<p>Hello!</p>
<p>I am a Korean with American citizenship.
I am currently studying in an international school in the Philippines.</p>
<p>What really sucks about my situation is the absence of a counselor for US Universities in my
school, so I am really having difficult times choosing a right university for me and the deadline is coming up.</p>
<p>Could you guys provide me some help?</p>
<p>My major is Chemical Engineering and the colleges that I am admitted to are</p>
<ol>
<li>Purdue University</li>
<li>Georgia Tech.</li>
<li>University of Texas-Austin</li>
<li>University of Minnesota-Twin Cities</li>
<li>University of Wisconsin-Madison</li>
<li>University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign</li>
<li>University of Michigan-Ann Arbor</li>
<li>University of California-Berkeley</li>
</ol>
<p>Since I am an out-state student, although I will be getting financial aid, tuition and fee really matter greatly in choosing a school for me...</p>
<p>Personally, I want to go to UCB, but I am concerned about the competition and the difficulty of maintaining a good GPA..</p>
<p>Could you help me making a right decision?? </p>
<p>Thank you very much!</p>
<p>Choose the college that will cost you the least. Your list has many good schools, and will all provide you with an excellent education. Focus on your costs.</p>
<p>Weather wise you will be happiest at GaTech, UT-Austin or UC-Berkeley. The other schools will be much colder than you are used to in the Philippines.</p>
<p>Cost wise, I don’t know, but I imagine UMinn might be the cheapest.</p>
<p>Socially, you will probably be happiest at Berkeley because it’s filled with asians (including Koreans) and you will fit right in.</p>
<p>All the schools are good ones, you can’t go wrong. There is probably another thread on this web site that ranks the ChemE depts. Do a search. GPA is probably not so important in ChemE as long as it’s 3.0 or above.</p>
<p>Those are some very fine acceptances. Do you care to discuss the cost differences between them?</p>
<p>I don’t think you should worry overly about Berkeley. If you were good enough to get accepted you are good enough to do well. It will be a challenging major anywhere you go. The Bay Area is a wonderful place to live.</p>
<p>I would recommend UC Berkeley because it’s chock full of Asians, which will serve you well as you adjust to America. Although, if what my friends tell me is true, the international students are paying a lot more than the in-state kids. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about the other places so I can’t say much, sorry!</p>
<p>All of those are excellent. You can safely choose the least expensive one. Run your numbers through this calculator to figure out which that is: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I don’t know if I can discuss the costs here but</p>
<p>UC Berkeley and UMichgan cost around 50,000.
Purdue and Georgia Tech are around 40,000.
UMinn costs around 27,000 and I am not yet sure with other schools.</p>
<p>When you compare the costs, remember to adjust the estimated Cost of Attendance that each university gives you so that you can account for the factors that will affect your final total expense. UCB is 23,000 more than UMinn - or very nearly twice the cost of UMinn! Even with a whole new winter wardrobe, you can’t possibly spend that kind of money. From here it looks like UMinn is your winner.</p>
<p>At 27K Minnesota is a bargain because it is a very very good university. I really would not pass that up. A good school at a great price.</p>