<p>So, i'm basically a very poor OOS student. My EFC is 0, and I got into berkeley. If I went to berkeley, I would hopefully get $19,000 in scholarships and grants, 8000 in student loans, and i would have to borrow about 22,000-23,000 to pay for the rest of a year of education at Berkeley (used financial aid calculator). By the time I would graduate Berkeley in 4 years, I would accrue a ton of debt. However, at my state flagship, purdue, I would basically go there for free. Job placement for Computer Science (my major) at purdue is very high. Purdue is like #7 in the nation for job placement after graduation for computer science. Research opportunities also seem good, but since UCB is one of the top schools, I'd think research opportunities would be better at UCB. So, do you still think I should go to Berkeley even though I would be in a lot of debt after graduation? Or should I just go to purdue since I wouldn't accrue any debt there?</p>
<p>Go with Berkeley, especially if you’re majoring in the computer sciences. Berkeley is world class in that field. Purdue’s great in engineering and pre-pharmacy, and has an OK business program, but it’s not that good in about everything else. Sure, employment may be good regionally, but Berkeley is world famous for its comp sci program. </p>
<p>If you’re not planning to go to grad school, Berkeley it is.</p>
<p>Berkeley is generally tied with MIT and that other insignificant non-ivy school across the bay for the #1 spot in Computer Science. Although Purdue’s ranking is still extremely impressive, there’s just a difference in going to one of the top schools.</p>
<p>Even if you were to incur six figures of debt, if you get a degree in Computer Science, you’ll likely land a nice paying job, and if you continue to live like a college student, the debt will likely be paid off in two years.</p>
<p>Not to mention:
- The weather here is so much better. You have the occasional rainstorm, but it’s a drizzle compared to what I’ve seen in Indiana. The winters are warm and the summers are cool.
- There’s so much more to do. If you get tired of campus, the city is just a BART ride away; or, you can ride the bus for free with your student ID. More people live in the Bay Area than everyone in Indiana combined.
- You get to expand your network and experience truly living far away from home.</p>
<p>The point is: that debt is actually a really great deal considering what you get out of it. If you were to do some underwater basket weaving degree, that’s another issue, but Computer Science is a solid choice.</p>
<p>do you guys think I would be able to land a much nicer paying job from a degree from Berkeley rather than a degree from purdue? it seems most CS majors regardless of which college education, will land a nice paying job. but what difference is there between the top schools versus good schools regarding jobs?</p>
<p>Also, Berkeley is #1 for CS in their graduate program, not their undergrad program. Purdue is like #19 for their graduate program. So do graduate rankings accurately reflect how good the undergrad program is?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t solely go on grad rankings to picking any school for undergrad. </p>
<p>And I’m not a CS major or anything, but CS and engineering both strike me as the type of majors in which experience you can put on your resume will count more than school reputation. (Like people might go Wow you went to Berkeley for CS? But it’s not like Purdue is some small JC that no one’s ever heard of.)</p>
<p>Also, you seem committed to CS, but consider what happens if you suddenly don’t feel like doing it. Might not happen, but just a thought. I’d still go with Berkeley even though Purdue has a sweet DC++ system (they set it up by the way and we mirrored it here at Berkeley haha). Just gotta watch out for this whole earthquake potential if you come to California lol</p>
<p>$30,000 per year, or $120,000 over four years, is a lot of debt. Especially if $22,000 per year, or $88,000 over four years, of it is in private student loans (which generally do not have a very good reputation).</p>
<p>Even with the advantages that Berkeley has over Purdue, namely a higher reputation and being local to a large number of computer companies (many of the smaller ones do very little out of area university recruiting due to the hassle and cost; Purdue is not as well known for CS as UIUC, Texas, MIT, CMU, etc.), the $120,000 difference is still pretty big. For reference, employed [2010</a> CS graduates from Berkeley](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm]2010”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm) who answered the survey started in jobs paying an average of $76,733 per year (note: this is for CS in the College of Letters and Science; Berkeley also has EECS in the College of Engineering, but employment results are fairly similar in the career survey).</p>
<p>While Berkeley will likely give you better opportunities in the job market at graduation, the $120,000 difference makes it a much riskier choice than Purdue on full scholarship. If you go to Purdue, you may have to be more aggressive at finding and applying to computer jobs for internships and jobs when you graduate, as you will likely see fewer companies coming to the career center to recruit you.</p>
