<p>First of all, I was extremely excited to be admitted to both schools, and I'm not sure I can really make a wrong decision with either one, but there are definitely certain drawbacks associated with each that I'd like to ask you all about. I'll be posting this in the Columbia forum for other opinions as well.</p>
<p>To clarify, my intended major is Chemical Engineering, for which Cal is definitely ranked much higher than Columbia, and I believe is actually in the top 3 or 4 nationally. A caveat - I'm not completely sure I want to stay in ChemE, but I'm pretty certain I want to do engineering.</p>
<p>I'm a Regents Scholar at Cal which definitely quells some of my fears of class registration and all that. In addition, I didn't get much aid from Columbia, so the price difference will be about $30k per year :(</p>
<p>Coming from Northern California, Cal is less than an hour away from where I live, which is actually somewhat nice for the transition to college I suppose. On the other hand, Columbia (and New York) will be a completely new experience for me. </p>
<p>I guess one of my biggest worries about Cal is how notoriously difficult ChemE is, although that's to be expected from such a high caliber institution. I think Regents will also make it a little easier to procure research opportunities, but with so many more students at Cal compared to Columbia, I'm not sure if it'll really be easier to do research at Cal than at Columbia.</p>
<p>Basically, if anyone has any opinions/thoughts about this at all, I'd greatly appreciate it!</p>
<p>$30,000 per year difference, or $120,000 over four years? Seems like a lot of extra debt to be graduating with if you go to the more expensive school.</p>
<p>Cal seems the much more practical way to go. I mean Columbia is Columbia, if you weren’t going engineering. Paying 120k a year to go to a school with a better, more famous brand but not actually better program seems like a weak choice to me. Especially because Cal has given you regents and all the perks too. If you were going L&S I would go to Columbia anyway because it’s a top Ivy but I honestly don’t think even Columbia can match Regents Engineering at Cal because it’s just not worth the 120k extra for a lower ranked engineering program.</p>
<p>You can get a research position very easily at Berkeley, don’t consider that an issue. Every science major I know, smart or not, has had at least one solid research position here, either on campus or at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Most chem majors I know have had research positions since the summer after freshman year and have continued with them over the school year.</p>
<p>With regents and 30k less a year for engineering, I would go with Cal. </p>
<p>I would go to Columbia in a heartbeat if I get off the waitlist but that’s just because I have to pay the same price for both schools (international) and didnt get regents. I love Columbia, but I don’t think it is worth turning down what Cal is offering you.</p>
<p>Yeah I’ve definitely been leaning towards Cal from the beginning just because pretty much everything logically points toward Cal being the better option :)</p>
<p>One thing though - I’m tentatively considering trying to get an MBA later on… I’m guessing a low GPA from Cal will not be looked upon favorably (even though ChemE/Engineering degrees from Cal do tend to have lower than average GPAs). I’ve heard that if I continue with engineering disciplines in grad school, then they might understand that Cal Engineering has low GPAs, but other grad programs probably wouldn’t take that into account would they?</p>
<p>Columbia would probably open up some other finance/entrepreneurship opportunities for undergrad as well as further along in the future, but I don’t think that will necessarily outweigh the other engineering-related benefits I’ll get at Cal.</p>
<p>If you don’t drop the ball and study with a reasonable amount of discipline with the goal of getting good grades, you WILL. You’re clearly a smart student and that’s not going to change, no matter where you go.</p>
<p>I’d take Berkeley without questions asked. The ChemE program is awesome.</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with choosing Berkeley for engineering, and on top of that, Columbia’s engineering is fairly weak (comparatively). If you are sure you want to stay in engineering then Berkeley seems like a safe option. If you throw in the money component, there is really no comparison, then (unless you 100% want to be in NYC).</p>