The university of Berkeley is a college that has caught my eye ever sense I was young. I love engineering and really enjoy the thought of attending this school. However, problems arise. I don’t quiet live in the wealthiest household. I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. Along with this my parents earn a moderate salary. Despite the fact that they earn a decent amount of money, I feel that sense both of my brothers will have already been paid for college, the tuition i’ll be receiving is a great number. I know people get out of college with debt, but with over 30,000 dollars of fees a year, I fear that i’ll have loads of debt to pay of. Along with all this, I don’t want to let my parents down and have them pay for a college that may possibly hold the chance of a drop out. I work very hard all day through school work, after school clubs, extracurricular activities and then work at home. I always get A’s and don’t quiet have much trouble with school work. But I can’t get the thought of attending a hard college like Berkeley, who is in the top 5 for engineering in the United States, and end up dropping out, wasting all my families money and hard work. So is it worth it? Is this hard college worth attending? Is Berkeley even that hard? Please respond with your thoughts on my current situation. Thanks.
An engineering degree from any UC is valuable. Are you a senior? Have you already applied to colleges? If you have, I would take what financial aid you get into consideration. If you are still in the looking phase, I would also consider private schools if your family’s income is modest. Many private schools will offer better aid. My brother’s cost of attendance at Berkeley was $26,000. At Caltech it was $15,000. Berkeley gave the best aid of all the UC’s though. I am a senior and I applied to both private and UC schools and the financial aid I am offered will greatly influence where I go (I’ll be a bio major and premed). As far is rigor, I’ve heard that Berkeley engineering is very challenging. You should know, however, that engineering at all the UC’s is challenging, and even more challenging at some privates. Go where you will fit best, and don’t be consumed by prestige. And by all means, don’t graduate with tons of debt. Keep in mind that someday you’ll probably want to buy some of this overpriced California real estate.
Your nerves and anxiety are causing unnecessary self doubt. Every successful decision starts with taking a risk. Go for Berkeley and don’t look back.
Thanks for the responses. Sometimes I just feel that it may be too hard eventhough I know that if I get in there than I will stay up all night trying to excell in whatever the professor talked about.
By the way, firstsax i’m a current sophomore.
If you’re only a sophomore, I’d recommend applying for a summer engineering program so that you can “try it before you buy” so to speak. Also it really helps a lot if you’re strong in math for engineering.
Cast a wide net. Apply to Cal and the other UCs, but also go for some less expensive engineering programs. Eg. Cal Poly SLO also has an extremely strong engineering program (with more of a hands-on and less of a theoretical approach) with a much lower sticker price. If you make National Merit Finalist, there’s several good tuition free options.
If you are very bright, try the Ivies as well as places like Michigan. They offer outstanding financial aid that can make it cheaper to attend them than UC. You also won’t face the budget cuts. I just visited Cal and UCLA and it was dispiriting. Everyone talked about budget cuts and “making the best of things”. It wasn’t that way elsewhere.