<p>
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turned down UC Berkeley and Vandy for Emory. Not official. Can anyone turn my opinion around?
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<p>I would turn down UC Berkeley for Emory in a heartbeat!!! They're hard to compare, depends on your academic focus. Aside from rigor and +/- of academics, I believe know you'll have the best undergraduate experience at Emory of the three. UC Berekely does not have the best reviews for undergrad, in fact, I don't think I've heard many good reviews about the the attention given to students, quality of life, accessiblity, class size, or first year experience.</p>
<p>So in a toss up between the two, I'd choose Emory, Vanderbiilt would on the back burner if I got into the first two.</p>
<p>When talking about such different universities, it's all about fit. If you fit it better and think that you will do better at Emory, go for it. If you would prefer a larger, more lively place, Berkeley is the place to be. I don't know much about Emory or Vanderbilt, but academic focus important when deciding. That and freedom of curriculum choice.</p>
<p>Anyway, the negative Berkeley undergrad reviews are department specific, and usually from the sciences (from what i've heard on here).</p>
<p>And on the west coast, Emory and Vanderbilt are hardly known, whereas Berkeley is in the mouths of the world.</p>
<p>My friend did something very similar to anovice's friend. This one turned down MIT and Columbia for UIUC, but UIUC made him an offer he couldn't refuse :). And when it comes to engineering, UIUC is almost as well respected.</p>
<p>ummm, no offense to anyone but can we please have this thread closed? It's gotten WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too long and there's more than enough info in it to support the basic idea of this thread.</p>
<p>I took an offer at the University of San Franciso with scholarship over Georgetown and UChicago, b/c of financial matters. I'm a firm beleiver that the school doesn't make the student, and that the less debt I'm in walking into grad school, the better off I'll be.</p>
<p>alvin plantinga, a professor of philosophy at notre dame, probably the most well-known christian philosopher, left harvard after i think two semesters to attend calvin college in grand rapids.</p>
<p>Interesting, Calvin College produces excellent philosophers. The most prolific and probably the most well known philosphy professor at Boston College, Peter Kreeft, also atended Calvin College. I found his tapes on Philosophy recently in the Borders bookstore. Further, he is one of the sample lecturers on the isi.org website.</p>
<p>At the end of the day I think it shows that it is actually the student and their desire to learn that makes the difference.</p>
<p>My brother turned down Columbia for Drew U in Madison, NJ. A lot of it came down to the fact that he got a full-ride at Drew, but he was very happy at a small school with access to the city without being in Morningside Heights.</p>
<p>I would hope Jesus of Nazarenth in a more well known Christian philosopher than Alvin Plantinga. I might prefer Augustine or Aquinas, and I would settle for Paul.</p>