<p>You have gotten some very bad advice here. While not quite as good as Berkeley, Purdue is still a very solid CS school. That is way too much debt. Get a reality check: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/10237576-post26.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/10237576-post26.html</a></p>
<p>I absolutely love Berkeley, but I highly doubt that it’s worth 80-120k of debt when you have the school with 7th best job placement in CS available for free…</p>
<p>you absolutely should go to purdue if you’re getting a full ride or close to it. it is totally not worth it to shell out big bucks for undergrad, especially when purdue is a solid school in itself. you will regret it if you choose berkeley and end up neck-deep in debt in four years.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot guys! looks like the amount of debt tells me that I shouldn’t go to Berkeley. However, another thing I was considering was would it give me an edge in admission to grad schools if I went to Berkeley rather than purdue? Also, if I did decide to get my master’s and/or phD, would the debt be feasible to pay off since I would get a higher paying job?</p>
<p>there’s a reason why people go into student debt. and it isn’t just do be miserable for a few years after college.</p>
<p>go to berkeley. if you work hard you won’t regret your decision, and you may be rewarded handsomely down the road if you prove competent.</p>
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<p>If you went to graduate school immediately, you’d be dragging the debt along while in graduate school; even if fully funded with fellowship, TAship, RAship, etc. (as is common in CS), it won’t give you money to allow you to pay it down much. Remember also that higher pay after getting an MS or PhD has to be weighed against not having earned a relatively high income right out of school during the time you were studying for the MS or PhD.</p>
<p>$120,000 in debt will probably take a minimum of 3 to 4 years to pay off at a typical CS bachelor’s graduate pay level, if you live very frugally after graduation and don’t spend or save money for anything else. But realistically, most people are not going to live that frugally (and many CS jobs are in high cost of living areas), so you would probably be looking at many more years of debt payments.</p>
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<p>However, the price of university education has gotten to the point that the amount of debt that one can take on exceeds what most would consider a prudent level based on expected earning power after graduation. Compared to a generation ago, students have to be much more careful about student loan debt, as well as job and career prospects relating to their field of study.</p>
<p>Given that Purdue is still a worthy and well respected school, it would be hard to turn down a full scholarship there considering the $120,000 debt alternative.</p>
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I’m sure there are also reasons why people buy lottery tickets, go skydiving, or take cocaine. That doesn’t make any of these things a logical plan.</p>
<p>This is not Berkeley vs. IUPUI. It’s Berkeley vs. Purdue, and Purdue is an excellent CS school in its own right. Is Berkeley objectively better? Sure. But I have not seen any credible reason to believe that this actually translates into a tangible difference in practice.</p>
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<p>Not really. At #7, Purdue is still extremely impressive, and if you do well, you have as good of a chance as an equivalent person at Berkeley. The question, though, is rather one about opportunity and how you’d use your opportunities to make you a better grad school candidate. To be completely honest, while there are plenty of undergrad research of opportunities here at Berkeley, they’re quite difficult to access. It’s something the department is working on.</p>
<p>However, it’s definitely feasible to pay off a $120k debt. Once you’ve gotten your degree and hopefully landed a successful job, that’s a year’s worth of pay 10yr after you graduate. Plus, with the numbers worked out, even if you decide to be less frugal, it’ll get paid off within 5yr unless you’re really financially irresponsible. How I see it is basically: instead of putting all the money you make into a mortgage payment, you use that to pay off your financial aid debt, and once you’re done, it’s time to focus on the next steps in life. You’re still going to be young and in your late 20s when you pay it off.</p>
<p>You only get to truly experience undergrad once. Based on your description, you’ve spent most of your life in Indiana so far. This is a good opportunity to expand outwards, and I’d even argue that it’s worth it even if it ends up incurring $500k of debt. Sure, it’s a risk and can possibly bite, but the idea is that you get something intangible out of it. If you went to Indiana and don’t have any debt after graduating, what are you seriously going to do with that $120k extra?</p>
<p>don’t think about it as “debt”. think about it as “investment”</p>
<p>i’m not convinced that regardless of if you graduate at purdue or berkeley, the opportunities available to you after graduation are equal.</p>
<p>your call, hoss.</p>