Hi guys! I’ve had the good fortune of being accepted to Williams College, UC Berkeley (College of Letters and Sciences), and, of course, Cornell University (College of Arts and Sciences). I haven’t been able to visit any of these schools yet, but I definitely will very soon.
To help you get to know about me a bit:
I definitely want to major in something politics-y or history-ish. So at Cornell, I applied as an American Studies major; at Williams, I indicated interest in the American Studies and Political Economy majors and the Justice and Law concentration; at UC Berkeley, my first choice major was Political Economy. I may want to double major (highly likely, actually) so I definitely want that to be a very viable option. I plan to go to law school after I graduate, and as for careers, I’d like to be either a lawyer or a college professor. I didn’t apply for financial aid at any of these schools (my family is very middle-class, and I’m an only child, so I doubt I would have gotten much anyway). I have lived in Southern California all my life, so I’m not used to cold weather or snow. I highly value a strong alumni network, and I don’t want to attend a school where frat parties are the social scene (although I do want a social campus).
Here’s my pros/cons list so far:
CORNELL:
Pros: [ul]
[] wide variety of classes, which I think I’d really appreciate
[] large, diverse student body. I currently attend a high school with almost 4,000 students, and I like always having people to meet. I enjoy walking through hallways and seeing people I don’t know.
[] beautiful campus (from what I’ve seen in pictures haha)
[/ul]Cons: [ul]
[li] not sure how well I’d get to know my professors, because it’s so large. Since I want to go to law school, I know that recs are going to be important, so I want to develop good relationships with my professors.[/li][] I’ve heard there’s grade deflation at Cornell…?
[] I get the impression that frats and sororities are very dominant in the social scene, and I don’t particularly like that.
[] I’ve heard that sometimes people look down upon double-majoring because they think it
[/ul]
WILLIAMS:
Pros: [ul]
[] small class sizes, have the opportunity to develop good relationships with professors
[] the tutorial classes. This was the first thing that drew me to Williams in the first place.
[] I like the one-month January term in which I can focus in-depth on a certain topic for several weeks.
[/ul]Cons: [ul]
[li] It’s a small school (2,000 students), and I hear people start getting restless after just 2 years.[/li][] Williamstown is in the middle of nowhere (perhaps Cornell is too, but the school is considerably bigger).
[] I know that sports is a very big thing at Williams, and I’m not athletic AT ALL (I dislocated my kneecap a few years ago, so I actually cannot run without risking dislocating it again)
[/ul]
UC BERKELEY:
Pros: [ul]
[li] close to home (more for my parents than me though)[/li][] $30,000 cheaper per year
[] good weather
[] I’m very liberal, and so is Berkeley, so I would definitely enjoy the political scene (and I’m planning to join political activism groups, which I think Berkeley is known for)
[] if I end up deciding that I don’t like the humanities (which is highly unlikely), Berkeley has strong connections to the Silicon Valley and is very strong in STEM
[/ul]Cons: [ul]
[li] again, I’ve heard that grade deflation is prevalent at Berkeley[/li][] it would be hard to get to know my professors because there are so many students
[li] it’s hard to get/sign up for desired classes[/li][/ul]
Any information/insight would be much appreciated 
Thank you so much for taking the time to give me some advice! The advice I get will probably play a large role in helping me choose which school to attend.