<p>Since Cal decisions came out yesterday, I now have a very difficult decision to make.
I have been accepted to every university I applied to (UCLA, Cal, UCSC, UCSB, UC Davis) as an anthropology major.</p>
<p>I have no idea what to do. It's insane to think how much this choice will shape my future. Where I do (and do not) go to school will make an impact on the people I will and will not meet, the experiences that will and will not be had, and the opportunities that will or will not be available to me.</p>
<p>On top of that, I am incredibly indecisive, it's probably one of my worst qualities :p</p>
<p>I like to think a lot about possible outcomes, the varying factors at each school, the pros and cons from a fiscal, social, environmental, and educational stand point and often end up thinking myself into nothingness. </p>
<p>I think part of the reason I'm having such a hard time making a decision, asside from the over thinking, is that I never had a "dream" school, I don't really have any future plans that could inform my decision. </p>
<p>I am simply lost and feeling overwhelmed. </p>
<p>Anyone have any input on how I can make the decision?
If anyone else out there and is as indecisive as me, how are you going about making your choice? </p>
<p>Visit the schools you are most interested in. If I were you, it would come down to either UCLA or Cal, but thats just me. I would really look into how your major emphasis changes depending on the school. Different institutions approach subjects in different ways, and some are stronger than others.</p>
<p>I’m in the same predicament, but I’m visiting UCLA this Monday and Cal next weekend to get a better grasp of the atmosphere. Apart from this, it will also come down to financials. Cal offered me close to 20k in scholarships, UCLA still hasnt created my Financial Aide Info, but they offered me a regents invitations so I’ll have to see how that pans come Mid May.</p>
<p>Another factor you may want to consider is weather and proximity to home.</p>
<p>You mentioned a fiscal impact–which schools will cost you more in your cash or loans? Can you give more detail on that?</p>
<p>Have you visited all the schools? Which campuses did you like best? Can you even rule one out? That would be a helpful start. </p>
<p>Dig into the anthropology department page on each university’s website. Check out what their professors and departments are doing. Email a professor and explain your dilemma including which schools offered you a spot. Ask what opportunities for fieldwork or research are available for an undergrad transfer student. See what they have to say. </p>
<p>Are we ruling out UCSC, UCSB and UCD? Do you want to enter the field? If not, I’d recommend going to wherever you’d like to end up after you graduate. You’re studying cultural anthro? My Anthro professor said that Berkeley is considered better in cultural. UCLA is apparently considered better at physical. This is a tough choice! Can’t go wrong so go with your gut. </p>
IMHO the main issue you face is this lack of direction. Ideally you would have spent the 1st 2 years of college thinking about and exploring possible directions so that you could spend your last 2 years getting relevant experience in a chosen direction thru things such as internships. Your situation is hardly unusual, though. For many years the “answer” of many was to go to law school, kicking the decision down the road another 3 years. Law school tuition has soared, and if you’ve read about it lately many are finding it hard to even find a job (let alone pay off loans) so that probably isn’t a great solution.</p>
<p>You have the choice of some fine schools. Cal and UCLA are nationally recognized. But to be honest the choice of which you choose (these 2, or one of the others) isn’t by itself going to make your future so you’re over-thinking it there. Its what you do that matters. Simply enroll and get an Anthro degree and your prospects will be far less than if you can identify some future career goal and take steps in the next 2 years to make yourself a stronger candidate for whatever that might be (grad school, entering the workforce, etc). You talk about these " opportunities that will or will not be available to me" and I think you’re a bit off-base here. It isn’t as if someone is going to line up opportunities and present them to you in a tidy list, along with some sage advice about how to choose. All these schools are large publics. If there are opportunities it is going to be on your shoulders to go out and find them. IMHO the biggest difference isn’t going to be which school you choose, its going to be what you do when you get there.</p>
<p>If your best financial offers are from Cal and UCLA, then pick the one you’d rather live at for 2 years. My 2 cents, anyway.</p>
<p>Thanks for your insight @Picapole!
UCLA was my favourite campus by far and I will try to find a way to contact students and/or professors.
