<p>Hello,
Background info: I was recently accepted to UC Berkeley and UNR (Nevada, Reno) in May of this year. I have had a difficult time choosing which school I should go to. Now, most people would jump on the opportunity of going to Berkeley probably because of name recognition and prestige. I'm in a different situation because there are so many factors that I really don't know what to do. I hope I make the right decision, but I know wherever I do end up, it will be okay. </p>
<p>Now, the first main point is that the financial aspect isn't a factor. Paying 50,000 / yr for Berkeley won't be too bad for my family (yes, I am an OOS applicant). That's not the problem though; I just want to know if it's actually worth it. I was accepted into the College of Letters and Science for Molecular Biology, but I might want to switch into Engineering later. I like biology and physiology but at the same time, math, physics, and mechanics have been my forte. I feel like I have the opportunity to switch majors at UNR, as it is very difficult to switch from Science to Engineering at Cal. </p>
<p>Another thing I'm concerned about is admission into medical school. After doing a fair bit of research, I've come to the conclusion that the amount of Cal applicants who get into a medical school is fairly low for an elite school.
My information is based on this: <a href="https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm%5B/url%5D">https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/top20.stm</a>
I feel like if I went to Cal because of grade deflation or whatever, I would just end up going to UNR medical school (they still take into account your residency) and wasting close to 200 grand on Berkeley. </p>
<p>Another thing to consider is the amount of AP credits I have. If I do go to UNR, I can finish in 3 years and move on. I would have to take those courses again at Cal. </p>
<p>A lot of people have been telling me to go to Berkeley because of the environment and the resources. People will push you to work hard and you will develop good habits. However, is this all worth it considering my situation and the cost? Would it be better to just go to UNR and finish in 3 years? I am really confused and have to make my decision really soon. </p>
<p>Thanks so much.</p>
<p>EDIT: forgot to mention that UNR is FREE for me, I have full tuition.</p>
<p>bump any response would be very appreciated.</p>
<p>You just want people in here to recommend you University of Nevada.</p>
<p>^ Did you read anything that I typed up? The whole point of this thread is the fact that I need advice. If I wanted people to recommend UNR, I wouldn’t need a second opinion-I would just go there.</p>
<p>Sounds like money is the major issue. If the 200k will will affect the financial future of you or your family in a sifnificant way, then unr is a good option. But if financing ucb is very much within reach for your parents, but there is just some hesitation in spending money --no one really like to fork over that much money, let’s face it, even if they can afford–then you may want to think more broadly. Going to college is a formative experience that you don’t get to repeat many times in life, and it’s far more than getting on a career path.</p>
<p>Regardless of school, if you want to leave open the option of switching majors, you need to make sure to take the math, physics, and chemistry courses for the majors you may switch to, rather than the special (usually not as hard, though not necessarily easy) ones for biology majors and pre-meds.</p>
<p>It looks like if you want to do engineering, UNR would make that easier. If you want to go to medical school, saving $200,000 for UNR and applying that to expensive medical school would help.</p>
<p>As far as medical school admission rates go, remember that most applicants applying to MD medical schools in the US get 0 admissions. That does not even count all of the pre-meds who give up before applying due to GPA too low, or MCAT too low.</p>
<p>Thank you both for the input. I’m getting a variety of answers. Money is something my parents are not too hesitant about but I am. Because I have a brother, I can anticipate that problems could form if he too chooses to go to a decent, expensive university.
With this in mind, should I choose UC Berkeley? Am I getting enough bang for my buck by going there?</p>
<p>What non-medicine non-engineering majors and career paths are you considering?</p>
<p>Note that you can do pre-med with any major, but majors with a lot of non-overlapping requirements like most engineering majors would be rather difficult to do with pre-med courses added on (although majors like math or physics leave more space take the non-overlapping pre-med courses). Also note that many medical schools do not accept AP credit for pre-med course requirements.</p>
<p>As it is, it is hard to make a financial argument for Berkeley unless your parents can really comfortably pay $200,000 for your school, another $200,000 for your brother’s school, and some more for your medical school if you get in and still have plenty of money for their retirement and whatever else.</p>
<p>Medical school is expensive. Even the in-state tuition and fees of Nevada medical school $26,000 per year. Private and out-of-state public medical school can be up to $70,000 per year for tuition and fees (note that these do not include room and board). Remember that more pre-meds are lucky to get 1 admission, so most have little or no choice to choose a less expensive one.</p>
<p><a href=“https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/select.cfm?year_of_study=2013[/url]”>https://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/select.cfm?year_of_study=2013</a></p>
<p>@ucbalumnus As far as medicine is concerned, I’m not quite sure what I want to do with my degree; neuroscience is appealing at this point. For engineering, i’m pretty sure biomedical would be my favorite discipline (not offered at Berkeley; if I were to transfer, I would probably go into EE).</p>
<p>I feel like if I did go to Cal, I would be more disciplined, studious, etc and would miss a big experience. If I settle for UNR, is it possible that I’ll be missing out on a lot?</p>
<p>Thank you by the way, you comprehensively cleared any questions I had about the financial aspect of the decision.</p>
<p>Yea dude, lol, man just do what your heart tells you man do what you feel is right man you know follow the wind man</p>
<p>Bump need to make up my decision as housing for Berkeley is due tomorrow, thanks for answers thus far.</p>