<p>@rahuja: You have received excellent comments and suggestions here, which if you take some time to step back and think through, you will find the right solution embedded already. Good luck with your decision… whatever you choose should be ultimately right for you.</p>
<p>FWIW, my D2 is a Brown '15 admitted student and doing a visit there in a couple weeks. We live in So Cal as well. She will decide between Brown and Columbia (if she wants to go east coast) or go to Pomona if she stays in CA. But a big part of the decision will be Fin Aid as well. Currently Pomona has offered the biggest scholarship and I know I’d rather she attends a college which is cost-effective for us, regardless of the prestige.</p>
<p>thank you all for the valuable information I really appreciate it. I feel that I have more information moving forward. I will definitely be content at either Berkeley or Brown so I am pretty happy haha</p>
<p>like Matt Damon says in Good Will Hunting: Some day when you’re 50, you’re gonna wake up realizing you paid $150,000 on an education you could have got for $1.50 in late charges at the public library. Although it overstates the case, there is some truth in that.</p>
<p>Rahuja, financial aid is calculated year by year. So if your father now has a much lower income (and lowered expenses), you may be well be in line for significant financial aid for years 2 through 4 – you can’t just take this year’s numbers and multiply by 4!</p>
<p>^But without guarantees by the aid department, that’s how you typically have to calculate things. Berkeley is a great choice, especially given the circumstances, and given your attitude, I’m confident you’ll have a great collegiate experience, Rahuja. Congratulations, you’re in a great situation.</p>
<p>LoremIpsum: I understand that, but I cannot take that chance. They would not give me a guarentee that my package would change so I dont think that would be feasible to just matriculate and hope for the best.</p>
<p>chsowlflax17: Thanks I appreciate it! All of your input has been truly helpful and I know that I am going to make the most of my experience at Berkeley!</p>
<p>What are you going to do in the future? if you are going to do medicine, wall-street, law, then Brown is a good investment.</p>
<p>If you attend UC-Berkely, it might take 5 years to complete your UG. (because budget cut, i know many people do so), and Financial Aid is year by year, you never know what tuition you are going to pay next year. If you are going to do “medicine, wall-street, law”, and the tuition is within $100,000 difference. I would vote for Brown. </p>
<p>UC-Berkely is a good school, but it also comes with fierce competition, almost every course need a grade (few pass/fail allowed), therefore, you might get avg GPA 3.0-3.5 after 4 years there, then i would say Medical school is almost out of touch. If you can handle above GPA 3.5 (difficult to achieve this grade point average) you may have chance to enter low to mediocre graduate/business/med schools. So it is totally up to your strength and future goal.</p>
<p>I am going to pursue either law or something in government so my income is not exactly guaranteed. thankfully I have a scholarship at Berkeley that allows me to get first selection of classes and a personal adviser so I will definitely be able to graduate in four years. I think I am going to be able to compete in Berkeley. If I can work hard, I can make the grades. I dont really believe in picking a school where its easier to succeed.</p>
<p>^you might want to PM other UC-Berkely students to get more info on your preparing entering school. And congratulations on your decision. If there is problem with tuition, then i think it’s better stick with Cal. To my knowledge, even Regents scholar doesn’t get much privilege on course selection, students still have to race with course selection with timing and luck. Anyway, best wishes!!!</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestion! That is actually something I have been doing! The picking courses first part is actually a new perk this year which makes it a lot more appealing. But i really appreciate your input and insight. Brown is fantastic but sadly its just not financially feasible.</p>
<p>New development. Recently Georgetown reconsidered their financial aid package for me and offered a 11K annual scholarship. Brown said they wouldnt reconsider my financial aid after I appealed. Should I show what Georgetown offered me to Brown or not bother since they already denied my appeal?</p>
<p>^Maybe worth a try, but at this point I would not get my hopes up at all. It’s probably better to give it a shot and not ask yourself “what if,” but you’re in a great position regardless, so it’s not something worth stressing much over.</p>