difficult dilemma? !

[MooCowPoop]

I should be proud of myself for this–and I am but, for those of you who have read my previous post, you’d have some understanding of why ai am so conflicted:

I got into UC Merced as well as UC Berkeley.

I’m dumbfounded by the latter school, as I believed high gpa (mine is 3.58 weighted) and high test scores (I got a 1590 on my SAT) were the winning factors for that school. I had planned on going to a small liberal arts college, had very small inclination towards UC because I hated the largeness and cutthroat environment most of them encouraged (esp. Berkeley). Since I got rejected from most of my private schools (of the 7 I applied to, I got into 1), and UCs (2/5), I had my heart set on Merced. What attracted me to it was the smallness and close environment it encouraged. I also liked that it was far-ish from my home. I need to get as far away from home as possible because it is chaotic and clingy. I haven’t been to the campus, but I plan to go. But Berkeley being thrown into the mix just screwe over my entire vibe. I www as discouraged at first, thinking that being rejected from a majority of my school’s meant I was not good enough, but apparently that isn’t the case!

Anyway, my question to you is: WHA YT? SHOULD I DO? WHAT SHOULD I TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION FOR BOTH SCHOOLS? they’re both great!

[alwayswonderines]

I think it depends largely on what your major is and what you plan to do. There are ways to make Berkeley smaller, I think. Colleges other than L&S are small enough so that you can have a better community. Sciences and engineering are particularly challenging at Cal because so many students are doing it. I’m not in humanities but from all my friends in it they seem to really like the eclectic vibe. But if you decide to go to Berkeley be prepared to work hard because many people do (even the people with already high test scores/gpas to begin with). It’s a lot of work, but if you know when and how to ask for help it’s worth it.