I just got off the Berkeley waitlist for Spring 2018. Although I would love to go to Berkeley, the cost to attend is crazy high (like >$100,000 NZD per year) without a scholarship or FA or similar. I’ve already committed to NYU with a scholarship which would bring me down to $75,000 NZD per year, because I was accepted at NYU RD. I was wondering how other international students funded their studies at Berkeley and what people’s opinions are on my situation.
I would definitely choose Berkeley over NYU if money wasn’t a factor 
For reference, I’m from New Zealand and was accepted into Berkeley’s College of Letters & Science (intended Physics major), and I was accepted into NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering as an Applied Physics & Mathematics double major.
Also (forgot to add), is it sketchy to do my SIR for Berkeley before I’ve contacted NYU about not attending their school anymore? It’s the weekend and I would love to call Berkeley to ask a couple questions first, but I’d also like to sign up for the FPF if I do decide to attend Berkeley
@SpicyRamen , personally, I would go to NYU. The $25,000 dollar difference per year adds up to $100,000 as college graduation draws near. However, they both are very great schools. Are you planning to get student loans? If you are, remember that interest rate is around 6.5%, and that’s a considerably a lot of money (~$5000 more money to pay back per year for NYU’s $75000 and $6500 more money to pay back per year for Berkeley’s $100000)
Both schools are notorious for terrible aid unless you are instate for Berkeley. Students that attend UCB and NYU without much Aid are either rich enough to pay full tuition or go in massive debt. Honestly, neither schools are worth going into 6 figure debts, but if these two are your only options, choose the cheaper one
“I would definitely choose Berkeley over NYU if money wasn’t a factor”
I would too, but not at the price that you were offered. I think that Berkeley is too expensive. I am also wondering whether NYU is too expensive.
A few questions (which probably at least should be important):
- Would you take on debt to attend either of these universities? If so, how much?
- Do you have alternatives in New Zealand? Also, does New Zealand have any sort of reciprocity with Australia and if so do you have options there?
@johnlimster @DadTwoGirls
Thanks for the replies! My parents are fully funding my studies. We’re only a middle-class family, but they’ve been telling me about studying in the US at top universities since primary school (grade school?) and are very keen for me to study overseas (not that they don’t want me to study locally, though). They’re very supportive and have always said they’d pay for whatever education I chose, so they’ve been saving up for something like this for basically my entire life. We have enough to pay for a bachelors (kind of, my parents are kind of vague but they keep telling me to just choose whatever uni), but I know they have sufficient funds for at least the first two years with no loans.
As for local unis, there are a few in NZ, but NZ isn’t a big place and unis here are basically all the same. The only globally comparable one is the University of Auckland which is just in the top 200 universities globally, but it’s still a pretty average education. I actually didn’t look that much into unis in Australia, because it’s way too hot there (sounds childish, but I really can’t function under heat), but I think it’s pretty similar to applying for any other international uni, but Aussie universities are just cheaper than American ones in general.
My one concern is that I don’t think NYU has that great of an engineering/science department, especially for non-drama/theatre/music courses such as Physics or Mathematics. Lots of people say vastly different things about the Tandon School of Engineering. I’m not sure if the education at NYU for science would be worth it, whereas I know that Berkeley has a great science department.
Congrats on being accepted to NYU and UC Berkeley!
I am a non-traditional freshman student. Last year I intended on going to NYU, but I didn’t. I was recently accepted to UC Berkeley and I will be attending next year.
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SIR “sketchiness:” NO. It is not “sketchy.” The rule for SIR is that you do not SIR for more than one University of California campus. However, I would not prolong the process of double-depositing, since it can make things twice as stressful and twice as complicated.
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This really depends on your family’s situation, or your situation if you are an independent student like myself. If money weren’t a factor, where would you like to go? You said Cal. Would going to Cal and incurring 25k NZD make that much of a difference if you find yourself to be happier there? Again, it’s not for me to say which school you would be happiest at. And, both are completely different schools. But if you have some leeway with funds, that’s important. If money is tight, well, yes, maybe the cheapest option is the only option you have.
My concern with NYU was similar to yours. I wanted to attend for biology, and I thought that while they are a great school, I could’ve gotten the same – if not a better – STEM education at a public university like UW or UC Berkeley. However, NYU is world-renowned for applied mathematics. Last time I checked, they were ranked #1 nationally by US News and World Report in this category. But for engineering? I can’t speak to that. I don’t know much about engineering, unfortunately.
Good luck!
@jayess thanks, so it’s not weird to have deposits and SIR down for two different universities for a couple days before calling one to let them know that I’ve changed my mind? I heard that you should only commit to one school at a time otherwise if other colleges find out they could rescind your offer because you’ve been doing “sketchy” things (idk how sketchy it is though)
If it’s not sketchy or anything, I would totally put my deposit down before contacting NYU so that I can try and sign up for FPF. Hopefully spaces don’t fill up too soon.
And yeah, NYU has got good review for their maths department, but I was looking more into the physics side of things, and also Berkeley is generally ranked higher than NYU anyways. Depends on the source I guess!