Deciding between a Private Liberal Arts College VS UC School

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone. So, to start this off, I received a full tuition scholarship and was matched with a school called Hobart and William Colleges (HWS) in Geneva, NY, which is a private liberal arts college. In order to accept the scholarship, I had to apply early decision, which I did and this school wasn’t at the top of my list, but I thought, hey its full tuition and since I come from a middle class household, I assumed that I wouldn’t be getting financial aid or any grants/money from the schools here in California. However, since the scholarship is only tuition based, I would still have to pay 14k for room and boarding. This was in December.
Recently, I was accepted to good UC schools, including UC Berkeley. Well, I looked at my financial aid package and I would have to pay 16k to go there, which isn’t that far off from the amount I’d pay at Hobart. It’d probably be even cheaper considering all the plane tickets to and from New York to California. Yes, Im aware that I applied early decision to HWS, but I think I can talk to the scholarship foundation about it. Assuming that I could back out from early decision, I am torn apart of which school I should attend: Hobart and William Smith Colleges or UC Berkeley.
I plan on majoring in biology on a premed track and I plan on applying to top medical schools like USC, UC San Diego, UCLA, and UCSF,. HWS seems as if they offer good premed resources such as individualized academic advising, research opportunities with professors, health professions committee, affiliation with the Geneva hospital for clinical research, study abroad programs related to health professions. However, it’s not as reputable as a school like Berkeley, which would challenge my skills and force me to taken initiative and therefore, become independent.

Pros of HWS: -Health professions committee -Small Class Sizes -Strong Study abroad programs that the school encourages even for premeds (#1 according to Princeton review) -New, unique experience -Well rounded education -no cutthroat environment

Cons of HWS: -No ethnic/racial diversity -it’s far from home -boring town, not in the city -expensive flights -Only accepted the scholarship cause I thought I’d be saving money -No reputation (number 67 I think for national liberal arts colleges) -If I decide not to pursue medicine, I wouldn’t want my education to come from an unknown school

Pros of Cal: -Number one public university -My friends are there -Potential volunteering at UCSF -Great professors/everything academic -Liberal -Many Clubs, Better food in the area -Lots of things to do -Could potentially save me money in the long-run -the challenge and rigor of the school will make me a better student in terms of being independent, taking initiative, and finding my way

Cons of Cal: -Competitive (I think I could adapt) -Could risk chances of medical school due to low GPA -Grade Deflation? -Large Class Sizes

If you were wondering I am a filipino male. Please help. Both situations and environments are completely the opposite and I dont know what to do. Im 95% sure I want to become a doctor. This is one of the toughest choices I ever had to make, but if I dont come up with a decision, I might just go to HWS and if I absolutely hate it, I will go back to California sophomore year and try to transfer into a UC. Thank you all.

2

If you applied ED, you agreed to commit to attend if admitted with an acceptable net price, right?

3

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/2071932-grade-distributions-in-prerequisite-courses-for-gpa-based-goals.html indicates that only about a quarter of students in UCB typical pre-med courses earn A- or higher grades.

4

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2016-10-24/what-happens-to-students-who-back-out-of-early-decision-offers

5

My son could have written this after visiting his match school this weekend and getting good packages from two UC’s after ED acceptance. But I understand we are talking about Berkeley and that skews things a bit. I guess this is why they want us to pull all other applications to avoid these situations. The scholarship is really about all 10 of you together going through this process, the excitement, the successes, the tough times, the disappointments and graduating together. My son’s match school has a high retention rate and graduation rate for the scholarship recipients and from my perspective, I think he will benefit from the support, the mentoring, the networking and the connections (but probably so will a Berkeley alumni). My son is very quiet and not so social and I think he needs a smaller school but that does not mean that he does not want to go to the large UCs that accepted him (not UCLA or Cal) where he will probably do ok but the benefits of the scholarship and the foundation are why I think he should go to the match school. If he does not thrive there and it really is not a good fit, then he can consider a UC again if he wants after coming up with a plan B. At admitted students day this weekend at the match school (in PA) I talked with c/o 2021 scholars from NY and LA and upcoming c/o 2022 scholars from NY and LA and they were all so happy in their actions, expressions, explanations of their experience so far at the school. They were not in the position of selling me anything, they seemed authentic and genuine and happy to be there even though it was not LA or NY, but two hours from a major city (PHL/BWI). One of the current scholars was our tour guide and I asked him lots of questions because I wanted to know if he had regrets and he had none even though he also got into Binghamton, his state dream school. I felt that the scholarship admissions counselor was putting on the strong sell on Saturday (even though he knew we ED’d) he seemed worried we might pull out because that probably reflects on him. Another scholar mom I was with at admitted students day said her son was struggling with the same thing, a good offer to play basketball at a UC (1/2 tuition paid though) but her son seemed to really like the match school a lot after his visit and hanging out with other scholars for several days.

I am sure I am not helping, but I wanted you to know that you are not alone with this conflict. The full tuition is great, but I think the benefits of the scholarship, mentoring, support, networking should be considered BUT you might get that as an alumni at Berkeley too. Good luck!