My son has narrowed down his decision to Tulane or UC Berkekey. He was selected for the Altman scholars program at Tulane. He is pretty unsure but like the Altman program but feel like the degree from Berkeley would be more highly regarded. Please give me your opinions!
Intended major?
Net price?
Right now he says business but not sure. Has $30,000/yr scholarship at Tulane, so approx $35,000. Out of state for Cal so $60,000+. We are trying to not let cost be an issue. Oldest son just graduated Michigan Ross business out of state and is employed. He and his peers are shocked that we are unsure. They think Cal degree is much better. 2nd son very unhappy at Washington U St. Louis and will transfer.
Direct admit to Haas? Is he considering investment banking/management consulting at all? How much does 100k mean to your family?
No, not a direct admit to Haas. And he is unsure about being a business major. I’m not sure that he can compete at Cal to get admitted to Haas. He’s very bright (National Merit Finalist), but not a terribly motivated student. The appeal of Tulane Altman Scholars it the structured program and both liberal arts degree(he would choose either history or political science) and a business degree. I think he’ll receive alot of personal attention, being one of 20 in this year’s Altman progam.
There is no direct admission to business (Haas) at UCB. All students intending business must apply to the business major in their second year; admission is competitive (see http://haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/class_profile.html ). If he is not a highly motivated student, such a competitive process (as well as the high workload high stress Wall Street or consulting jobs that apparently see UCB business as a lesser target) may not be a great fit for him.
I’d go with Tulane. In IB, Haas would probably have a leg up, but otherwise I think the difference in prestige is negligible for employment, and the Altman program sounds like a great opportunity (as does the 100k price difference).
ucbalumnus: I wonder where you got the idea that Haas, or Berkeley, in general, is a “less target” for WS or consulting jobs. Maybe relative to Harvard, Wharton, Stern, Princeton and Columbia, that is true. But I don’t think the top bulge bracket firms, in general, have biases against Berkeley grads per se. There’s an apparent lesser interest among Haas grads to work in WS due to a numerous factors, distance and similar interesting offers in Cali being the most common.
For this student, Tulane with the Altman Scholars program seems to be the best fit – even if the $ was similar at both schools. The significant cost savings is an added bonus.
OP, I’m expecting that around 90% of the people on this message board will automatically tell you to choose Tulane because it’s a private school and it’s offering your son some money.
Here’s what I can share with you instead.
If money is a current issue for you, send your son to Tulane. It probably is the more practical choice, at the moment, given the lack of finances. However, if you can afford the extra cost for attending Berkeley, and your son loves the idea of going to Berkeley or having a Berkeley degree as it is famous, then I would suggest that you support your son’s decision to attend Berkeley.
Berkeley is not as bad as some people put it out to be. It’s actually a great school with numerous resources to offer. Every college in Berkeley has its own atmosphere and ambiance. But Berkeley is now committed and supportive to building a culture of entrepreneurship throughout the whole university. At Haas, CoE, Chem, and to some extent, L&S, the culture of entrepreneurship has gotten stronger these days than ever. A lot of students at Berkeley these days do collaborative works with people from different colleges. L&S students majoring in CS, for instance, may now work with students from Haas and Law to launch his/her invention to bring it to the market. There’s a readily available seed money that awaits for those ideas that are promising. And, there are a lot of students who are deeply involved in this now. I’m sure Tulane is also full of talented students who probably have brilliant ideas that, when developed and brought to the market, the consumers will certainly benefit from it, especially when we’re talking about medicines (that save lives) or engineering (that will make our lives easier). But Tulane does not have as well-defined as, or more systematic than Berkeley’s support system. So, your only benefit for having an astounding ideas or invention at Tulane (or similar schools) will be an “A” grade on your transcript.
@Redtor makes some good points but OP says this student is not particularly motivated. An honors program at a smaller school seems to be a better fit for a student who may need more personal attention.
Thanks for your post, Sunny66. I would not worry about a smart student not getting motivated in college years. College is very different from HS.
Oftentimes, you get your motivation from your peers who happen to have the same characteristics and interests as you. The people you often hung out with will drive your interest. When you’re surrounded by people who are supportive to you, you will be drawn to them. When you’re surrounded by studious people, you will become studious like them.
Berkeley is a big school and is a melting pot of people from different cultures, affiliations and interests. I’m sure her son will find plenty of students who are similar to him. There are also msny clubs at Berkeley that her son can join in. The diversity of Cal makes it a little more desirable to students having a unique personal outlook towards academics and studies. The homogeneity of private school’s ambiance offers lesser options, in my opinion.
That’s what I meant – a lesser target compared to Harvard, Princeton, Penn Wharton, etc…
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/14204944/#Comment_14204944 describes how competitive it is from Berkeley, which seems to be much more competitive than at Harvard, Princeton, Penn Wharton, etc…
This is complete fiction. It would take too long to explain all the reasons why, but at minimum he says the Cal is just now dedicated to this idea, Tulane has been for some time. Tulane has an entire new building for interdisciplinary work, and New Orleans is one of the hot start up cities.
But I say this more for others reading this and not the OP, who has expressed no desire to go in this direction. So I don’t know why it was even brought up. Wanting to go into business does not equal wanting to be an entrepreneur.
Fallenchemist, i do not mean to insult anyone on here and i would welcome information coming out from Tulane students/alumni, but if you’re saying Tulane has been there way before even Berkeley has, then the more it gives me reason to avoid the school, because it only says it hasn’t been effective in doing it so despite its alledged well-structured support system. Where as Berkeley students have already had numerous successful launching for the past 2/3 years only. Imagine how this new route for business students becomes even more popular at Cal in 2/3 years from now.
Ucbalumnus, thanks for your response, but the message was posted more than 4 years ago when the banking sector hasn’t been doing well. I believe the banking sector has improved these days, so hiring is also better nowadays.
Also, from what i know, the top banks don’t really flood their offices with fresh grads, so their hiring is somewhat limited. The numbers given by the guy in your link were the norms for many top private schools. You’d be surprised most schools in the Midwest did comparatively low. I would expect UChicago’s numbers were worse.
Harvard and UPenn, and to a minor extent, Princeton and Columbia, are universally accepted as exemptions in this area. Those schools always dominate the banking placement in WS. But those other top private schools which showed having high success placement rate in WS were largely due to proximity. Location is also a factor in this case, just as it often was for job placement, in general. Stanford doesn’t send as many grads to WS too. Yet no one would really say Stanford is a “less target” school in WS. I think that, due to location, WS doesn’t appear to be the most interesting place for Stanford grads.