<p>My D's got accepted to Leavy. She's still waiting for Cal's decision and I'd like to get some input here as to which one makes more sense from a holistic point of view.</p>
<p>First, SCU still costs a lot more than Cal despite recent UC tuition increase. Even with D's 10K grant the prospect of taking out a 2nd mortgage or going with a big student loan keeps me up at night.</p>
<p>So here's what I come up with in terms of pro's and con's for each school and I'd love to hear what you think:</p>
<p>SCU Pro's</p>
<ol>
<li>Nicer campus and facilities</li>
<li>Smaller classes</li>
<li>Good relationships with silicon valley companies (my assumption) yield better job outlook</li>
<li>More likely to graduate in 4 years</li>
</ol>
<p>SCU Con's</p>
<ol>
<li>Expensive</li>
<li>The name may not be as prestigious as Cal </li>
</ol>
<p>You’re pretty spot on with the pros and cons here. One thing to look at: even if she has to do a 5th year (which is more common than you might think, especially at CA state schools), then it would still cost less than 4 years at SCU (maybe even 3). Of course living at home will cut on costs. Will she be living at home for either SCU or Cal?</p>
<p>Personally, I would go with UCB while it still is considered cheap. If finances and affording a college education concern you, then that’s completely normal. If any school financial situation would make me extremely uncomfortable, then I would not go along with it. Have you received an FA package from SCU yet? Any scholarships or grants to offset SCU’s astronomical cost? I’ve mentioned this before: the COA for SCU is only about $1,300 less than Stanford, but SCU is no Stanford. No matter how great people are going to think SCU is, I don’t think there is a way to justify it’s costs (without FA) when 99.9% of the country, if asked if they know Stanford, will say ‘Yes.’ and if asked if they know SCU, will say ‘No.’ (if they don’t flat out try to correct the inquirer like ‘Oh, you mean USC?’).</p>
<p>Here’s how I may view it: even IF she goes to a bigger public school and IF she has to take 5 years to graduate, it certainly won’t mean that she is getting any less of an education because of so. I read a few months back that while the UC system is becoming more crowded and budget cuts are hurting campuses, UCB was actually ADDING classes because they had smarter financiers who set up a reserve fund a while back to help just in that kind of situation.</p>
<p>In my opinion, SCU will have the edge in the Silicon Valley, but UCB will have the edge ANYWHERE else, especially San Francisco or anywhere East Bay (not to mention national recognition).</p>
<p>Hope those are some ideas you can consider.</p>
<p>I’d say that at graduation, she’d be largely in the same place. This one comes down to personal preferences, money and, to an extent, location. </p>
<p>I graduated from an insanely small high school. I had some teachers three or four times by graduation and I was very close with them. I knew right from the get go that I didn’t want to go anywhere where there would be lecture hall classes. I always wanted a smaller student body population, because that’s what I felt comfortable with. This is very personal and something that you daughter needs to figure out. </p>
<p>As far as location, if your daughter is staying within the Bay Area, the names are probably equivalent. Both schools have a strong name in the Bay Area, with perhaps SCU being slightly stronger in the Silicon Valley and Berkeley being slightly stronger in the city. I’d also say that this more or less remains true throughout California. Back East, obviously Berkeley has a stronger name. (Although, it should be noted that a lot of people on the East Coast still associate Berkeley with the school’s more radical days.) </p>
<p>As far as money, you’re the better judge of that. </p>
<p>Sometimes, I wish I went to Berkeley. I have a few friends that go there and the vibe is really unique, Berkeley is so fun and you’re much closer to S.F. But then I think about it and realize it just isn’t for me. I’d recommend that your daughter spend more time on both campuses. Despite having pretty equivalent educational quality, they’re different enough in terms of campus life that it shouldn’t be much of a struggle to decide which is best.</p>
<p>Painca is pretty much spot on with her comments. Our D also went to a very small high school (80 students) and was accepted to Berkeley and SCU. In the end she did not want to go to a big university and so she chose one that was not only small but where she felt she would fit (Pitzer).
Once again, as we have heard so many times, “fit” is extremely important. If one doesn’t mind large lecture classes and the somewhat impersonal nature of a large university, then personally I would choose Berkeley. Santa Clara (where our youngest son goes) is much smaller and more personal than UCB, but on the other hand is quite a bit different from a small LAC like Pitzer.
Of course, finances are the other determining factor when deciding where to go. I’ll leave that up to you, but many private schools are quite generous with financial aid.</p>
<p>UCB and SCU are at the opposite ends of student experience. I have a daughter at SCU and a son at UCB, so I have a sense of both personally. </p>
<p>At SCU, the professors will know your daughter’s name by the first week, will notice when dhe is not in class, will in many classes such as frosh English build in one-on-one meetings as part of the class structure and she will get a certain amount of personalized attention from the very beginning.</p>
<p>At UCB, your daughter will have mostly lecture hall sized classes - it won’t be unusual to have 100+ students in a class, for the TAs to run most/all the discussion sessions. The atmosphere is a bit more competitive, but not necessarily in the way that I would call positive. I suggest UCB for pragmatic self-starters who have emotional fortitude and stamina and like the bustle of a giant public university.</p>
<p>Pixel - he seems to like SCU very much. Classes sound like they are not only challenging, but interesting. He’s also gotten involved in some student activities.</p>