<p>AustinJ, what do you mean by how well I could adapt ? are you refering to relative expense of living or just the social climate set by the average wage? Oh and btw I'm Melbourne Suburbia.</p>
<p>UCLAri What do you mean by "base it on the externalities"? please extrapolate?</p>
<p>Can someone please explain also how many subjects are done per semester (without overloading) at these universities in Science degrees? It would be much appreciated, keep the posts coming.</p>
<p>Sorry. I meant "rich" culturally. It's not a dead little town in the boondocks.</p>
<p>I meant you could probably adapt easily to the relative isolation (well, if you count being around over 10,000 other people constantly isolated....).</p>
<p>
[quote]
f you go to the Berkeley sub-forum, there is a thread called 8 reasons not to attend Berkeley. Check it out
[/quote]
can you give me the website please?</p>
<p>The three are all very different from each other. I think you should think about what type of environment you want for your college life.</p>
<p>They're also different in selectivity, with Penn being the more selective and Berkeley being the less selective. </p>
<p>In terms of Biology programs, the three are all pretty well distinguished. Berkely has the edge in Graduate research, but on the undergraduate level they're all about the same.</p>
<p>Aurelius, what do you think makes Upenn distinctive, ive heard quite abit about the other but nothing much about Upenn. Anyone got anything to say that they love about it?</p>
<p>BTW, Cornell is rated as having the best food (maybe #2) of any US campus. Also has a wine tasting course at the hotel school that is very popular. Could be a factor in your decision making!</p>
<p>The 8 Reasons Not To Go To Berkeley</p>
<p>aussie_steve,</p>
<p>Don't worry about the things like ranking and cost as much. Worry about things like location, weather, "campus feel," etc. They're all fairly similar in terms of rankings and prestige and program quality. However, the little outside things will probably make the biggest differences.</p>
<p>Aussie Steve:
My daughter has applied to both UPenn and Cornell and we've visited both campuses. We also live in NY state so we know something about both locations and here are my observations for whatever its worth:
UPenn: very nice campus, attractive architecturally, nice sense of history, tradition and good student body: bright, ambitious but not insanely competitive or genius. I'm sure those kids are there, but the overall ambiance is relaxed, for an Ivy. The setting is VERY urban; right outside the gates is a bustling, diverse (racially and economically) city with all of the city problems attending. Philly is a nice city with great cultural opps. and easy to get to NY and DC. I don't know what Melbourne is like, but I can tell you that Philly is no Sydney (I've been there). It is busier, dirtier and colder. Acadmic quality great. </p>
<p>Cornell's major difference is its setting: located in a small town in central NY, very beautiful and large sprawling campus but the action is all on campus with its 13,000 students, rather than in a downtown metropolis. (It snows and will be cold in both locations in the winter.) Academically, it is also superb. The major distinction is probably the setting. If you want an urban location, Philly is a better choice. If you will be happy with a very diverse, busy, dynamic environment surrounded by bucolic countryside, you would probably be happy in Ithaca. Recreational opps are probably better at Cornell: water sports, skiing, hiking, green space are easily accessible there. Soccer is played indoors during bad weather in both places. Welcome to the Northeast.
My D has just been accepted to CALS. If she goes there, I'll tell her to look up the Aussie guy in bio. Good luck.</p>
<p>Cosmo,</p>
<p>CALS? What's that?</p>
<p>College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (one of the 7 undergraduate colleges at Cornell).</p>
<p>If it helps, last semester there was a foreign exchange student from the Univeristy of Melborne (sp?) and she had the time of her life. </p>
<p>Neither one of the 3 schools is superior academically (in comparison to each other). I dont think you'll be regretting going to any of them (though I do have to push for my school since it's a great place to be).</p>
<p>Many of the things on the "Top 8 Reasons" thread, and I'm talking about those that have some aspect of truth, probably wouldn't affect aussie steve's situation. What would is that internationals usually live in International House, which is comprised of half international students and half national students. The lifestyle is different than many other campus places. You should ask an international student about it.</p>
<p>In all honesty, if I was going to only spend a semester in the US, I'd definitely go to California (in this case, Berkeley, but is there a reason you aren't looking at Stanford, UCLA, USC or UCSD, among others?).</p>
<p>That said, I'll be at Cornell engineering next year, but and I'll never know whether or not I would have gotten into Berkeley.</p>
<p>Thanks alot for all your posts thanks Cosmo especially you reitterated some of what I've already heard and told me some new things also. Best food, wow that is a vote winner. Whats the deal with you yanks referring to your D, S, M, etc.. haha I'm guessing its your daughter that will be possibly at CALS? </p>
<p>UCLAri I wont be worried about tuition cost at all, as my University will cover all the cost of tuition but I would prefer a University that is cheaper to live at. "live-" I am also possibly looking at the of UC its only that my University has an arrangement with certain Universities to cover the costs of tuition and Stanford isnt on this list. Here is the list of Universities I can study at, recommend any of the others you think are worth looking into (I cant apply to all as I am restricted to Science field):
<a href="http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/exchanges/goabroad/ex/partners.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/exchanges/goabroad/ex/partners.html</a>
then look up the US for American Unis.</p>
<p>Can someone help me out with the average number of subjects (per semester) at these 3 unis please?</p>
<p>As far as the school's food goes, Berkeley has about average food, and Cornell probably beats it fairly easily, but the food within the city of Berkeley and in San Francisco is often amazing and delicious, although sometimes fairly expensive.</p>
<p>At Berkeley, you're likely to take 13 to 17 units of classes per semester. How this relates to other schools, based on hours or work load, I don't know.</p>
<p>Stevo,</p>
<p>I'd argue that all three have very similar living costs. Cornell might be cheapest, but probably not by much. You can live for real cheap in Berkeley and Philly.</p>
<p>Lease? (10)</p>
<p>Why don't you see where you get in before making the decision, eh tough guy?</p>
<p>andrw313,</p>
<p>If he's studying abroad, something tells me that he can choose any university that he wants and he doesn't really have to "get in."</p>
<p>restaurants - the one thing ithaca does have!! It's rumored that Ithaca has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the US. I believe it as there are some awesome places to eat around town. </p>
<p>At Cornell, you'd probably be enrolled in 15-18 credit hours, which can be between 4 or 5 courses (upper level courses are 4 credit hours each).</p>