<p>I am currently a 2nd yr student at a CCC and I will be a junior transfer student this fall. So I was accepted to Haas/Berkeley about a week ago, but I didn't submit my SIR yet because I wanted to wait for USC and see how much financial aid I get. If you guys were in my position, would you guys just go to Haas automatically and forget about USC?</p>
<p>The most important factor for me is the total cost of attendance, since my parents won't pay anything. I just have to pay $13,000 total for Haas for next year. I highly doubt that USC would be cheaper. But lets look at the best case scenario. If USC offered you a full ride, would you choose that over Haas for $13k?</p>
<p>I'm supposed to hear back from USC by June 1st, but I may not even hear back until mid July if they request a spring grade request.</p>
<p>USC if it really is a full ride, but it won’t be so I would go for Haas. BOth schools have a similar COA, but going to a lower-ranked public is putting your internship and networking activities at jeopardy compared to going to a respected school for this particular industry and if you can afford it without major debt (over $20k) then you should consider it.</p>
<p>Bedouin, do you think USC is a public school, do you think it is ranked higher than Berkeley, or do you just not know how to phrase sentences correctly? Either way, you should brush up on one thing or another.</p>
<p>We all know Berkeley has the best business program on the west coast, but I’m not convinced that a Haas degree would be worth a whole 52k more. However, there is virtually no chance that it will truly be a full ride, so Berkeley will likely be cheaper and the obvious choice anyway.</p>
<p>I have to ask you, " what is your intended major?" Both schools have very strong, repudable business schools. I don’t think you can go wrong at either one. However, I would like to know your major first before I would give any advice.</p>
<p>^business major…i haven’t decided yet what specifically, but maybe investment banking. haas has better recruitment and is strong in finance. but usc/marshall has a better network. and quite frankly, i would rather live in LA for 2 years than in berkeley. </p>
<p>i did SIR to haas though, but i still haven’t ruled out USC yet (i’m still waiting for a decision and my FA package)</p>
<p>There is no investment banking major (Finance or Accounting). Haas probably has better I-banking recruitment for both SF and NYC. Living in LA and SF…whats the difference? You’re only spending two years there anyway.</p>
<p>I applied to usc cause I didn’t think I could get into Haas. USC would be great if you want to remain in socal after graduation but Haas will have better placement with the firms in SF or on the east coast if you want to move out east for work. With USC it would be much harder to do that.</p>
<p>Dawgie, you say that as if he has no chance of doing ibanking out of Marshall and is guaranteed ibanking out of Berkeley. It’s much more reasonable to say that Berkeley provides more opportunities, but you will still have to work harder to earn them, but that you are likely to end up in the same boat if you work hard at Marshall.</p>
<p>There’s no doubt that Berkeley is the better school, but Marshall is still a very good one and to say you will easily make 26k more over the first 5 years of your career if you come out of Berkeley is just misleading. I say first 5 years, because that’s about when he’ll be headed back for an MBA if he stays in high finance. It’s misleading because ibanking often doesn’t pay the 70k+bonus starting that it used to and a good Marshall student can definitely compete with a Haas student for pretty much any job.</p>
<p>That said, I would go to Berkeley because I really doubt USC would actually make itself truly cheaper than 13k/year and money is king compared to location in this case.</p>
<p>26k is not much money. All I’m saying is Haas gives him a lot more flexibility career wise ibanking or even consulting. 26k over 5 years is nothing. Although not extremely a factor, but definitely a factor (after reading many top mba admissions books), UG school prestige does play some part for business school. I’d play it safe, he could end up with no job at all, worst case scenario.</p>