<p>I'm an international students from Asia and currently admitted to both schools. It's not that I'm uncertain about the future, I just like to hear advice from all sides before making the final pick--I'm too distant to get any actual views or feels of the campus so I'm eagers looking for opinions here~
I love Vassar for all its unique characteristics(why I applied to it in the first place), and I'm thrilled to be recruited because international students there are just a few. However, I'm more the natural science type(hoping to engage in environmental studies) and this school's best majors are more like drama and politics, that's the major concern here. That might be a little biased though.
And of course UCB has the best engineering but I've heard saying everywhere that its undergraduate sector do not worth its reputation... People have suggested liberal arts for undergraduate and UCB is only worth for graduate. It has recruited a lot lot of students from my country this year...
So~ Advice in need, and thanks for helping out^^</p>
<p>^ The story that Berkeley isn’t great for undergrad is a myth. My friend’s niece who’s a high school valedictorian in an exclusive school in Manila is now a third year college at Berkeley and she’s graduating with honors. Meaning, she thrives at Berkeley despite her being an international student. She chose Berkeley over Yale, Cornell, Rice and Duke. I spoke with her a couple of months ago and she’s an avid fan of her school now. I’ll try to get her email add so you can ask her some questions. She’s with the L&S. But be mindful that Berkeley is expensive for international students.</p>
<p>You need to ttake into consideration your pursuits after graduation. Will you be going back home after your done with schooling in the states? From what I’ve heard UCB is very well knownn internationally which will only benefit you, especially if your country is one where UCB is very highly regarded.</p>
<p>Berkeley is going to offer much more opportunity in natural sciences/engineering/etc. You won’t get the personal attention you would at Vassar, and frankly, you’re probably paying too much as an international student at Berkeley. It’s a difficult decision.</p>
<p>I concur with Grumpster (personal attention vs lack of it) and RML (Cal is a GREAT undergrad experience).</p>
<p>There schools are both so different, so you really have to think about where you want to spend the next 4 years: in a major city or in a small liberal arts college and town? Do you want more personal attention or would you thrive in a big university where you have to hustle to get it? Do you want to be near San Francisco or NYC? Although SF is much more accessible from Cal, than Vassar is to NYC. </p>
<p>Don’t worry about opportunity to do different things, both will give you what you want to match all your interests although you might find a bit more selection at Cal, but you will have to hustle more at Cal-it is no place to be shy. You can become another “number” if you allow yourself to do so. So you also have to ask what kind of person you are.</p>
<p>Also, if you are from Asia, you will find more diversity in the SF Bay Area than you will in Poughkeepsie. But if that is not what you crave then that might not be an issue.</p>
<p>Personally, I would opt for Cal, but you can’t make a bad decision.</p>
<p>I would totally pick Cal over Vassar.</p>
<p>Well, I can tell you something about both schools because my grandparents, parents, brother, and husband (Phd) all graduated from Berkeley, and then my husband’s first teaching job was at Vassar. Berkeley is BIG, diverse, intellectually rigorous, and in the gorgeous bay area. Berkeley itself is a little challenging, parts of it very run down, but you can’t beat the climate, the number of things to do, the culture. It’s fabulous. Vassar by contrast is very insular (you won’t see that set mixing it up with Poughkeepsie people much), also good academically, and the campus is beautiful, but Poughkeepsie is pretty depressed. The people at Vassar will be more priviledged than not, but these days it’s so competitive that you have to have a lot going for you to be admitted. I’d choose Berkeley in a heartbeat, but if you want a more nuturing, quiet environment you might like Vassar. Berkeley as a place and as a school just has much more to offer.</p>
<p>The OP hasn’t mentioned whether either school has offered aid or whether that’s even an issue. People have noted that UCB is expensive for an international and I don’t know how the cost of international differs from OOS (which I can attest IS expensive), but I’m pretty sure Vassar is more expensive than Berkeley is if you’re paying full fare.</p>
<p>Berkeley is very strong in your area of interest. However, it is also huge compared to Vassar and you will see the impact of this when it comes to advising, housing, class size, etc. You need to decide how important a more intimate experience is for you.</p>
<p>Also, you need to consider the impact that state budget cuts are having on the UC system. UCs are still a great deal if you are on a full scholarship or get in-state tuition. However, if you are paying the same for Berkeley as you would for a private school, you might want to consider the impact that these cuts will have on your undergraduate experience. It might be more difficult to get into the classes you want and there might be fewer offerings. Someone we know well is a freshman there now and has commented on not so great changes as a result of the budget situation in California.</p>
<p>Also, over 90% of the undergraduates at Berkeley are from in-state and there is only a 1-2% international population (again–for undergrads). There are plenty of Asians, but not a lot of geographic diversity (unless you count northern v. southern California :). </p>
<p>The schools are about as different as you can get. You can’t go wrong with either one, I just wanted to add a couple of points that haven’t yet been made.</p>
<p>Berkeley doesn’t offer scholarships to international students, but Vassar has some need based aid available. So if finances are an issue, I’d go with Vassar. But if you have to pay the full cost at either then I’d probably be leaning towards Berkeley.</p>
<p>The financial acknowledgements are coming down in a while so I’m not yet sure how much I’m going to pay. Cal has enrolled a lot of students from my country while Vassar only picked a few MATCHING ones… That’s why Vassar gives me this special & unique feeling while UCB attracts me with its large pool of chances.
Thanks everyone, seems like everyone is leaning towards UCB… Guess I’ll just have to wait till the financial thing then~</p>