<p>Okay, I have an honest question. I want Berkeley. I want it so badly. But Im out of state. I can go to GWU almost for free. I can go to Emory and USC for half the cost of Berkeley. If I go to Cal, I will be in mega debt when I get out. But I really, really love Cal. So please be honest. Is it worth the debt?</p>
<p>that is a personal decision, the answer is different for everyone. </p>
<p>Community college is cheaper than most four year schools - is it worth it for a four year?</p>
<p>On the other hand, is the relative difference in transportation experience quality worth hiring a private jet instead of taking Southwest or Jetblue?</p>
<p>^Don’t you love it when people answer your question with a question and your left with your thumb up your a55?</p>
<p>I’ll give you somewhat of a short answer, but it depends on your academic goals.
1st: Do you plan on pursuing a graduate degree?</p>
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<p>2nd: …so your undergrad is your terminal degree?</p>
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<p>From a professional perspective, you can establish relationships at Cal that MAY lead to a good job, but this is a crap shoot because this totally depends on your own efforts (…no different than if you were at GWU). Furthermore, while having a degree from Cal will certainly be recognizable, employers are ultimately concerned with what you can DO. Having a degree from Cal doesn’t make you anymore competitive in applicant pool if all you have is a BS/BA and candidate B, C, & D have 5-10+ yrs experience and a degree from a lesser known state college. Once you’ve established yourself in the job market, where you received your education becomes less and less important and all your left with is the experience that you had from your college days.</p>
<p>Move to Berkeley, establish residence, attend a JC for 1-2 years, and then transfer as a CA resident.</p>
<p>go to emory. Its ranked 17 or so and its a great school. But if you really want to move to California go to USC which is ranked 26 and its almost as good as Cal. I would personally go to USC because I love la and the girls are hot 
Im going to Berkeley because im getting pretty much a full ride but I would never go to a school that was not financially feasable man. Graduating in major debt isnt worth it man so my advice to you is go to usc and be a trojan.</p>
<p>Well if you’re going to be worried about the debt the whole time you’re at Berkeley and will be constantly trying to find a job and spend as little money as possible, it will not be worth it.</p>
<p>Otherwise, if you can live your 4 years here without much stress, knowing you will eventually pay it off, you should come here. You will get opportunities at Berkeley than you will not get at any of the other schools and if you love it already, you’re only going to love it more.</p>
<p>I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to accumulate such enormous debt just to go to Berkeley, especially when you have other very good (and cheaper) options available, like USC and Emory. Berkeley is a decent school, but it certainly wont guarantee you success; you’ll have to earn it. Also, your other schools are probably just as good at the undergraduate level (except maybe if you’re going for Engineering).</p>
<p>Emory (Or usc I guess if that is less costly for some reason…).</p>
<p>Cal is expensive. Berkeley on the other hand is very cheap.</p>