<p>Am I? Sorry if that’s the case. </p>
<p>I don’t force my child into any college. He/she does the research and present their case. My point is that the focus should be in academics, and that can hardly be identified during college visit. And believe me, I am not the one who will spend $60K+ a year on a school that I do not have the knowledge inside out.</p>
<p>Ok, ok, I am the minority here. Just a view from someone who did not grow up in this culture :). </p>
<p>Being someone who would have done fine at the least selective school I applied to even though I did not visit before applying, I also do not see why there is such a high importance to visits being stated here. Sure, if there are criteria of importance that can only be determined by a visit (or one is playing the “level of applicant’s interest” game at the school), then make a visit (but know what to look for and ask questions about beforehand to avoid wasting the visit), but, for many students, that is kind of a luxury that gives relatively little actual value (and may actually cloud one’s judgement if one is easily swayed by cosmetic first glance impressions that end up having little to do with how good a fit the school is for the student).</p>
<p>1,100 students in ONE CLASS! Ye gods. That is a quarter of the undergraduate student body at top private Us and half the student body at elite LACs. Berkeley is a great institution, no doubt, but I think that does need to be taken into account when making the decision.</p>
<p>I think you do your reseach beforehand, including on-line, in determining which schools have “academic merit” and would be academic fits. But from the schools identified as contenders because of merit, cost, etc., I find it reasonable for a student to visit to determine how comfortable the student would feel with the physical layout and, more importantly, with the students on the campus. Sure, you will find many of the same types of students on every campus, but in different proportions, and the proportions can make all the difference.</p>
<p>I think one shouldn’t accept the CMU CS program without visiting and getting a real feel for it. My son, also going for CS, was enamored with it until he visited and found out more about the program, which is rigid and specific. CMU has the most honest info session I’ve ever been to - they don’t try to sell you on it; instead, they try to be sure the kids know what they’re getting into, positive and potentially negative. It was an extremely helpful visit as my son used it as a standard bearer for exactly what he didn’t want in a CS program. Don’t get me wrong - it’s an amazing program for the best of the best and your daughter may be a perfect fit. If this matters to your daughter, large parts of the campus are somewhat run down (and not all that cohesive architecturally). The computer science building, however, is gorgeous and top notch and if you’ve read The Last Lecture, bittersweet. </p>
<p>OP here. To update all of you who were kind enough to share your thoughts, she now has received all of her college decisions, and her options have changed a little.</p>
<p>On Ivy League acceptance day, she was accepted at Cornell (as expected due to likely letter), UPenn, and Columbia. Additionally, she received UC Berkeley’s offer of a Regent’s and Chancellor’s scholarship on the same day.</p>
<p>This has thrown her a curve ball because she was mentally trying to sort out the pros and cons of Berkeley vs. and Cornell the last couple of days before this news, and seemed to be leaning toward Berkeley. She knew these applications were still outstanding, but her counsellor convinced her that she had essentially a zero chance of being accepted at any Ivy except Cornell, so she was thinking about them more like lottery tickets. </p>
<p>Now she wants me to take her to visit Penn and Columbia in the next couple weeks. I don’t really know how this will end up. We need to visit and try and think this through, to help her find the best place for her.</p>
<p>As always, any thoughts you may have are appreciated.</p>
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<p>Yes, they figured out a way to let everyone into CS 61A last fall. But “everyone” was 1,100 students last fall.</p>
<p>However, Berkeley is not the only school with bulging introductory CS course enrollments.<br>
[Stanford’s</a> CS 106A had over 700 in fall 2012](<a href=“Football preview: With Nunes at the helm, Stanford passing game reloads for another big season”>http://www.stanforddaily.com/2013/07/22/cs106a-summer/).
[Harvard’s</a> CS 50 had 759 in fall 2013](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/9/12/course-enrollment-numbers-CS50/]Harvard’s”>CS50, Stat 110 See Continued Increases in Enrollment | News | The Harvard Crimson).
[CMU’s</a> 15-122 had 347 in spring 2014](<a href=“https://piazza.com/cmu/spring2014/15122/home]CMU’s”>15122 at Carnegie Mellon University | Piazza).</p>
<p>When I was trying to decide on a university, I’d gotten it down to 3 but was unable to narrow it down further. (I’m a pretty indecisive person.) Visiting the three colleges (I did overnight/admitted student’s weekend programs) was what got me to make my decision, as I was able to look critically at each school and see if I would fit in there. If she has her preferences already, she may not need another look, of course, but I found it very helpful.</p>
<p>OP.
You may want your D to look at this posting re: ROI’s for CompSci majors .
UCB Compsci alums are earning a LOT of money compared to most other U’s, if this article is to believed.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/03/which-college-and-which-major-will-make-you-richest/359628/?utm_source=nextdraft”>Which College—and Which Major—Will Make You Richest? - The Atlantic;