<p>I am having a hard time choosing between Columbia and Cal. </p>
<p>They are both great schools.</p>
<p>New York is my all time favorite city, however Berkeley is only an hour away from my home and very close to SF (not too shabby)</p>
<p>I am assuming that the academic experience is somewhat better at Columbia, but I have little to base this on.</p>
<p>Any insights or suggestions would be appreciated.</p>
<p>What do you want to study and is money an issue?</p>
<p>cal suffers from a reputation of being very large and impersonal.</p>
<p>Both are great choices, you can't go wrong. You should choose based on:
1) which will leave you in less debt
2) which is better for your major
3) which you think you'll prefer for personal reasons (weather, food, location, social life, etc)
It's pretty much common sense.</p>
<p>If money's not a deciding factor, I'd go with Columbia -- NYC would be such an adventure for a Californian. Though I know from personal experience (Cal alum here) that Berkeley is a fantastic school in a fantastic area.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone.
I'm majoring in either History or Poli Sci.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how the PS or History departments compare in the two schools? from what I gather they are both good.</p>
<p>^ Yes, both are fantastic.</p>
<p>How much will Columbia cost you over Cal?</p>
<p>think about this.. if you wanted to come home for the weekend, how hard would it be if you were at cal? or at columbia?</p>
<p>but, columbia has a great campus and housing for all 4 years (in Manhattan)</p>
<p>Good point, Lori -- Cal has a great campus too. But crummy oncampus housing few students live in past their sophomore year. I lived in Berkeley off-and-on for a decade. Spent only one lousy year in a nice place. (Still loved the town, tho.)</p>
<p>Ruca pretty much nailed it. Cal has been perennially top of the heap in history and that or pretty darn close in Poli Sci. And one could never go wrong at Columbia.</p>
<p>If money is no object, I'd opt to stretch oneself; go to the Big Apple. Leave Cali for grad. school. I say this as someone that loves Berkeley.</p>
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But crummy oncampus housing few students live in past their sophomore year.
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<p>Is this still true? I thought they'd been beefing up a lot.</p>