<p>100,000 in debt is way too much. Why start your life out in debt? Learn from the others here who have posted and made that mistake.</p>
<p>@GC What about McGill (cheapest option). I’m a CA citizen…</p>
<p>Okay, you know you’re smart enough to get into UCB and BC. But honestly, 100k? Choose Washington or San Diego.
Wait, Mcgill? How can it be the cheapest option when Washington leave you with 0 debt?</p>
<p>@agreat McGill is cheaper than Washington or USD… my parents can pay the cost.</p>
<p>The three viable options you have are McGill, USD, and Washington. They’re all doable. (By the way, did you mention what you want to major in? If it’s something like Literature or Classics, it’s probably best to save your money while you can)</p>
<p>Now which of the three do you like most- what’s important to you? The size of the school, the area, the prestige, the professors, the fact that in that one school you’ll only have to share a bathroom with 3 other people? Weigh the options.</p>
<p>SIRed to BERKELEY!</p>
<p>Congratulations, I hope you love it there!</p>
<p>As a CA resident, I hope you get a wonderful education and want to thank you for pumping an extra $100K into the UC system.</p>
<p>Mike, the best part is, it’ll be more than $100k thanks to interest!</p>
<p>I was actually being sincere. I personally don’t think I would pay that much for an undergrad education, but I know other people that feel differently. My husband is one of them! My oldest son didn’t get into Stanford, but if he had, my husband said he would work longer to cover the cost. And the difference between Berkeley and Stanford (for CS) is not as great as the difference between Berkeley and UW/USD (I don’t know about McGill). </p>
<p>Enjoy Cal. </p>
<p>GO BEARS!</p>
<p>Whenhen…Calif won’t get the interest. Calif isn’t making the loans.</p>
<p>However, I’m sure the state appreciates the $100k.</p>
<p>I can’t even imagine the debt this student is going to have if he does go to med school. Yikes.</p>
<p>I hope you have a nice time there.</p>
<p>We did all that we could, but you can’t save everyone.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Because those schools are cherry-picking high-scoring, motivated, well-connected applicants in the first place. The outcomes you see very likely reflect “selection effects”, not “treatment effects”.</p>
<p>Try reading more Malcom Gladwell:
[gladwell</a> dot com - getting in<a href=“Pay%20attention%20to%20part%203.”>/url</a></p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.nber.org/papers/w7322]Estimating”>http://www.nber.org/papers/w7322]Estimating</a> the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College: An Application of Selection on Observables and Unobservables](<a href=“http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_10_10_a_admissions.html]gladwell”>http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_10_10_a_admissions.html)</p>
<p>OP, I see you SIR’d to Berkeley. You should also SIR to UDub, and take a couple of months to really sort this out. It costs very little if you decide ultimately to not attend Berkeley.</p>
<p>
Listen to these who have been there. $100k debt will be an anchor dragging behind your social boat for 20 years. You will lose out on appreciation/tax write-off from owning a condo or home (which you will not qualify for). There will be concerts you cannot afford to attend. There will be trips you cannot take. If you want children, there will be discussion about when you will be able to afford children. UDub is a top 50 University in the country. It’s not like you’re comparing UCB with University of North Dakota.</p>
<p>JUST SAY NO.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, if it means that much to you, FRAME YOUR ACCEPTANCE TO BERKELEY, and hang it on your wall. There, you got in. Yay for you. You ARE somebody. Every time someone sees it, they’ll automatically say “Berkeley, awesome. Good thing you didn’t go to Udub”.</p>
<p>Our daughter turned down Berkeley, and UCLA, and Wake, and BU, and Miami, and GW, etc. for Baylor in Neuroscience. What! Baylor??? Are you nuts? Thats 55 USNWR points below Berkeley! How can you turn down Berkeley? </p>
<p>Sure, everybody knows she got into those schools, isn’t that what Facebook is for, after all? But she chose the school, and department, that put her 1-1 with tenured professors in classes with 15 or fewer students. Professors with open door to their offices, where they can usually be found. She was fretting over her progress in Neuropharmacology this semester (sophomore), and ended up spending over an hour discussing the class, life, opportunities for Neuroscience majors, etc. She was shocked he spent so much time with her. Lots of research b/c of the association with Baylor School of Medicine. Scholarships made the price the same as Berkeley or UCLA. You try getting a full professor at Berkeley to sit down with a sophomore for over an hour, and I’ll eat my diploma.</p>
<p>There is another aspect of the UCB decision. If something happens to you that makes it impossible for you to pay your parents back the $75k in loans that you are not legally allowed to take out in your own name, then your parents are stuck with that loan repayment obligation. Educational loans are not allowed to be discharged in bankruptcy court. Are you willing to take the risk that YOUR obligation becomes theirs? That it will materially affect the quality of their retirement?</p>
<p>You’re coming off as a somewhat egotistical and very naive kid. Grow up!</p>
<p>Fine, I will SIR to my cheaper choices: UW + McGill + maybe USD…</p>
<p>–also, tk21769, I don’t think publications from 1999 are still relevant to college today.</p>
<p>YouKnowWho13:
- if you plan on going to Med School, your odds of going there are actually decreased if you attend Cal.
Why?
1° GPA is a major factor. Med schools don’t care if it’s GPA from Cal or USD or WWU. Cal is notorious for its fairly “low” GPAs.
2° you’ll need recommendations and at Cal it’s almost impossible to get a <em>good</em> rec (one that details how you’ve distinguished yourself). You’ll be lucky if your TA knows you even by name, let alone your professor. There simply are too many undergrads.
3° you’ll need research experience. And at Cal, grads get first pick.
4° you’ll have enormous debt already and may not find it as easy to borrow as it would be for someone with “reasonable” debt. While delaying med school for a few years may not be the worst experience, it may not be what you have in mind.</p>
<p>However, I hear you: you don’t want to stay home. And indeed college is a time when you should be able to experience a different environment than the one you grew up in. Therefore, you have two options: USD and McGill.
McGill +'s: prestige (one of the top schools <em>in the world</em>, where many Canadians would hope could admit their kid); decent study conditions; great city; bargain price, no debt = academically, UCB without the debt, essentially.
McGill -'s: weather; not exactly the American college experience.
USD +s: awesome city, weather (beach!); personalized experience (good for med school recs and resarch opps); overall good reputation; Catholic; decent price.
USD -'s: less well-known than McGill’s; social life a bit more low-key/centered on city rather than campus (similar to McGill)</p>
<p>Parents can probably add to these criteria.</p>
<p>@MYOS - Than you. I will take your advice to heart over the next week. Which school would you pick? My mom is saying not to feel bad about the cost, but then she is also saying that she is entitled to a say in how hard I work. I don’t see an end to the cost issue if I go to Cal. So McGill v USD - which would you pick? You mentioned GPA. McGill is notorious for low GPAs, too.</p>
<p>How about asking both schools the percentages of first year students who make it through their pre-med program, and the percentage of premed students admitted to med schools (and which ones)?
You could also ask what the typical classes are for a premed freshman. Then how many students in each course of that program, whether they’re taught by prof +TA, TA only, or prof only, and which format: lecture + lab, lecture+discussion, seminar…</p>