<p>Thank you so much for your post. Like freezingbeast, I’m also researching and contemplating which school I’d like to attend. However, I have an additional choice UCLA. All these schools are so great and I’m extremely privileged to have such an opportunity to choose. Oh jeeberz, this is such a tough decision for me! I wish Stanford was located in Berkeley! However, it will only be roughly 40 mins away, and I can always travel to have lunch at the wonderful cuisines offered in Berkeley. =] I’m monologueing but this is really helping me out. Thank you all so much!</p>
<p>This is not true (even without AP credit, though given the upward trend in selectivity at all universities and the proliferation of AP in high schools, there are probably very few freshmen entering any UC or Stanford without any AP credit).</p>
<p>Btw, the optimum number of students who attend Cal in the scenario presented above would be 9.7689999… students ~… being we cannot divide students up, we’ll have to call it 9.</p>
<p>I’m not informed in the information gathering of universities…how does Stanford cull this information to a very precise % of those who reject them, and choose the other universities?</p>
<p>One idea that I disagree with is the idea that you need summer school to graduate from a UC in four years. I double majored and never took summer school, but still graduated on time.</p>
<p>“Probably goes to Stanford, since they don’t seem to have any budget issues, and it looks to be a safer “investment” in the long run.”</p>
<p>This is the biggest issue in my book. The UCs are really struggling. You don’t know how this is going to impact you throughout your four years. You don’t know how faculty retention will be affected. To me, this issue makes the question an easy call.</p>
<p>Also, Stanford offers a real residential experience for four years. Even if Regents allows you to live in Berkeley housing as a senior, you’ll be living with a bunch of frosh. Unless you are hoping to live in a Greek house at Cal, you won’t have the kind of college community around you that I think is very valuable.</p>
<p>Source, please? (But since none exists, I’m confident in saying such a statement is factually incorrect.)</p>
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<p>Perhaps. Stanford is a big time, major research Uni and ain’t no LAC by any stretch. (At any research Unis, you need to make an effort at obtaining attention.)</p>
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<p>Yeah, you definitely don’t want to rub elbows with those people at a public Uni. Pell Grantees? Gah! :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I think this varies from person to person depending on what they want to major in and what classes are avaliable. The budget cuts in CA will make registering for classes in UCs, CSUs, and CCs a lot more competitive =/ </p>
<p>I’m glad to hear you graduated in 4 years =] However, here are some stats. </p>
<p>Both schools have pretty high volumes of students who graduate in 4 years. =] It just depends on who wants to be that student. But here we’ll also have to take into account the incoming size of each freshman class. Ie. Stanford may have a higher 4 year graduation rate than Cal, but Cal’s undergraduate class is larger. Hmm</p>
<p>Both are excellent universities, with Stanford being one of the top 5 universities in the US while Cal belong to the next 10 or so universities. </p>
<p>There is a clear distinction between the top 5 (Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale) and the next 10 or so universities, so given the choice, assuming cost is the same and there aren’t major issues with “fit”, I would recommend Stanford over Cal.</p>
<p>Honestly…you will get a great education at both schools…I have a D at Cal (freshman) that did not have any trouble getting classes for either semester this year and so far (1/2 of registration finished) for next semester too. She could graduate after 3 years if she were inclined. But she loves it too much and will stay for four, including a semester abroad. Go with your gut and pick the environment that you feel better suits you. She has a few friends at Stanford…they are loving it there too! Trust your heart.</p>
<p>The below items are standard at top privates:</p>
<p>“so no full classes, guaranteed graduation in 4 years if you wanted to, this is probably the biggest plus from regents, you actually register a week before even the seniors I believe)
housing for 4 years (if you want)
access to the regents students for network
a professor for advisor
de facto research hook ups?”</p>
<p>How only .4% of applicants get the above is exactly why a school like Cal fall behind top privates. </p>