So I am a recently admitted freshman at Berkeley and Cornell under Environmental Engineering. I visited Cal today and loved the campus, I’m getting a good amount of financial aid there and live in-state, I’d be able to make weekend trips home. The Environmental Engineering program at Berkeley is ranked first in the nation. I am partial to Cal. