I was just accepted to UC Berkeley. Although I knew not to expect any financial help, one thing I did not expect was the astronomical total cost of $70,000/yr.
Meanwhile, I am fairly certain I will be accepted to McGill in the coming weeks: the tuition there is in the neighborhood of $10,000.
The area of study I have in mind is Computer Science, and I’d like to work on Embedded Systems in the general field of Aerospace.
I would estimate that my family can provide for approximately $100,000 for my studies. Anything above that ceiling would likely translate to debt.
Do you believe it’d make sense for me to take a loan and go to Cal anyway? Do the salaries I could be hoping for outweigh the cost of attendance? Or should I take a more conservative approach and go for McGill?
Yeah. I don’t really know what answer I was expecting. Given the luck I have with my home country’s educational system, I guess it just makes me kind of sick to say no to study opportunities because of money issues.
McGill is a great school. We live in Berkeley, and we know kids who have chosen to study at McGill at the international price, even in some cases choosing it over Cal. It was one of my son’s top choices for a while.
You cannot afford to attend UC Berkeley. Financial aid for out of state students at Berkeley is almost non-existent. Financial aid as an international student is equally unlikely. The amount of debt that you would need to take on would be devastating. There would be a very real possibility of your getting half way through and discovering that you were not able to borrow enough money to complete your degree.
McGill is a great university.
This is a no brainer. Go to McGill. Drink legally as soon as you turn 18, but do so responsibly. Learn to speak just a little bit of French. Make sure that you own at least one warm coat. Buy a tuque (and find out what that is) and some good gloves and a pair of warm boots. These will all be available in Montreal.
Just to give a little context, I was originally from Montreal. I attended university in the US and eventually settled in the US. I at one point considered getting a PhD, and if I had done so I would have done it at UC Berkeley (I was accepted with full financial aid). I know these two schools pretty well. McGill is a great choice. Go for it and do not look back.
Montreal is a great city to spend four years in. Congratulations and bonne chance!
Looks like only McGill could be affordable. Based on the tuition cost you say for McGill, that suggests that you may be Canadian but not in Quebec, since international (non-Canadian) tuition at McGill is substantially higher than $10k (CAD or USD).
McGill.
They’re more or less peer schools (UCB is not 7 times McGill’s level, for sure) and the ROI will obviously be much greater if you attend McGill. It’s a prestigious university and I wouldn’t be surprised if you can get excellent CS internships both in Canada (Montreal itself is pretty great for anything CS related) and in the US.
You’re not into McGill yet and I have no idea why you applied to UCB.
There are more affordable schools for top Intl students in the US such as Alabama (assuming you have a test score) that will be within budget.
An acceptance at a place you can’t afford is meaningless. Sometimes you don’t know if you will hit a cost via a scholarship. But the fact that the price tag surprised you tells me you didn’t do your homework because you had no shot at UCB.
Hope you get into McGill or have other affordable options.
This might be a French or Francophone Belgian student who is above the threshold for admission in this particular category. If you hit a high enough score (like, 17 on the French scale), your admission is guaranteed.
In terms of academic experience, both will have large lectures and smaller discussion sections, will require students to advocate for themselves, will be rigorous, will include lots of clubs and activities, will be internationally recognized, and will offer lots of post graduation opportunities. I don’t see a reason to pay 7 times the cost for UCB.
I honestly lack any kind of perspective on the price of education in the US, which is why I asked this question in the first place… It’s much clearer now.
@tsbna44 Regarding the reason why I applied to UCB in late November, it’s simply because I had no idea financials would eventually become a problem, since I hadn’t researched this aspect nearly enough.
That is correct @MYOS1634, I’m a French student! (which would sure help in Montréal, although I had never heard of a tuque before @DadTwoGirls!) —I’d rather not say my admission is “guaranteed”, though (I suppose it never is), although my grades do meet last year’s cut-off.
Thanks again for reminding me how absurd it’d be for me to pick UCB… plus, I already feel like McGill would be a pretty good match!
I think you need to research your chances of actually finding work in Aerospace, in either Canada, and/or especially, the US. When admitted to a US university, that just means exactly that. That means “admission” and an education. Once your education is completed, in the US, you’re expected to return to your home country. It does not come with guaranteed employment nor, a stay in the US. I don’t know what the immigration issue for a work visa would be in Canada.
There are several people on this website that are more familiar with Canadian rules of employment. Since you didn’t check the price of the universities in the US, you may want to check how an education will translate into a job at home or in Canada.
Graduating from a Canadian University automatically gives internationals the right to work and if they keep that job they can become permanent residents within 3 to 5 years (depending on skill and language level).
Basically, Canadians WANT highly qualified immigrants who’ve integrated into their society to stay and contribute.
Also, OP is French, which means he’s not considered an immigrant (think of it like Israel wrt to American Jews, he’s considered “naturally tied by a historical bond”) - he’s got all sorts of bonuses to encourage her/him to stay in Quebec (like free health insurance and grad school for $3K.)
Not sure what “that applies” refers to but…
French students who attend graduate school in Quebec pay the Quebec fee, not the Canadian fee (which they do for undergrad).
International graduates of graduate programs also have the right to work/easy access to permanent residency pathway. Many US-trained CS/Data major internationals who couldn’t get an H1B were happily snatched by Canada.
Any loans would have to be somehow secured in your name with parent co-signers…or taken by your parents. As an international student, you would need to secure these loans for Cal probably in your home country. Frankly, I can’t recommend you do so, as you will have $200,000 or so on debt when you graduate from Cal.
Wait and see what McGill offers you. It’s well within your budget and is a first class university.
For citizens of France I thought that they changed this a few years ago to the Canadian tuition rather than the Quebec tuition.
I did not pay much attention to this however since this does not apply to us. Also, I think that the cost of attendance for four years should still fit under $US100,000, and it will certainly cost a lot less than UC Berkeley.
