UC Berkeley or College of William and Mary?

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

<p>So I was accepted to UC Berkeley OOS w/ absolutely zero financial aid into the College of Natural Resources, and William and Mary in-state. My parents want me to go to WM (we could afford the OOS tuition but they don't want to pay it unless Berkeley would really put me in a much better position than WM). At both schools I would want to major in Bio (not premed) and environmental science. I really like Berkeley, but of course it is not my money. Does anyone have any advice, or believe that going to Cal would be a much better option for the environmental science track? I'll probably go to grad school just fyi.</p>

2

<p>Basically, do you think that the ROI for Berkeley would be higher than at WM?</p>

3

<p>Go out of Va and to go California even if it’s only for your college life. That four years of your life would be the best years of your life. The Bay Area has so much to offer than Williamsburg. </p>

4

<p>Is it worth the 120 k difference though? I know I would have a decent enough time in Williamsburg; the question was asking if I would make significantly more money/ have a better job coming out of Cal. I know the experience is important but after a certain point it’s not worth the money.</p>

5

<p>No school is worth more than a hundred grand than a W&M education, not even Harvard. However, there are intangible things that cannot be measured. For rich students who can afford, I’m sure they were considering those things, and there are plenty of them at Berkeley. </p>

<p>

In general, yes, and I based this on statistics. However, making highly employable is more of the result of the efforts you put in as a student. If you’ll graduate at the top of your class at W&M, you’ll go places where the top grads of Harvard usually go. But if you perform poorly, only luck can tell, even if you say, you went to Harvard.</p>

6

<p>Biology and environmental science do not lead to particularly well paying job prospects, so paying a lot extra for one school over another based on job prospects may not be a good idea from a financial point of view.</p>

<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EnvSci.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EnvSci.stm&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/MolEnvBio.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/MolEnvBio.stm&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/IntBio.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/IntBio.stm&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/MCB.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/MCB.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>Thanks everyone! This was helpful and although I would’ve liked to go to Berkeley to experience California and the Bay Area, I’ve decided that WM will give me an equally good education and that I’ll still be very employable; also I can then afford grad school.</p>