather solid bio major, especially basic studies.
–Any ideas which school has better bio programs?
Being a pre-med, I have to say I don’t have the best choices. Both schools look pretty gory. So it’s really a “the one-eyed man is king” situation. I contacted CCHIP, pre-med at Chicago doesn’t sound… unmanageable. But since I haven’t had time to look I don’t really know about the biology programs at Berkeley and how successful Berkeley students have been at applying to med schools (especially international students. I don’t think I found this data anywhere.)
–If you are a Chicago Berkeley bio major (PRE-MED) and have any suggestions or comments (overall quality, programs to check out, etc…)
Also I think I am going to be applying to med school right after I graduate but because it is very difficult for internationals I feel like I should also consider job placement. (I heard California offers more opportunities for bio majors.)
–any comment on that?
I am really not dead set on biology tho. The knowledge of life sciences are fascinating indeed and I can totally picture myself as a doctor. I still feel like doing something more exciting and (influential maybe?). I feel like biology’s ultimate purpose is to either industrialize or to intelligentize “doctors”, if not to eliminate all sickness. The only way to approximate that purpose in biology is probably to become a scientist. I’m interested in regenerative medicine and other cutting-edge ideas like genetic engineering. But having been in labs, I don’t find myself particularly drawn to laboratory experiments. Besides most of my interests typically involve engineering to an extent, my abilities in which are limited.
–I think changing major at Chicago is much less of a hassle, and Chicago (especially econ) seems to have more outstanding, higher quality programs for any majors or focus. The core will probably expose me to more fields too. Is this accurate to say?
Other major options. I don’t know much about economics, but I have an appreciation for it. There’s this fuzzy notion in my head that econ is the frame of society. I’ve always been interested in reading about econ, politics, and philosophy but I am not sure if that’s a true interest or not, since actually majoring in something is very different from leisure reading. UofC has an amazing econ department and that’s always tempting. If I don’t major in it (b/c Math) I would at least take classes from the department.
Berkeley really really gets into the game at credits transfer. With 55+ credits I can be placed into a “graduating senior” credit class my first year, which means priority, more time to explore, more upper-level classes, more time in general for MCAT or whatever else.
–My question here is whether if the credits matter that much? I heard that Chicago’s quarter system makes it easier for more courses throughout the four years but can that compete with 55 credits?
And here are more generic questions if you didn’t have time to read all the above–
How different are the quality of the universities? Or just academically?
Does being a Chinese international student affect much? Considering the humongous Chinese population at Berkeley (not sure if that’s what I would like). If there’re any other insights on any other aspect of what being an international student might entail, I would really appreciate it.
Any thoughts on anything is appreciated.