<p>I have been accepted to couple of colleges which one should i pick? I have been accpeted to Barnard, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Davis, Swarthmore, Carleton, Uni of Rochester, Smith. I am from Bay Area, California and have been in the US for only four years. So which school do u recommend and why?
Thanks</p>
<p>Go to UC Berkeley, it's a great school in many disciplines. What major by the way?</p>
<p>Is there a big cost difference to you? If not, Swathmore is an amazing undergrad education. Carleton is also great and Barnard is less selective but a great location and you can take Columbia classes.</p>
<p>Congrats on the acceptances! If I were in your position, I would choose Smith, Swarthmore, or Carleton, but all of us have different preferences, so what may be important to one of us may have no effect on your decision. What are you looking for in a college?</p>
<p>I am majoring on Biology and maybe minor in Political Science.</p>
<p>But what kind of atmosphere appeals to you?</p>
<p>Fin aid is not a problem , i get a lot of fin aid from the private colleges but for the UCs mostly I get some grant then loans.</p>
<p>I am from Iran, and during my HS years I did not have a great time even though I live in CA, so I was looking forward to a great experience where i could meet open-minded people, get involved in many activities, and get a good education.</p>
<p>Would you prefer to be in a city, a small town, the suburbs, or a rural area?</p>
<p>Are you extremely liberal/ would you feel comfortable in a college with many activists and very PC students?</p>
<p>Would you prefer a large university or a small college?</p>
<p>Which part of the country do you like best?</p>
<p>Congratulations star! I am a junior and haven't visited any of these campuses, so this is just my biased opinion.
While my preferences may be totally different from yours, I would choose Swarthmore. The academic reputation will serve you well when you get out of college and it offers wonderful academics while in college. There are no TAs and the professors are supposedly amazing. The campus seems gorgeous in pictures (I haven't had a chance to visit) and the student body is very diverse. Also, the location is great as it is in a comfortable small town, but is less than a half-hour away from Philadelphia. It is a ton of work though, and had a reputation as a "pressure-cooker."
I have visited UC Davis and UC Berkeley. My sister attended UC Davis and liked it well enough, but it definitely wasn't a traditional college experience (at least for her). The campus is not very pretty, there are many TAs, and not a strong sense of community. That being said, I'm sure it does have some other positive attributes.
UC Berkeley has an outstanding reputation, but it didn't seem that wonderful when I visited. Granted, I wasn't really visiting with the purpose of deciding whether or not I wanted to attend, but the campus did not seem very architecturally unified at all. Also, there is a huge housing crunch there right now so housing is only guaranteed for first-years.</p>
<p>Good luck and follow your heart!!!</p>
<p>Both Carleton and ROchester have long, cold, snowy winters. Factor that in against CA weather. </p>
<p>I would choose either Swat or Carleton. Carleton has a rep for having really involved, fun students, while Swat has a rep for involved-to-the-point-of-breaking students. Neither have TAs and both are great for undergrads.</p>
<p>I am very liberal, I have lived in a big and small cities and do not have any preferance, I have never been to east coas since i have recently moved to the US about 4 years ago, but from what i have heard i would mostly live on east and west coas. definatly not south or middle of the US since I am a middle eastern and it is not that easy living in CA, so see what happens if i go to some states that are more conservative.
thanks for ur help</p>
<p>The ones that I know the most about are Smith, Swarthmore, and Carleton. All three have excellent academics, and I am pretty sure that all of them have strong biology and political science programs. I have only visited Smith, and I really liked Northampton and the surrounding area. The town has many cool shops and restaurants. All three have intellectual and quirky students. There are many CC parents of Smithies (TheDad, mini, jyber, and many other new ones [and Stacy and ticklemepink are students there]), Swatties (interesteddad), and Carls (Maize&Blue). You should go the the individual boards of each of the schools that you are considering to get more specific info.</p>
<p>And by the way, TheDad knows about these colleges. His D, who is now at Smith, turned down Barnard and his wife teaches at a UC (I can't remember which one). Also, he just knows a lot about colleges. Mini is also very knowledgeable about anything related to colleges, and interesteddad is another one of my favorite posters.</p>
<p>Sounds like Swat would be a good fit. It's very liberal, very intellectual, very accepting.</p>