My mom told me she is friends with a woman who has a friend who is getting his PhD in anthropology at UCLA, so I am trying to see if I could maybe get in touch with him for some insight. </p>
<p>@Zalrons
I am not eliminating any schools just yet, but I do have something pulling me towards UCLA, but Cal is giving me a little bit more in terms of funds…</p>
<p>@mikemac
You are correct, it is the lack of direction which is ultimately making this a harder decision but it is not because of a lack of thought durring my time at my CC. </p>
<p>I 100% agree with you that its not the school necessarily, but what I do when I get there… what I ment when I stated “opportunities that will or will not be available to me” was more along the lines of, some campuses have anthropology museums or libraries just for anthropology students, some campuses don’t. Opportunities to work in those environments (the anthro museums/libraries) will be available to me at Cal or UCLA, for example, but might not be available at some of the other campuses I applied to. I didn’t expect opportunities to be handed to me at any campus. </p>
<p>You may also want to consider if you’d rather end up in Nor Cal or So Cal after graduation, if you want to stay in California at all. Going to a college local to the area that you’d ultimately like to end up can help you build connections with people working in your field.</p>
<p>@anthroflo How would you rank the campuses you visited in terms of campus beauty? I applied to a lot of the same schools and won’t be able to visit all of them.</p>
<p>I also had a really hard time deciding between UCs, and I too am very indecisive, although for me, it was really only between Cal and UCLA-- I stopped considering UCSB as soon as I knew I got into the others. Cal and UCLA gave me identical amounts of financial aid, so that didn’t affect my decision. </p>
<p>I usually find it useful to make a pros and cons list for each option. This doesn’t usually give you immediate answers, but it can help you get a better idea of what factors are influencing you. After you’ve made the list, it can be helpful to rate the importance of each pro or con, too. That way you can tell which school has the most heavily weighted pros.</p>
<p>When I was deciding, I kept hoping that I would just magically know which school was The One for me. I visited UCLA and I thought it was nice and beautiful. I visited Cal and I thought it was nice and beautiful. In the end, I chose Cal because I wanted to go farther away from home and experience a different part of California (I’m from SoCal), because I like the city of Berkeley way more than Westwood, and because Cal has a really good department for my major (English). I feel like I definitely made the right decision, I absolutely love it here!</p>
<p>Really though, every one of your options is a good one, and you have to the potential to do wonderfully and have a great experience at any one of them. It will be okay!</p>
<p>I am indecisive too…I am choosing between UCI and UCLA. I will choose based on how comfortable I feel on the campuses and the courses I would have to take + FA. </p>
<p>Hey @MAXsays
That’s a bit of a tough one to answer because each campus has something wonderful about it.
Granted, all my opinions are, obviously, bias and you may differ in what you appreciate in a campus but I don’t mind giving a brief rundown of each campus. If you want more information please let me know (:</p>
<p>》UCLA - The campus is right off the city in a nice part of Los Angeles. The architecture is beautiful and there is also some green around. They have a free museum on campus which is something I really like. Even though I initially found the campus intimidating and difficult to navigate I got good vibes from it. </p>
<p>》Cal - The architecture here might be my favourite! The campus feels enormous but it usually relatively easy to figure out where you are because of the clock tower. You can get a nice view of the bay from certain parts of campus. I can’t tell you I got any particularly strong vibes here just because so much was going on when I went, I do live a little far away but I want to go again to get a better feel for the campus. </p>
<p>》UCSC - There are trees everywhere! Personally, I dig it but if you don’t like the idea of going to school up in the SC mountains, I don’t recommend it. While the school was physically beautiful, there was something about the vibe that was a bit off to me, like something was missing. </p>
<p>》UCSB - I think of all the campuses I visited, this was the easiest to navigate. Aside from being right next to the beautiful ocean, I found the campus a bit plain (for lack of a better word). The library was also under construction when I went and that is something I am just not keen on. The vibe was also just off for me.</p>
<p>》UC Davis - The campus is big, it has some nice green to it and a river that runs through the side of the campus. The architecture was nothing mind blowing, but it was nice. It looked like the surrounding area was also really nice. For some reason the campus left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. </p>
<p>Hope that was of some help!
Again, if you want more insight, please let me know.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input @kat121
As a Cal student, how competitive is the environment?
Personally, I don’t like the idea of being in a rat race and sometimes that is the impression I get of cal.
Since you are an actual student, I would love to hear any insight on the campus you may have!</p>
<p>I’m with you Anthro! In the end, I’m faced with either Cal or UCLA. As a Political Science major, the obvious choice should be Cal, but there’s just something about being at the #1 public university that’s been stressing me ever since Friday. Perhaps it’s the competitiveness, perhaps it’s the pressure of the idea of being at the #1 public university in the country, perhaps it’s the distance from home. But in the end, you just have to be comfortable with your decision because this decision is so consequential to everything in your life! This is where you’ll find new friends, possibly find a significant other haha, possibly this is the area where you’ll be living after you graduate… What I’m doing is that I’ll hopefully be attending Transfer Weekend at Cal and Student Empowerment Networking Day at UCLA, and by getting a feel of both environments my decision will be more obvious and clear. </p>
<p>Good luck making your decision @Cheebii, I hope you go to the best place for you and your growth!
It is a big decision and like you said, future significant other could be rolling around somewhere over ther at university and I wouldn’t want to miss him not sure what your into, but when I went to Cal I saw quite a few attractive young men running around, unfortunately they all appeared to be in biology. Just a heads up ;)</p>
<p>It’s all good @MAXsays. Thank you for your words of encouragment and best of luck making your decision!</p>
<p>@anthroFlo, I guess the obvious difference I noticed between Cal and community college is that at Cal, EVERYONE in your classes usually seems so smart and capable, as opposed to community college where you tend to get used to being one of a smaller subset of motivated students. In terms of competitiveness, I think what major you are makes a difference-- my friends who are in STEM majors make it seem much more brutal, with the grading curves and stuff like that. I’m not sure how Anthro is in that regard. From my perspective, the competitiveness seems overstated. People work hard and are intellectually engaged, but I don’t get the feeling that they are competing with their classmates. I get stressed out when I have things due, but I definitely have time for fun too! I know lots of transfer students and they all seem to be doing fine (including the STEM majors).</p>
<p>I like that you prefer Cal’s architecture-- I do too! The campus is pretty easy to get around once you get the hang of it.</p>
haha, possibly this is the area where you’ll be living after you graduate… What I’m doing is that I’ll hopefully be attending Transfer Weekend at Cal and Student Empowerment Networking Day at UCLA, and by getting a feel of both environments my decision will be more obvious and clear. </p>