<p>I am facing a great dilemma and I do not know how to solve it. I have been admitted to Stanford and UCI for their undergraduate programs. I will have to make my choice between them in a couple of days. Here are the reasons why my decision is hard:</p>
<li>My parents did not apply for Financial Aid and so my first yr at Stanford will be expensive and I am not sure how much aid we will receive in the coming years. (Money is an issue but if Stanford is worth it I can justify the expense)</li>
<li>I plan to do Materials Science and Engineering (or some form of engineering) and Economics at either places. Both schools have programs in both of these fields.</li>
<li>UCI is my neighborhood school. Going there would save me a lot of money.</li>
<li>I have been accepted into the UCI Honors Program, which supposedly gives me an edge.</li>
<li>I am not sure where I go plays a big factor into where I am admitted for Grad School (I plan to do a JD/MBA).</li>
<li>If I do well in either school, won’t I have the same chances?</li>
</ol>
<p>I want to feel that I have made the right decision. If someone could point out to me why I should go to Stanford or go to UCI, I would be much obliged.</p>
<p>i really hope this is a joke. Stanford and it's not even close. The opportunities available to you at and after Stanford aren't comparable to those you'll get at UCI. Maybe if UCI was paying full ride. Maybe. But from what's in your post, I don't think they are,</p>
<p>no i am not joking. I need to know clearly why paying so much for Stanford is worth the money. If i can do well at UCI, wouldn't there be the same benefit with less cost?</p>
<p>look honestly i have posted the same thing in the uci forum and i am getting back logic, not simple statements that say stanford is better...can someone tell me why it matters for undergrad?</p>
<p>Lets look at it this way. Just the prestige alone is worth the money. But besides that, Stanford will help you find a job after graduation. I have heard stories where employers find a place in their company for Stanford graduates, even though they don't have an open position. At UCI, you have to worker harder to be at the top. At Stanford, you are at the top.</p>
<p>Personallly, I think Stanford would be worth the extra money. I'm from Irvine myself, and honestly, it's a great city, but you should probably have the "college experience" and explore life away from home. </p>
<p>Stanford has more opportunities and a better rep. Yes, undergrad doesn't matter "THAT" much, but it stilll does matter. If you were deciding between Cal and Stanford, I would say that either one would be great. However, there is a huge difference between UCI and Stanford (both are great schools - I'm not putting them down). </p>
<p>If you know you are a good student and can do well academically in Stanford, I say go for it. It'll give you an edge when you apply for grad school. </p>
<p>Get on the freakin' phone and call Stanford Financial Aid tomorrow. Ask if you can submit financial info at this late date. The FAFSA deadline is long gone ( and so is the government money) but there's plenty of private money available from Stanford directly and the deadlines are more flexible. It is worth a try and I assure you, they will be happy that you called and will do everything they can possibly do to help. </p>
<p>An offer from Stanford is too precious to pass up and definitely worth the effort.</p>
<p>UCI is an OK school and you can get a good education there, but Stanford's Engineering program is at the same level as MIT's and its ECON is on a par with Harvard. </p>
<p>Employers and Grad schools will choose a good Stanford grad over a good UCI grad every time.</p>
<p>I believe that you can send in financial information at any time. THere is a good chance that if you send in your info, they will give you a financial aid package right away. If not, you will definitely get one for winter quarter</p>
<ol>
<li>I am not sure where I go plays a big factor into where I am admitted for Grad School (I plan to do a JD/MBA).</li>
<li>If I do well in either school, won't I have the same chances?</li>
</ol>
<p>No. You can just look at Law School figures. Many many more people get in to the upper tier law schools (which DOES matter as CEOs and other companies actively recruit at these grad schools) from schools like Stanford than UCI. First of all, Stanford is regarded as of the same caliber; UCI is not (not even UCB is, which is kinda sad). And Stanford gives you so many more oppurtunities to load up your resume. If you had gotten the $9000 a year for UCI Regents maybe this would be more of an issue, but I'd still go for Stanford. You have way more oppurtunities for research (Stanford gave away over a million? more than that? I dunno in undergrad research funds last year. check how much UCI gave away. Research is huge.)</p>
<p>Google stats from Harvard Law. About 100 students from Stanford undergrad are currently there (saying this b/c you say you want to get a JD and yes, H does have a very very selective/prestigious JD/MBA program that our former congressman, now head of the SEC went to) while...how many are from UCI?</p>
<p>Did I meet you at the OC Reception? Are you a...timberwolf?</p>
<p>Ebonytear, if all of the stanford students who got into Harvard were put into UCI, then the UCI stats for law admissions would be insane. You have to realize, part of the reason the kids do so well is because of who they are before they go to school. There is no doubt that top law schools take larger chunks from better schools like stanford, but your example doensn't illustrate that- there is a large percentage of top students at Stanford who match or are better than the top students at UCI.</p>
<p>By going to stanford, you will have better peers, and, if you decide to switch majors, you will likely move to another top quality program, which might not happen at UCI. I think you'll also have more flexibility to change majors at Stanford. If you want to stay in a comfortable place and save money, that's fine. Stanford can offer many opportunities that UCI just cannot match, although you will be a big fish in a medium pond at UCI, and perhaps be a top student there (less likely to happen at Stanford with a greater number of similar students of high quality). If you do very well at UCI, you will probably end up at the same places, but think about where you would rather be for 4 to 5 years.</p>
<p>one thing to consider is that if you really want to go to a top grad school from irvine, you literally have to be the best of the best. From the stats I've seen, usually very few and even no irvine students get into the very elite grad schools every year while stanford sends loads. At irvine, you have to fight to get to the top, which really will not be as easy as you think because there will no doubt be others like you. On the other hand, at Stanford you could relax and try to maintain a decent gpa and still have equal and most likely better chances than if you had gone to irvine.</p>
<p>There will be others like you in the UCI Honors Program. From my experience, people who receive the chancellors scholarship from orange county basically have a full ride to UCI if they live at home. Some people such as my friend turn down UCLA and UC Berkeley to go to UCI Honors + full ride.</p>