Hi there, I got admitted to Caltech, Rice and UC Berkeley EECS program with regent/chancellor scholarship. I want to study computer science and/or Chemistry. Caltech is going to cost $20,000/year but it’s close to home. Rice is fully paid but is a plane ride away. UC Berkeley is around $20,000 as well. Which school should I choose?
Would the $20k per year require borrowing, or would it impact your family’s finances significantly?
Minimum rigor at Caltech will exceed the minimum rigor at just about any other college in the US. Here is an example of the entry-level math course required for all Caltech students: Ma 1a . Whether you relish it or recoil from it can help you decide if Caltech is an academic fit for you.
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If you put cost aside for the moment, which of these schools appeals to you the most? Particularly, it should be easy to choose between Caltech and UCB, since their environments differ substantially.
I prefer the collaborative learning Caltech has to offer. But I am a bit nervous about their course load.
Then, maybe Rice is the best-of-both-worlds option, and also free.
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If it was me, I would try to eliminate one of the three first, before trying to make a final decision.
In this case, based on your brief comments and the options / financial packages … I would eliminate Berkeley.
Eliminating one of the three will not feel as monumental a task as having to pick the final one. When you are down to two, you will be able to focus on the final two, and not have to go back and forth and back again to a third.
What fantastic options. I can tell you that I know a lot of students who have gone to Rice, and I have never heard of any of them regretting it or being unhappy. As aquapt said, it may be a nice happy medium choice in this case … and for free … wow. Use that money for grad school at Cal Tech or MIT. Good luck!
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I presume Rice’s offer is partially based on merit, correct? $20k is obviously significant, but IMO, Caltech is one of few schools worth paying some extra for if the extra cost isn’t burdensome (e.g. borrowed). Academically, Caltech has few equals. It also has one of most collaborative environments.
In terms of the breadth of CS course offerings, Berkeley > Caltech > Rice. If you’re interested in AI, the hottest field in CS, Rice has much less to offer. Caltech doesn’t offer track in natural language processing, so it isn’t a good choice if you’re interested in that CS track. But on the other hand, if you’re interested in quantum computing, it’s one of very few places that offers it. Chemistry shouldn’t be a major issue at any one of these schools.
You shouldn’t count on going to one of the top grad schools in CS, especially in AI. They’re even more selective than any of the most selective undergraduate colleges (some well below 1% with an even more competitive applicant pool).
Is class size important to you? Realize that Caltech’s entering freshman class only has ~250 students. This is smaller than many high schools. So pretty much you’ll get to know everyone intimately.
Rice is much bigger, but still has a small college feel through its residential system. UCB is obviously a massive state university.
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I’d say it’s normal to be somewhat nervous about some aspect of college attendance, whether it’s academic, social or financial.
In contrast to another suggestion, I would not recommend thinking about your decision in relation to where you might attend graduate school. You have excellent choices available to you now.
Based on what you have posted so far, I’m tentatively recommending Caltech.
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