UC Berkeley or Bowdoin College

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Well，I have been deciding between UC Berkeley and Bowdoin College for a long time. They are two entirely different schools and I found both of them equally excellent. It's really tough for me to make a decision so I would be really grateful if any of you can take side for me.
Here are the characteristics of each of the two:
On UC Berkeley:</p>

<p>On Bowdoin:</p>

<p>1.the undergraduate education is excellent</p>

<p>2.there's so much interaction and intimacy between professors and students that each student will get enough attention</p>

<p>3.it's a small college, so the tie between students will be very strong,like that of family members. As a result, college experience will be perfect and unforgetable</p>

<p>4.the place is fairly confined,so we can focus on our study to some extent</p>

<p>5.the teacher's care, the life quality, the diversity of students are all perfect.(Life rating is 99)</p>

<p>6.the only two disadvantages of Bowdoin,I suppose,are that its location makes exploring the US more difficult and Bowdoin cannot teach students to learn things the hard way. With too much care around, students will be a little bit spoiled</p>

<p>7.However, I have asked some friends in Bowdoin and they told me that it's not a problem, since Study abroad program and a number of voluntary activities will surely make up for that disadvantage</p>

<p>On Berkeley：</p>

<p>1.UC Berkeley is a big school with so many resources and opportunities;</p>

<p>2.Berkeley locates is a city. The location, weather, food are all perfect</p>

<p>3.the graduate programs are perfect but the undergraduate education gets a lot of criticism</p>

<p>4.there are a lot of 200-400 big classes</p>

<p>5.40% of student body is Asian makes the cultural diversity more difficult to achieve</p>

<p>6.in such a big school, the attention each student gets is pretty small and I don't like that because it will cause inefficiency of teaching and studying</p>

<p>7.well,Berkeley is a great school with extremely great reputation and it teaches students about the harsher reality. The connection to the society students get are smooth.</p>

<p>Finally, please help me decide. I would be really really grateful for your answer and advice. As May 1st is apporaching, I don't have a long time to decide my following four years.
Thanks very very much!!</p>

2

<p>Well, you did not say anything about the financial aid. Unless you get substantial aid from the private school, I would choose Berkeley.</p>

3

<p>I didn’t get any financial aid from Bowdoin College. But, actually the life expense in California is also very expensive. I suppose the money will not matter.</p>

4

<p>Bowdoin for undergrad - amazing education and individual attention, Berkeley for grad - some of the best programs in the world + reputation</p>

5

<p>I attended Cal, but was also accepted to a number of liberal arts colleges (Middlebury, Carleton, Wesleyan, etc.), so I can somewhat relate? I admit, the attractiveness of a more “personal” education was a major selling point for the liberal arts colleges, as well. But to address your points more directly:</p>

<p>"6.the only two disadvantages of Bowdoin,I suppose,are that its location makes exploring the US more difficult and Bowdoin cannot teach students to learn things the hard way. With too much care around, students will be a little bit spoiled</p>

<p>7.However, I have asked some friends in Bowdoin and they told me that it’s not a problem, since Study abroad program and a number of voluntary activities will surely make up for that disadvantage."</p>

<p>I would be careful to simply dismiss this point. First, you mentioned that Maine would be make it difficult to explore the US, as it’s tucked away far up the East Coast. But California is all the way on the “Left Coast,” so it’s a matter of where exactly you are wanting to explore (if it’s Kansas, then you’re really no better off in California). And I don’t see how studying abroad would solve this problem. But I think a more important concern is the coddling factor of being in a rather closed environment of Bowdoin. I would imagine many of the volunteering activities in and around Bowdoin are no different than what one would expect on-campus. You’re still left in a position of not having truly learned the “hard way.” </p>

<p>“5. 40% of student body is Asian makes the cultural diversity more difficult to achieve.”</p>

<p>Wait, doesn’t that make cultural diversity easier to achieve? </p>

<p>I see that you are interested in engineering. If that is truly your intention, that should warrant at least two or three extra exclamation points next to Cal. Engineering education here is the gold standard in the academic and professional community. Coupled with the tremendous volunteer, part-time job, and full-time job opportunities of the Bay Area, it’s a package that would be difficult to pass up. But I do share your concern regarding class size, and interaction with other students and professors. I was in a smaller department on campus (not engineering) so I was constantly around professors and fellow majors without even trying all that hard. But I’m not so sure that’s a realistic expectation in engineering. </p>

<p>I’m sure many would disagree, but here’s how I characterize the Berkeley engineer: he or she enters college with a half a mind already looking four years in advance. In other words, engineering is strictly pre-professional. In many ways, this is why many of the top engineering firms recruit Cal so hard, because they know recent graduates here are much, much, much (more emphasis needed?) better equipped to contribute right away. But I’m sure you can see the trade-off: the college experience is not the same engineers, and certainly not liberal artsy. Assuming there’s no middle ground, are you looking at the present (Bowdoin) or future (Cal)?</p>