<p>My son want to apply MIT, but we are California residence, we would pay much less if he select UCB. We could afford him for MIT, but does it worth?</p>
<p>for which program? </p>
<p>MIT is superior to Berkeley for undergrad, in my opinion. I’d go for MIT for the sticker price. But if Berkeley would cost substantially less, I’d go for Berkeley.</p>
<p>If your son has the grades/scores for MIT, he could also consider Stanford or Caltech & apply for merit/FA</p>
<p>My son has GPA 4.0 and weighted 4.6, he did a lot EC on medical research in local university, got Siemens Semifinalist and some other award. Captain in tennis team, captain in debate club, Drum major, and 400+ hours of community services. He want to do Bio-engineering or Bio Medical engineering. I am not sure how much chance he could get in MIT, but he wants to try. For Berkeley, I am prety sure he will be in. UC Davis already guaranteed him for any major he selects. </p>
<p>MIT and Berkeley are both strong in Engineering, if my son go to Berkeley, we will pay instate tuitition and fee, total about $25K, but MIT may cost about $50K, double the Berkeley. The rank of MIT in engineer is #1, Stanford #2, and Berkeley #3, is the extra cost worth for the subtle difference? Same question apply to Stanford because it’s also a private school.</p>
<p>I would definitely apply to MIT and Stanford. Those schools are EXTREMELY generous with aid. If you need financial assisitance, they will see to it that you get it. Trust me, MIT and Stanford could well end up costing as much as Cal.</p>
<p>I think your son should apply to MIT, UCB and Stanford and decide on this only after admission decisions are out. Then you have all the facts to make an informed decision. It is worthless debating UCB vs. MIT now.</p>
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I would take the rankings with a grain of salt. Many people do not regard Berkeley in the same league as elite private schools for various reasons. </p>
<p>It has far less undergraduate research opportunities than alternatives such as Caltech and the classroom sizes are huge. The percentage of Berkeley students who go on to earn a PhD are also lower (often significantly) than those of schools other top engineering schools, though one may argue this is because the students they admitted were not as strong to begin with.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that Berkeley isn’t a great school and an affordable alternative to MIT, I’m simply saying that you should expect what you pay for. The two schools aren’t really that similar, especially in terms of resources, despite being similarly ranked. The differences are not “subtle” at all. </p>
<p>I will agree, however, that the importance of these benefits of private universities are debatable and some students do not take them to account.</p>
<p>Agreed, he should apply and if he gets in, see the kind of FA they offer.</p>
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<p>You won’t get any aid if there is no calculated need. The OP says they could afford MIT. Does this mean the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is 100%? If there is any doubt, use an online EFC calculator to estimate it.</p>
<p>I think, MIT, CALTECH, STANFORD, will give your son a better ambience for learning. I found the campus life, for an undergrad, is much better in these institutes, as against Berkeley. While I have reasons to be biased towards Berkeley, I feel for an undergrad, who has offers from the other institutes I mentioned, should be careful while exercising the option. Yes, I assumed that ‘spending extra $’ will not be an issue!</p>
<p>There is a huge difference at the undergrad level in my opinion. Whether or not that is worth the financial consideration is something you have to evaluate for yourself carefully. Most people don’t have the luxury to choose.</p>
<p>While Berkeley has a great undergrad reputation, the rep of the grad school is much greater and confuses the thinking of non-academics.</p>
<p>Berkeley will have huge undergrad classes and may be a sink or swim environment with little support the first two years. I’m sure upper division is much better. But competition for undergrad research may be difficult and that is very important component of grad school apps. I think you can only expect campus housing the first year.</p>
<p>Top privates like MIT are very invested in student success and not weeding out. Access to professors is better. Access to research is better. Classes are smaller. There is more access to amazing opportunities. It is a very special life. I do think weeding out and failure rate is higher at Berkeley. But committed students can get where they want from there.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted in-state to Berkeley and I really thought she should consider it strongly. I required her to apply to 3 UC although she was not that keen on it, one issue was she preferred the away experience and a smaller school. We did not have to consider financial trade offs in the end and she decided to go to Brown. First in Physics, then in Computer Science and is now in a PhD program for CS at top 10 school. She was very happy with her undergrad experience and her department especially</p>
