NU vs. UC Berkeley

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
21

<p>I’m in the same situation right now… I’m torn between UC Berkeley and Northwestern. I want to be a biology major and hopefully apply to med school. From what I’ve heard, Berkeley’s biology program is one of the best. But are there advantages in going to a private school, where there may be more research opportunities, internships, and better faculty-student relationships? Does a degree from a private, “more prestigious” school look better on a grad school app?</p>

<p>I guess the more practical decision is to go with Berkeley since in-state tuition is so much cheaper. But the NU campus and the people there made the school seem a lot more like home to me :confused: I don’t know.</p>

22

<p>^ If your goal is med school, differences between NU and Cal in medical school adcom’s eyes will be nil…and any graduate admission committee for that matter. Med school is dependent primarily on high GPA and MCAT scores. You’ll do better in the environment that allows you to study hardest and focus. Are there significant cost differences between Cal and NU in your case? Med school is expensive…you don’t want to rack up too much student loan debt for undergrad.</p>

23

<p>@UCBChemEGrad Yes, I would be paying in-state tuition. Thank you for the info!</p>

24

<p>I have somewhat of a similar problem. My D has got regents scholarship at UC Berkeley (in state) and also got accepted to north western undergrad. She really wanted to get into an elite private school, but got rejected by the IVYs. she knows that she wants to be a doctor .
she also got accepted into the BS?MD 7 year accelerated medical program at boston university, however does not know what to choose. She feels that the undergraduate experience will be lacking at the latter as both the undergrad and med school are not ranked very high by the USnews . she feels she can try to get into a better medical school if she goes to a better undergrad college. Will appreciate any advice</p>

25

<p>I suggest reposting your questions on the general College Search and Selection board for wider viewing and opinions. I’m not that familiar with medical school admissions…</p>

26

<p>thanks, will try to do that, I have not participated before.</p>

27

<p>^ Make a new thread here:
[College</a> Search & Selection - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/]College”>College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums)</p>

<p>Title it “Berkeley vs. Northwestern vs. Boston University for pre-med”. That will get you more views.</p>

28

<p>Just saw this article that seems interesting. S has noticed similar research cuts hitting our local State flagship. Not sure how/if federal cuts are impacting schools like NU?</p>

<hr>

<p>Mar 4, 2013, 10:30am PST
UC Berkeley finds federal sugar daddy as unreliable as the state was
Steven E.F. Brown Web Editor- San Francisco Business Times</p>

<p>Just a year ago, the University of California, Berkeley, decided to try and replace vanishing state funding with money from the U.S. government. And how has that worked out?</p>

<p>Federal funding for its research is down already by $50 million for the first two quarters of its fiscal year due to “federal budget uncertainties.” And the sequester cuts will hurt even more.</p>

<p>Over the last decade, UC Berkeley has shifted from a primarily state-funded school to a federal-funded one, getting much of its roughly $400 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.</p>

<p>Even though not all of that $50 million drop in funding is tied to sequester cuts, the climate in Washington hasn’t helped, with politicians playing chicken with the U.S. budget.</p>

<p>Cal warned that the biggest effect of sequester cuts will be loss of jobs, saying “any loss in federal research dollars will mean lost jobs. As sequestration translates into fewer federal grants, the campus will be forced to hire fewer researchers.”</p>

<p>Although the cuts will eventually hit financial aid programs, those effects will be delayed, the university said.</p>

<p>U.S. government contracts and grants make up about 18 percent of UC Berkeley’s campus revenue.</p>

<p>[UC</a> Berkeley finds federal sugar daddy as unreliable as the state was - San Francisco Business Times](<a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/03/uc-berkeley-finds-federal-sugar-daddy.html]UC”>http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/03/uc-berkeley-finds-federal-sugar-daddy.html)</p>

29

<p>MomCares,</p>

<p>Here are few links that show the support NU gives to undergraduate research:</p>

<p>[Research</a> Increasingly Part of the Undergraduate Experience: Northwestern University News](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2009/12/research.html]Research”>Research Increasingly Part of the Undergraduate Experience: Northwestern University News)</p>

<p>[Chicago</a> Area Undergraduate Research Symposium](<a href=“http://www.caurs.com/awards.html#2012]Chicago”>http://www.caurs.com/awards.html#2012) You can see in the early years, NU pretty much dominated the awards. NU was the one that gave the most effort to jump-start the event and keep the ball rolling.</p>

