<p>My D got into both Harvard with full pay and UC Berkeley with Regents Scholarship. We are not rich but just a few $k above Harvard's EFC. This means we have to pay $30k per year more than if she goes to UCB. Her interests is mostly in Soci Science area (Goverment, Political Science, Econ, and/or Business). She seems definitely also want to go to grad or professional school after undergraduate.</p>
<p>It has been gut-wrenching 3 weeks and we still can make up our mind. Is going Harvard really worth the $120k than going to UCB?</p>
<p>Your insights/opinion is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley is an excellent university. She will need money for grad or professional school. Paying 30K a year does not fit into that plan for your family (from what I gather.)</p>
<p>This isn’t so clear to me. Does this mean big debt for DD or are parent’s willing to pay? If you are, will it require debt or just belt tightening?</p>
<p>My DH and I both grew up in CA. I left for Wharton and it was an amazing, life changing experience.</p>
<p>He went to Cal, and his college experience didn’t do for him what mine did for me, and he gets teary at watching our kids enjoying their extraordinary college experiences.</p>
<p>He got a solid Haas education but didn’t get to know profs, didn’t have the on campus experience and feels he missed out on the intimacy of small classes.</p>
<p>If I could afford it without jeopardizing my retirement, and my kid was into and wanted to go to Harvard, I’d let her.</p>
<p>Well, this Cal grad did get to know her profs, did have the on campus experience and after the first semester of sophomore year had mostly all classes with fewer than 30 people. </p>
<p>It can be done at Cal. Especially by someone talented enough to win a Regents. </p>
<p>That said, I also think it would be hard to say no to Harvard where a government/poli sci student can make phenomenal contacts in addition to having a world-class college experience.</p>
<p>hmom5: We can afford it but it takes a big bite out of our savings plus we have a youger S going to College in two years.</p>
<p>I do realize that students are a lot better coddled (or more attentions are paid) at Harvard than at Cal. My thinking is she can get these once in Grad/professional school. My worry is if she has to go through some academic hardship at Cal since the perceived tougher environment, especially if she want get into HASS in junior year. But I would think that she would be better prepared to compete in the real world if she can made it through Cal and still have more than half of the financial resource left for more advanced education. After all, she did get the Regents Scholarship (about 200 out of the incoming freshman) so I think she can make it into HASS. Is HASS very hard to get in?</p>
<p>Harvard is not more cuddly than Cal; as the saying goes: Mother Harvard does not coddle her young. The two universities are more alike than you might think, in terms of the purely academic experience: both offer opportunities for small classes in their first year seminar programs; other than that in some departments, classes are large (format might be lecture plus “section” with a GSI/TA), in other departments classes are smaller, but in any case, opportunities to get to know professors at either Harvard or Cal will depend on the student. The cultures of the two schools are different: Harvard perhaps has a higher percentage hard driving students, intensely involved in extracurricular activities. But the same kind of student would also thrive at Cal. Regents scholars get some nice benefits. Cal students do well in the job and graduate school markets.</p>
<p>She is not quite sure at this moment. It could be Law School or some kind MBA or grad school in Econ. This is one of the homework I ask her to sort out what she want to do for long term. We hasn’t done any research at the Grad/professional schools.</p>
<p>If money is NO object, she should go to Harvard if that is her favorite. But my son chose Berkeley over schools like Yale and Harvard (he was a recruited athlete) cause he wanted to go to Cal. He has had some small classes since freshman year and his professors know him. Plenty to get involved in on campus. No coddling, really, but plenty of understanding supportive professors have helped him thus far in his journey. I would not pay for Harvard without my kid having a stake in it. Ask your child how much of the cost difference for Harvard she is willing to take on as her own debt. Either way, she will be attending one of the top schools in the world. Congrats!</p>
<p>Wow, what an arrogant statement!
50% of Cal in house applicants get in. Do you know how strong these applicants are?<br>
The top 50% at Cal would have middle SAT score at 1500 (M+V) (75% ile), thus put them ahead of the average ivy league students, including Harvard. </p>
<p>Both of my D’s had the same/similar choice. One is now at Harvard and the other starts Yale in the fall. It is difficult to give advice about this, because every family has its own educational values and philosophy. We agreed to pay for their undergrad, and anything past that will be their responsibility. Neither had made a decision about whether to attend grad school, and still haven’t. Harvard and Yale were just too hard to pass up, and I think they made the right choices, especially after having lived in CA their entire lives.</p>
<p>[btw, we required both to take the unsubsidized Stafford loan, in order to have a “stake” in their educations, but we would have done this if they had chosen Cal, too.]</p>
<p>DD at Cal is one of those kids who does get to know her profs and she has overall had a good experience there, but D3 is at a small, not well known, LAC and she knew more profs well in her first term than senior Berkeley DD knew well!</p>
<p>D3 at the small school is having an amazing experience, every week she has more enthusiastic stories.</p>
<p>DD at Cal has also had a great what we call “Christmas letter” experience, meaning there are many concrete examples of great things she has experienced, but hers is more stressed and more work to obtain. This DD had an option at Vassar, but the cost difference was for us prohibitive.</p>
<p>I think when looking at a large financial difference there are some improvements that are NOT worth LOANS, but which could be worth CASH out of pocket.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, maybe it is worth it, but it really really depends on the two experiences and the specific kid. Some kids won’t buy in at any campus, some will do great any where.</p>
<p>I do agree w/Hmom that the change in location can be life altering, so if Cal is the choice make sure she pursues a study abroad.</p>
<p>If your D plans to go to law school or another professional school, it’s a no-brainer, go to Berkeley and save the money for grad school. If she wants to go for a Ph.D., it is most likely that she will not be admitted to a program unless she is also funded (usually through the program), so saving for graduate school is less of an issue.</p>
<p>But another concern is the younger sibling. If money is spent to send the D to Harvard, will there by any left for the younger sibling (who may or may not get a scholarship?)</p>
<p>Berkeley is a great school, but it’s not for everyone (neither, of course, is Harvard). It’s a tough call, and much depends on your D and on your own financial situation.</p>
<p>It’s indeed a tough call. That’s why we have been struggling since April 1st and still can’t decide. We are pretty clear what would be like if she goes to Cal and what the saved resource can do for the future (including studying abroad if she choose) But what she can get or experience from Harvard is still pretty abstract and intangible to us (e.g. more diversified student body, more access to professors, more EC opportunities, better Gov connections, east coast experience, etc.) and it’s hard to value these factors with $ amount.</p>
<p>Anyone know what kind career opportunities after graduating Harvard with Gov/Econ type of majors/concentrations if not pursuing further Graduate/Professional schooling?</p>
<p>Things have changed so much recently that it’s hard to predict what will happen to graduates. For example, it is quite common for Harvard juniors to intern in investment banks and to be offered jobs at the end of their internship. But many of these offers (at Goldman Sachs, Lehman, etc…,) were rescinded late last fall, early this year, leaving quite a few students feeling very stressed. There is a thread about this somewhere on CC.
As far as studying abroad, it’s now become quite common. David Rockefeller gave $10 millions for Harvard students to go abroad. Most, it seems, still prefer to go for the summer so as not to miss courses at Harvard or disrupt their ECs. There is no shortage of funds for students to spend a summer, semester or year abroad.
As far as I know, both the econ and the poly sci departments at Berkeley match up with Harvard’s. The main difference between the two places have to do with non-academic issues rather than academic excellence.</p>