<p>Which would you pick for mechanical engineering? Columbia would be ~$3000 plus travel from California and Berkeley would be ~$8K within 90 minutes driving distance. Regents scholar at Berkeley so some benefits like priority registration.</p>
<p>If you want to be a Mechanical Engineer after college, go to Berkeley. If you want to change career paths to something which makes more money like consulting, but still study MechE, Columbia.</p>
<p>My d is almost in the same situation. Regents scholar at UC Berkeley and accepted into Columbia. We know of the perks of being a Regent Scholar so I believe she would get the help like being at a smaller university. Fortunately, scholarships and grants have made both schools absoluately affordable. She’s been to Berkeley many times and has stayed overnight with friends and attended classes. Would hate to see her go so far… But the opportunity to go to Columbia and live in NYC seems phenomonal! She wants to go into Physics and she was accepted into the Engineering dept. at Columbia. Any advice?</p>
<p>Fidoprincess- we’re going to the Columbia Days on Campus and doing an overnight on 4/19-4/20. Perhaps you would get a better feel as well.</p>
<p>Yes, dandlyee, he’s signed up for Columbia Days. I can’t imagine making a choice sight unseen! He did the regent’s overnight stay at Cal and loved it. He was also accepted into Pomona so that is another great option to think about.</p>
<p>I haven’t made the flight/hotel reservations yet because we haven’t gotten the admittance packet yet. Have you? His online finaid is confusing so I don’t know exactly what it costs yet. They only posted a grant and w/s amount but there is no EFC or total cost of attendance. At first, I thought it was only $3K but now I think they are both about the same and so is Pomona so we can’t cross one off the list due to costs! </p>
<p>Did you already make your flight/hotel reservations? Which hotel did you pick? Are you from the bay area. Congrats to your DD! It’s exciting, isn’t it?</p>
<p>electrongun, thanks for your post. It makes a lot of sense. Too bad, at 18, he isn’t “exactly” sure what he wants to do but he knew mech eng would assure him a job.</p>
<p>My DD is also visiting Columbia to explore engineering. She is interested in mechanical engineering and has been accepted to Cornell Engineering, Duke, Rice and Swarthmore. Difficult to compare them for engineering because some offer specialization (e.g. Cornell and Columbia) whereas Swarthmore offers generalist engineering. The latter may fit DD better because she is interested in developing a more well-rounded engineering plus liberal arts background. Does anyone know how Columbia’s Fu Foundation SEAS plus the abbreviated Core Curriculum compare with Swarthmore’s engineering program?</p>
<p>fidoprincess-We are visiting Amherst first and taking the train to NYC. There is an overnight at Columbia on Friday, 4/19 so she is staying at Columbia. I will be staying with friends but you should email Columbia and they will send you list of hotels nearby with Columbia rates. Yes, we are from bay area, North bay. Jet Blue has fairly reasonable airfare.</p>
<p>Thanks dandylee! We made the plane reservations and are still hunting for a hotel-wish we had friends to stay with, too. The hotels are more than the airfare! </p>
<p>S is very excited to go see Columbia and do the overnight. Our kids have some good choices! Your DD is also considering Amherst? The schools are so different. DS is also considering Pomona which is a lot like Amherst and was given a full ride to UCSD so he has some hard decisions to make. </p>
<p>The only thing about Columbia that worries me is that they can’t switch over to CC if they decide for some reason they don’t like engineering. At Berkeley, it’s easy to switch to L&S and the rankings for Engineering put Berkeley near the top. The draw of NYC is strong and exciting, though, so it will be hard to decide.</p>
<p>MidWestFather, as above, your DD has some great choices as well. What we did was print out each schools 4 year schedule of required classes so we could compare them. It also helped to plug in any AP/college classes to see what requirements were already fulfilled. Sorry I don’t know about Swarthmore but maybe ask on that forum?</p>
<p>If you’ll have a car, there’s a couple of good hotels in Fort Lee NJ, just across the George Washington Bridge. 15 minutes from Columbia, not including traffic. They’ll be cheaper than anything in NYC.</p>
<p>My son is deciding between Columbia and Berkeley (in-state) as well. Science major.</p>
<p>BTW as an engineer myself I forgot to congratulate you on your choice of major. It’s been a great ride for me, with lots of opportunities. I had a job waiting for me 18 months before I graduated. I have done technical, management, sales, and marketing (but always technically oriented). I have traveled all over the US and the world. An engineering degree is definitely a great door opener, and a license to learn. I wish you well in your career.</p>
<p>One thing i have discovered: except for your first job no one will care what school you went to.</p>