<p>Hello, I am a senior in high school and like most have just finished hearing the judgment calls on college admissions. I want to double major in pure math and physics. The two schools that I am caught in between are Columbia and Berkeley. Columbia has accepted me and named me a science research fellow - which has far as I understand gives me free funding and access to any research facility in Columbia as well as outside facilities. However, Berkeley's math department has a great reputation and is also much less expensive then Columbia. Any advice you could give me on my decision would be great.</p>
<p>Hey, I’m a sophomore at Columbia, and while I’m not a Science Research Fellow, I do research on campus. I can’t speak at all to any programs at Berkeley, but I can say that our math department is great–we have professors like Dorian Goldfeld [Dorian</a> M. Goldfeld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorian_M._Goldfeld]Dorian”>Dorian M. Goldfeld - Wikipedia) doing research in fields like braid group cryptography, and students make substantial contributions to such research. (Especially if they’re in the Science Research Fellow program, which will guarantee you summer funding to do such research!) While I think that it will certainly all come down to fit–whether you feel like Columbia will be good for you as a person, will help you grow in the way you want to–I think it’s important to consider all of the things that make Columbia amazing, like the Core, NYC, and our alumni network. Good luck in your decision!</p>
<p>A major consideration: what you want to do after getting your Bachelor’s. The starting salaries out of Columbia and Berkeley are within $3K of each other so it’s a wash (it depends on the major obviously). If you’re a scientist planning on graduate school then access to research is important (nod to Columbia since you have research fellowship) but at the same time you have to watch out about loading yourself up with debt (especially the unsubsidized kind where interest accrues) since you’re looking at 10 years to finish a PhD.</p>
<p>Another consideration: if you have a lot of previous AP and college classes done, you may get more credit for those at Berkeley than at Columbia (Columbia limits AP to 16 credits, and they don’t give credit for any college classes taken before you graduated from HS). That would impact the time required to double major I suspect.</p>
<p>A couple of folks asked me by PM what my S will pick between Columbia and Berkeley (in-state). I can’t reply through PM since I don’t have 15 posts yet.</p>
<p>At this point it’s 99% sure that it will be Berkeley. For his chosen major (science) and career path (graduate school then academia) there was no significant difference between the 2, except for the extra $35K a year in tuition. If there had been a benefit we would happily have paid it. </p>
<p>My S lobbied my wife and I hard the week after the Columbia visit but eventually logic and reason took over.</p>
<p>Promising him to go visit NYC for fun once a year helped. We could go visit NYC every other week and it would still be cheaper than attending Columbia!</p>