<p>as the general population here at cc seems to be pretty well-informed, i’d like to see if anyone has any good advice to offer me in this dilemma i’m having.</p>
<p>i was accepted into uc berkeley engineering as well as upenn engineering. i’m a native californian and have lived about an hour away from berkeley my entire life. i would really like to get an out-of-state experience for college, so i was more than happy when upenn took me in. here’s the catch: is it worth it to pay an extra $80k (they gave me zero financial aid) to go to penn engineering, which is ranked substantially below berkeley’s engineering program? in other words, would choosing penn prove to be an unwise decision when i graduate four years from now and start looking for a job and/or applying for graduate school?</p>
<p>I would take Berkeley. You're still going to be living away from home, completely independent. And the good thing is that if you get a little homesick, it's only an hour away. Berkeley is probably the bigger name, especially in Engineering.</p>
<p>You gotta ask yourself whether you're really going to stay in engineering. Keep in mind the brutal engineering attrition rate - anywhere from half to 2/3 of all incoming students who intend to major in engineering at Berkeley will never complete an engineering degree. Many of them switch to another major, either because they find something else more interesting, or because they decide that they simply don't want to study as hard as they have to to complete their engineering coursework. Some of them flunk out completely.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley is known for being one of the best engineering schools in the world (sometimes ranked higher than MIT), whereas UPenn is known as being bad for engineering, and UPenn is generally less famous. </p>
<p>Furthermore, I don't think UC Berkeley is harder than UPenn, coz UPenn admissions are Ivy admissions, whereas most of the UC kids are from Cali, and admissions are therefore less selective.</p>
<p>It's not worth the money. UPenn engineering is not at well well known, and even UPenn itself isn't all that famous (doesnt have the name brand of Stanford, Harvard, or Berkeley).</p>
<p>I'd save the 80,000 if I were you. Hell, i wouldnt go to UPenn even if the cost of going to the two schools was equal.</p>
<p>Also everybody wants an out of state experience but really I don't think that many students can handle it. Especially with a major like engineering. Def cal for my vote.</p>
<p>My friend had a 2.5 GPA from Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley. He never has to worry about a job for the rest of his life. He was making 70K or so first year out of school with an engineering firm with 4 day workweeks. If he wants to pursue a PhD, he has a much better chance than someone with a superior GPA from UPenn. </p>
<p>Not to mention the engineering department at Berkeley has the most girls out of any top engineering school. Not a bad deal at all. Also, Berkeley and the East Bay is completely different from the rest of the Bay Area in many ways. I chose Berkeley over Wharton and Cornell. I would seriously say my college experience was by far the best experience in my life.</p>
<p>Again, I would point out that the real question is whether you are sure you are going to stay in engineering. Keep in mind that the majority of incoming engineering students eventually leave. Are you sure you are going to be one of the ones who stay?</p>
<p>Cal's engineering reputation is too good. It easily ranks in the top three for several engineering majors. Heck, the UPenn university itself is not as well known as Cal.</p>
<p>One thing to warn you about. UPenn has a decent graduation/retention rate but Cal's engineering is dangerously competitive.</p>
<p>though i agree that it is an obvious decision from a 'ranking' standpoint, i have another question. will berkeley be the better college experience? many have mentioned the competition at berkeley. at penn i see myself as having a lot more freedom, both academically (if i ever want to change majors or explore new things) and socially (more diversity/more interesting people) while at the same time still getting a top-notch education. i'm a personal believer in college being the time to get out there, do new things, and become a more dynamic person. berkeley just seems so much more generic, at least where i come from, and much more cold and impersonal than a private school where there is a definite family mentality.</p>
<p>i guess the clincher is, i'm worried that i won't be as happy at berkeley as at penn...anything to say about that?</p>
<p>i've heard that at berkeley, in some of the dorms half the kids smoke pot and many are drunk (coz some of the dumb cali kids get in), and people are agressively political etc, and i've read many posts from berkeley students/alumn saying they were miserable because of it.</p>
<p>about the whole thing with changing major... in case you can't handle engineering, berkeley is top notch for many majors, for example, math/applied math/econ at the college are easier, but also great there.</p>
<p>Nah, not all of them, in fact not even most of them. Most of them end up in the cheesepuff majors, the the "never have to study", "never have to do anything or learn anything and still get top grades" majors. I am not going to name those majors, but I'm sure all the Berkeley students and alumni know exactly what I'm talking about.</p>
<p>I believe UPenn has a combined engineering/engineering management option where you take courses from the engineering department and Wharton Business school. </p>
<p>Might be worth looking into before you make your decision.</p>