<p>There are many routes to success, not just one or two schools. So financials, then student desires, and fit with the school. Find out as much as you can and ask if you can succeed in that environment–there is something to talk about. I have met successful Berkeley students and ones who flunked out and were unprepared for the competition, despite the credentials to get in. Not questioning your son’s credentials, just understand the environment.</p>
<p>What engineering discipline is your son interested? When applying to Berkeley, your son will have to select a major on the application. Electrical engineering and “Engineering - Undeclared” are the toughest for admittance. </p>
<p>This was probably my only complaint about Berkeley…kids need to select a major when applying. Other schools allow for more exploration before deciding on an engineering discipline. Sure, you can change disciplines while at Cal, but they don’t make it very easy. </p>
<p>I’ll agree with others. Apply to MIT and Berkeley (also Stanford, Caltech, etc.) and wait to make a decision after all acceptance and financial aid offers are on the table.</p>
<p>Berkeley, like all schools, does have its flaws, but has enormous benefits as well…a student needs to be a self-starter and actively seek out opportunities. MIT, Stanford, Caltech and Berkeley are all very different environments - each with their plusses and minuses.</p>
<p>If you can afford MIT without the debt, then MIT. If not, then Berkeley. Obviously MIT carries a significant amount of cache that Berkeley does not, but I don’t think any undergraduate degree is worth taking out loans/mortgages.</p>
<p>Your son should apply to JHU, Duke, Cornell, Harvard and Brown. They’re are quite good for biomed or bio. </p>
<p>Personally, I’d choose MIT over Stanford or Berkeley. I would choose Stanford over Berkeley. But I would choose Berkeley over Caltech. I think Berkeley offers better undergrad experience than Caltech does. Your son would enjoy in Berkeley more than he would at Caltech.</p>
<p>*Trust me, MIT and Stanford could well end up costing as much as Cal. *</p>
<p>Not true…nephew got into all 3 and Cal was by far the cheapest (instate) because his EFC was too high for aid. It’'s not hard for upper middle class families in Calif to have EFCs that are too high for aid…especially if both parents work.</p>
<p>To go to Cal is about $30k in state. To go to Stanford or MIT, would have cost them over $55k per year.</p>
<p>Go ahead and apply to all and see. But, if you already know that you won’t get aid, then don’t expect any. Since you say that you can afford MIT, that may suggest that you won’t qualify for aid.</p>
<p>Subtle differences in rankings are meaningless.</p>
<p>Sincerely appreciate you all for the inputs! My son definitely would apply for those schools you guys suggested, I am just doing the math and play tradeoffs. My husband and I are both working and we know for sure my son won’t qualify for any FA, and I don’t think he will get any scholarship either, because the top school students are all outstanding. We are middle class family, 4 yrs private school would cost extra $100K after tax money. But if it worth the price, we will pay for it no mater what.</p>
<p>Have you run a financial aid calculator? We always felt we were quite well off, but were quite surprised at the aid offered by MIT. (My S did not attend, but his school of choice matched their offer.) Has your son visited? The culture is different from the western schools. A visit might make it clear that it’s worth the extra money or he could come away feeling that it’s just not the school for him. That is what matters, not the rankings.</p>
<p>Your son is in a great spot if these are the decisions he has to make. Well done. :)</p>
<p>Top students at both schools get similar opportunities. Students at the bottom at MIT probably get better opportunities than students at the bottom at Berkeley though. You may save a lot of money depending on how much confidence you have on your son, and how much confidence he has in himself.</p>
<p>I have to wonder how the state of CA’s budget is affecting students. </p>
<p>“July 12, 2009 Cuts in all departments in the College of Engineering:
All non-protected State-supplied budgets will receive a PERMANENT, one-time cut of 27%. It is unclear if there will be additional budget cuts in future fiscal years. This means that the total staff salary budget will be cut 27%. This comes as an additional cut on the 8% salary reduction. The total Department operating funds will be cut 27% and effectively wiped out. Supplies budget will be cut 27%. Everything, absolutely every state funding line the ME Department has (except the faculty salary line) will be subject to this 27% permanent cut.”</p>
<p>[Cuts</a> in the College of Engineering UC Berkeley Budget Crisis](<a href=“http://budgetcrisis.berkeley.edu/?p=149]Cuts”>http://budgetcrisis.berkeley.edu/?p=149)</p>
<p>The students were protesting earlier this month. I’ll bet a lot of faculty have been updating their resum</p>