<p>I have never been so torn. Please contribute opinions?</p>
<p>You have two amazing schools to choose from. McGill and Berkeley are very similar in some respects. Both are large publicly funded universities. Both require students to be self motivated and not in need of “hand holding”. Freshman year classes will tend to be large at both schools, especially in science. Both schools house relatively few students on campus etc. </p>
<p>Some consider the city of Berkeley to be “funky”. Based on my two visits there as a tourist, I would call the city “dumpy”. On the other had, you are only a BART ride away from amazing San Francisco. </p>
<p>Have you visited both schools and are you familiar with the Bay Area and Montreal? The cost of living in the San Francisco area is extremely high, consider that for when you move off campus. </p>
<p>Sorry that I cannot make a recommendation but either way, you will get a great education.</p>
<p>perhaps weather will influence your decision?</p>
<p>Montreal = rainy/ cold for basically the whole school year (unless you’re doing summer school)
- Trust me, it’s April here and it suddenly went from just warming up (wearing a shirt) to cold (thick sweater)</p>
<p>And well cali is typical beach sunny</p>
<p>honestly i think berkley is the way to go though. it’s more reputable. </p>
<p>ps. i’m a mcgill student</p>
<p>“And well cali is typical beach sunny”</p>
<p>Ah, Berkeley is in the San Francisco Bay area, where nobody goes to beaches and nobody swims in the ocean without a wetsuit. The climate there is NOTHING like that of the Los Angeles or San Diego areas.</p>
<p>SF Bay Area: year round Springtime: Rain, FOG, FOG, FOG and the chance of earthquakes!!!</p>
<p>Price should be of concern too. From what I’ve heard, the UC’s cost quite a bit if you’re OOS. Though Berkeley’s fame is undeniable, I don’t find reason to dive into debts unless you plan to major on something that will greatly benefit from Berkeley’s brand name (like Finance).</p>
<p>Living in CA I can confirm that the weather in th SF Bay area is nothing like Southern California – it’s certainly not Montreal, but it’s not exactly beach weather either! More like the Pacific Northwest.</p>
<p>Berkeley is the place for you if you like lots and lots of homeless people and every sort of mal-adjusted political fanatic with a bullhorn. If you like fairly normal people and really good-looking women, then go to McGill.</p>