Hi guys, I am currently stuck in choosing Cal and NYU schools,
I currently live in Massachusetts, thus eliminating me from instate tuition at Cal. I am interested in studying Political Sciences/International Politics/International Relations/Government on a Pre-Law Track. I would also love to do a foreign language as a minor. NYU I have heard is stronger in terms of their Humanities but Berkeley would have an advantage in terms of name recognition. NYC has the UN HQ which I would benefit from possibly interning their while Berkeley would also provide me with SF. I am torn between these two. NYU is also much closer to home, less than a 5 hour drive while Berkeley is on the other side of the country. I also would like to know employment potential for these two schools and Alumni Connection Strengths.
Net price and amount of debt (if any) at each school, and others you may be admitted to? Remember that law school is expensive, so keeping cost and debt down for undergraduate would help in terms of keeping debt down by the time you graduate from law school.
Post-graduation survey of Berkeley’s class of 2014 political science graduates: https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2014PolSci.pdf
Berkeley is not near the state capital of California, which is Sacramento (UC Davis and CSU Sacramento are the closer ones if you want a location near that).
Can you afford NYU? It’s very expensive.
Since you pay in-state at Cal, forget about NYU.
He’s paying OOS.
OP, go for UCB since even oos tuition will be cheaper than NYU. However I’d apply to both and see what aid you get in the end.
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am interested in studying Political Sciences/International Politics/International Relations/Government on a Pre-Law Trac
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Unless your family is quite affluent and can easily pay for either school, and can maybe help with law school, I don’t think you should choose either school.
UCB isn’t worth it as a prelaw OOS student, and neither is NYU…unless money is no issue for your family.
What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay?
Where else did you apply?
Just a bit more info, I would be able to afford NYU. Also NYU is closer to home (About a 4 hour drive) while berkeley would be more like a 6 hour flight which would also cost a lot. Theres a bus that runs from NYC to BOS for about $20 compared to the hundreds of dollars you would pay for a plane ticket from SF.
NYU is a lot more expensive than UCB, even OOS, and it doesn’t have much FA, so it’s quite possible that a plane ticket will be a whole lot less expensive than the difference costs. Run an NPC or wait until you get an FA package from both schools to decide.
In terms of name recognition, it seems that the general public would either know both of these schools or neither of them. With the exception of Californians, I’m not sure who would have heard of one but not the other. Perceptions regarding quality may differ, however.