I posted under the UC Berkeley thread already but I want the Brown University perspective too.
I received the UC Berkeley Regents’ Scholarship so Cal would cost me $10,000 while Brown would cost me $20,000 but I would be able to do work-study and work summers to bring Brown down to $15,000 so my parents are telling me not to let cost determine where I go anymore.
I plan to major in Environmental Science and add another major, possibly chemistry. I visited both schools and I liked UC Berkeley’s campus better because it seemed more active. However, I know that Brown’s curriculum and courses would be better for me because of the small class sizes and the Open Curriculum. I plan to go to law or graduate school and I know that going to Brown would help get me into a great grad school (given how Brown’s placement to grad school and law school is a lot better). I also love that the students at Brown are just so nice. At Brown, I know I would get a great education without as much stress as at UC Berkeley. However, I feel like I would fit right in UC Berkeley and my heart (is the heart overrated?) is saying UC Berkeley even though my thoughts say Brown. I have only visited UC Berkeley last year for a weekend and I only visited Brown last week for 3 days in the cold rain so I don’t think that I have a true feeling of the campuses so I think that I could grow to love Brown just as much or more than my current feeling for UC Berkeley (but is this just a stretch and excuse).
Can someone help me make a decision that I hopefully won’t regret?
Follow your heart(as cliche as it sounds). I live in San Francisco(20 min drive to Berkeley), so I can tell you right now that Cal is an incredibly fun school to go to. The Bay Area really is the best. On the other hand, Brown is also a hella good school… there’s a reason I’m going there next yr ;). In the end, both Cal and Brown are GREAT schools, and in my opinion you’re sitting on a win-win situation. Just go wherever feels right deep down.
@Llamma The more rational choice is Brown given your interest in law and grad school and given Browns better undergrad focus, resources for undergrad and grade inflate compared to berkley (you need a top GPA for law school). But if you heart is sooo set on Berkeley, then go for it.
Congrats. You were accepted to two wonderful schools. I imagine you will do well at either school, but I say go with your gut. As long as you keep your GPA up, you should have no problem getting into law school. Brown’s open curriculum is phenomenal–especially for those undecided about their path, or for those who want to combine typically unrelated fields–but it doesn’t mean that there is no room for experimenting at another school. If you have some idea of what you want, and need to shop around in classes to refine your goals further, you can do that at Berkeley.
When I told my favorite professor that I was going to try to transfer to Brown, he was excited for me, and he suggested I apply to Berkeley as well.
Write the chairs of both Environmental Science departments with some kind of meaningful question and see how they respond. That will tell you a lot about how each school engages with undergraduate students.
Brown has more of an undergrad focus and the average grades are higher at Brown (rumors of grade inflation abound), which would put you in a better place to apply to law or grad school. I love Berkeley but I would choose Brown in this situation. Providence is really nice, too.
If it were my D, then I’d vote Brown. It’s an Ivy. And Cal is huge and stressful. And I have a ton of friends and relatives that have gone and are going to Cal.
The weather is different from Providence, obviously, but because the way Berkeley is situated (on the Bay, directly in the path of/to the GG Bridge) it does get a bit more clouds and fog than much of the rest of the Bay Area.
Clearly you can’t go wrong with either school – both are great. Congratulations!
Most Brown students fall in love with Brown. The enthusiasm of the alumni attest to that.
Berkeley is a huge school, Brown a medium size one. The focus at Brown is undergraduate – Berkeley has a lot of graduate schools. The weather will definitely be worse in Providence, and San Francisco is a lot more fun than Providence.
I looked at one of your old posts – and you described yourself as low-income. I know your parents said not to base your decision on cost, but please make sure that you can afford the more expensive school before committing.
Do you want to step outside the box and try living on the East Coast? Would like to be able to explore Boston, NYC, Washington DC? Or do you feel very happy with California, and would miss your family if you lived across the country?
Do you like the idea of a more close-knit campus – of living in dorms as opposed to having to deal with apartments/rents/etc. (my limited knowledge of Cal is that most students live off campus after freshman year).
The environmental science program at Brown is quite good, but I can’t compare it to Berkeley.
One of my kids graduated from Cal (forestry major) and one of my kids is finishing her junior year at Brown (public health, getting an MPH in 5th year). Both of them LOVED their schools.
I believe my Cal kid would have been just as happy at Brown but I know my Brown kid would find Cal too big, too impersonal, too stressful. She definitely has taken full advantage of the small class sizes at Brown as well as the direct access she has to professors who seem to go above and beyond to get to know their students . I’m amazed by how easily she has been able to get into her first choice classes each semester compared to the challenges her brother faced navigating around impacted classes at Cal.
Providence is a wonderful little city–diverse, great food, great history–and Boston is just an hour away (although my daughter visits Boston no more than a couple times a semester). The Bay Area (and Silicon Valley) is pretty hard to beat, however, when it comes to diversity, natural beauty and the incredible cultural and intellectual opportunities available. My son really thrived in the grittiness of the Berkeley street scene, and I think he really needed the stimulation of a big student population. He liked living off campus–despite how expensive it was, and how poorly maintained most of the apartments were. My daughter has been very happy in the dorms (and dining halls) at Brown and she has lucked out in the lottery each time with very comfortable rooms or suites.
As for grade inflation–I’m not sure this exists at Brown. Perhaps the option of taking a class pass/fail (but not within the major/concentration) each semester lightens the academic load a bit, but from what I have gathered (I have two nieces there too), grading is pretty tough–and Brown students are very driven.
Choose the school that FEELS like home. You’ll receive equally excellent educations at either place. Congratulations!!