<p>-In-state--with financial aid, Brown is about $70000 more expensive, but parents are able to afford it and will willingly pay, though I don't want to feel indebted to them for the rest of my life
-Looking into International Relations
-Can socially fit at both, I think
-Staying close to home is an advantage </p>
<p>Which one would you choose?</p>
<p>You seem to prefer staying home and saving money, so for you I would choose Cal</p>
<p>Brown. At this point in California’s budget, you can expect that the cost to attend Cal will increase dramatically over the next four years and services to students will continue to be cut.</p>
<p>Brown. it may be harder choice if it were engineering or chemistry but very few schools can compete with Brown’s undergraduate education as a whole…</p>
<p>Brown.</p>
<p>First of all, you said you want to go into international relations. That is probably Brown’s biggest strength, along with many other fields in the humanities and social sciences. The undergraduate focus of Brown is great, and the overall experience will be amazing. Also, Brown was ranked #1 for happiest students, which is the most important thing at the end of the day.</p>
<p>Second of all, you said that although saving money is a plus, your parents can and willingly will pay for it. Considering that situation, I think for what you get at Brown, it is a better value than what you will get at Cal. Besides, like silliconvalleymom said, Cal’s tuition will certainly go up in the next four years.</p>
<p>Finally, while Cal is probably the best state school in the country, there are still a lot of disadvantages in going to a state school that you won’t have to worry about at Brown. Cal is huge, which can be a problem socially. Moreover, it is very difficult to get into classes, student services are less efficient since it is so big, and it will be harder to get one-on-one focus from professors. </p>
<p>While there is nothing I can say about the staying close to home, you have to give a little to get a little (or a lot, in this case). I’d go with Brown.</p>
<p>I’d go with Cal, but do whatever you want. It’s your life, your education. What do you like most about each school?</p>
<p>oh, and
i don’t have a crystal ball or anything of the sort, siliconvalleymom, but i doubt tuition will increase by $70K over 4 years.</p>
<p>If your parents are willing to afford it, Brown you shall go. I don’t even know how you considered Cal unless you were really digging some science majors…but you’re not. And hell, if you even decide to switch gears and be pre-health, they have that 8 year program or some ish. </p>
<p>You really won’t go wrong with either school, but seeing as how you live around Cal/norcal area, I’d say spread your wings and just expand. Staying close to home is sweet and all, but personally, I think it’s more awesomesauce to go somewhere and say you’re from California. 
(Yes, you will owe your parents, but hey just do reasonably well and show them that what they’re paying for is worth it.)</p>
<p>Really guys, since when is Brown that amazing? A lot of people at Berkeley got in there or would have gotten in if they had applied and they’re not all picking Cal for financial reasons. And stop obsessing about the budget cuts, if you can afford Brown, you can definitely afford the Cal tuition. Nothing else is really changing at the UCs besides the cost so you will get a great education if you go to Cal. Just pick whatever you like better, it’s not like there aren’t advantages to going to a big school in the bay area.</p>
<p>^agreed. Both are wonderful, I would personally choose cal over brown, but it just depends what type of academics you prefer, big classes or smaller. Wherever you fit best, you’ll know when you visit I’d imagine.</p>
<p>Brown is one of the two Ivies that I think is worthwhile for undergrad (Yale being the other). I’m a fan of “going away” to college. I think Berkeley is a far better deal for graduate school; the “weeder” class approach used in some departments is unnecessary.</p>
<p>Ergo, I would advise going to Brown.</p>
<p>If you have the money and you fit with Brown’s social environment, it become a no-brainer. IR is one of those majors where pedigree matters, and an Ivy pedigree generally beats Cal, as good as it is, particularly if you are thinking government and/or European. OTOH, if your interest is Pacific Rim, the Cal name carries extremely well.</p>
<p>Plus, if you might contemplate law school, Brown’s grading policy cannot be beat (3.6 mean gpa).</p>
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<p>which will still probably be significantly less than 70,000. </p>
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<p>I’ve heard people make this argument before, but in my experience at least, it’s been pretty false. I mean, there’s +30,000 students at UCLA sure, but north campus majors stay in north campus, and South campus majors stay in south campus. So the people you come into contact with tend to at least be people with similar majors, and you can constantly run into people you know, because they’ll generally stay in the same area at varying times of the day (although i should admit that i spend A LOT of time on campus, which might be why this is true for me)</p>
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again, all false. </p>
<p>Classes are fairly easy to get into (and professors will usually admit you into classes if you’re trying to add)</p>
<p>Student services are pretty efficient, idk why someone would think that they’re not (maybe more people = less efficient? all that this means is that since they have more people, they just have a larger staff to accommodate for this)</p>
<p>one on one time with professors is usually available most of the time too (i only see students show up to office hours around midterm/finals time, other than that prof’s OH are pretty empty)</p>
<p>There’s this supposition that private schools are better than state schools because they’re private (i think this has something to do with the fact that it’s usually this way from k-12 schools) but for top-tier public universities, like UCB and UCLA, this is clearly not the case. Our staffs are on par with the top-tier privates, in both citations and general department prestige. </p>
<p>You might have a few more people in your class, but you also end up saving a ton of money.</p>
<p>As to the OP, go where you feel you’d be the happiest. No doubt both will have very good IR programs. See if living close to home is something you’re willing to give up (or in fact, may WANT to do)</p>
<p>My brother chose Berkeley over Brown and Princeton as a physics major.
I am choosing Berkeley over Yale and Cornell as a pure math and earth science double major.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d go to Brown. Seeing that you want to look into international relations, I’d think that Brown would provide a better general environment for such a major. IR is existent at Berkeley too, but Berkeley, at least in my mind, seems like more of a engineering/math/science school.</p>
<p>Both Berkeley and Brown are great schools. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the school you end up going to.</p>
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<p>Academically, Cal grad is superior to Brown in nearly every department. Where the UC’s are extremely weak in comparison to private schools, particularly the Ivies, however, is in advising. Cal’s success in national awards such as Rhodes and Fullbrights and Goldwaters’ are not even close to the talent level of its student body. Harvard and Yale have a full time staff (plural) that do nothing but assist students to apply to such prestigious programs. Last think I read was that Cal, which is xx times bigger, has a part-timer performing a similar function. Heck, a couple of years ago, Cal Admin couldn’t even get the apps in the mail on time – major embarrassment.</p>
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<p>Actually, the huge majors (over 200 graduates per year) at Berkeley are the biological sciences (MCB is the largest single undergraduate major with 534 graduates for 2010, and IB is also large with 292 graduates for 2010), English (346), and social studies (e.g. economics (498), history (252), psychology (329), political economy (232), political science (457), sociology (235)), business (317), and EECS (282).</p>
<p>ucbalumnus - don’t go spoiling peoples a priori impressions and firmly implanted stereotypes about Cal - of course there is nobody here but cutthroat study grind engineering/science/math majors who are whimpering over draconian slashes to classes, gearing up for a six year slog to a degree in a campus stripped of light bulbs, devoid of professors and with nary a library book to be had. Don’t confuse anyone with facts or, heaven forbid, a visit to look for themselves.</p>