<p>Hi, everyone.</p>
<p>I'm senior in high school. I got offers from WashU, UCBerkeley, UCLA, and UCSD. Only UCSD gave me full scholarship for 4 years. But I have to stay in NanoEngineering for 4 years in UCSD. I'm not interested in NanoEngineering. I'm interested in Mechanical or BioEngineering, and also Biology & pre-med. So far, I have no idea which major I'm going to study. How do I choose which school I should go? I really need your help. Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>“I have to stay in NanoEngineering…I’m not interested in NanoEngineering.”</p>
<p>You have your answer.</p>
<p>It’s really easy to double major at WashU, even in one engineering subject and biology, if that is what you want to do. I don’t know much about the UC schools, so I don’t know if double majors are as easy. But if you don’t want to do NanoEngineering, then I would not go to UCSD. Good luck!</p>
<p>Have fun at Wash U :)</p>
<p>I was in the same position last year. (not about the nano-engineering part though). Had the choice between berkeley, ucla, ucsd, ucsb, and WashU. I chose WashU for several reasons.</p>
<p>One of the main issues I had with the UC system was the poor financial situation of the schools. Professors are being cut, furlough days are occurring, class sizes are increasing, etc. Students are finding it harder and harder to enroll in required courses due to the speed at which they fill up. I just didn’t want to have to deal with those issues. At WashU, the endowment is on the upswing, no professors have been cut, (in fact, the bio department is in the process of hiring another Plant Biology professor), and registration for classes is almost never a problem.</p>
<p>Academically speaking, you can’t go wrong at any of these schools. I prefer WashU because I was able to get into a lab right away without hundreds of other undergrads competing for the spot. (I work in a biochem lab in the bio dept.)</p>
<p>Additionally, double majoring is easy at WashU whereas it may be more of a challenge to do more than one major at a UC due to more GenEd requirements and more difficulty registering for classes.</p>
<p>Warning: I had a bit of a bias because I went to California public schools my whole life and was just sick of the bureaucracy. Therefore, when I was faced with the decision to go private, there really wasn’t much hesitation…</p>
<p>Either school you choose, you will get a great education. Grad schools and employers are well aware of the strength of the UCs as well as WashU’s programs. In my opinion, don’t let prestige make the decision for you; choose the school that suits your personality best. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>MS</p>