<p>[Undergraduate</a> Research and Arts Exposition | Undergrad Research Opportunities | Northwestern University](<a href=“http://undergradresearch.northwestern.edu/undergraduate-research-and-arts-exposition]Undergraduate”>UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND ARTS EXPOSITION PROGRAM ARCHIVE | Office of Undergraduate Research)</p>

30

<p>IF money is an issue…then wait for the FA packages to come out. We were surprised to note the NU package was better than the UC…DD was looking at Cal, UCLA and NU.
One of our concerns was whether she would graduate in 4 years at the UCs. By choosing NU…she actually finished in 3 years plus one quarter.
AND…if class size is an issue for their learning style…then the difference becomes more noticeable.
CAL is located in a more urban environ than NU…both have major cities easily reached by public transportation. Both have public transportation to the airports.
Both have domestic and international cache. And, both have strong Alumni Associations, which help in networking and jobs.
We lived in the hills above CAL…so DD decided she really wanted a new experience…and it didn’t hurt that it cost us less to send her there!</p>

31

<p>S has both FA offers and in his case (with sibling also in college) NU is far more attractive from a cost standpoint.</p>

<p>I just collected a little comparative data (from 2011), for what it’s worth.</p>

<p>Undergrad school size— Cal-25,800… NU-8,500
Endowment (2011)------ Cal-$3.2B… NU-$5.4B
Per-capita Endowment— Cal-$124k… NU-$635k/student
Student:Teacher-------- Cal-17:1… NU- 7:1</p>

32

<p>Can someone speak to the difficulty to get research at Berkeley in Chemistry? I hear in many departments it can take a lot of persistence. Also, does it matter whether the student is a chemistry major in the CoC vs. L&S for getting research? I understand at the Northwestern ISP it is easy to get research.</p>

33

<p>Depends on the professor…it may take some persistence and depends on your level and academic standing.<br>
CoC students likely have the upper hand since there are no chemistry profs specifically in L&S. But L&S students take the same classes and have equal opportunity to get to know the profs research opportunities. </p>

<p>I can’t tell you how much easier or harder it is compared to NU.</p>

34

<p>I just saw on the Berkeley board that someone mentioned class sizes for core classes ranging from 300 to 600 students. Is that accurate?</p>

35

<p>^ Depends on the course and material. But yes, introductory math, science, and economics lecture sections can be that large. The discussion sections for each course are limited to 20-30 students.</p>

<p>It sounds like you’ve already made your decision in post #31.</p>

36

<p>chem4321,</p>

<p>If you are in ISP, professors love to have you on their teams. Being a ISP major signals couple things that professors want: 1) you want to do research because you love sciences (as opposed to the numerous premeds whose main motive may be to pad their resumes with research experience); you are very smart or have good work ethics or both (you can’t survive ISP without at least one of the two).</p>

37

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<p>It’s not my decision, it’s our S’s, and I don’t think he has decided yet. :slight_smile: He is also weighing options at some other schools.</p>

38

<p>Once you see your package, add summer tuition to the UCBerkeley package. Most people I know who are freshmen and sophomores are staying the summers to get the credits necessary to graduate in four years. That was an expense no one knew about until they got there!! It also means that they cannot work summers to earn additional money.</p>

39

<p>One more thing. </p>

<p>In California if you are a high school student who decides to attend a community college for whatever reason (lack of ambition in high school, needed to work to support family, etc) you have a ‘new chance’ to prove yourself to the UC colleges for entrance as a junior. Community College Transfers are PRIORITIZED before any other transfers, including Ivy League or Elite level private school students. </p>

<p>So…
If you think you can easily transfer to UC Berkeley from NU: you may be mistaken. You will be behind all of those community college students who may have barely obtainied 2000 on an SAT and a 3.5 on high school gpa. </p>

<p>If you are planning to attend Berkeley.<br>
Do you really think the degree will be as prestigious with so many community college transfers? It’s so ridiculous the people who were able to transfer into Berkeley who would never have make it into UC Riverside as a high school graduate. I understand that sometimes you have hard times in high school (parents divorce, move to a new school, or just had a bad year) and community college is a chance to prove yourself to get back into UCLA or Berkeley or UCSD. But Community College As are not the same as As in the 4 year colleges. And I fear that the name “Berkeley” is watered down with many alums with lower academic education.</p>

40

<p>I know something about CC in California since my cousin took courses with Santa Monica CC before going to one of the Cal State. SMCC is supposed to be one of the better ones. But they still seem pretty bad but As are easy. One example is the “computer programming” class she took; it’s more like computer literacy class for grandmas. My cousin had probably 10 years on most of her classmates and worked hard for her full-time job but was still more prepared than her classmates in her classes.</p>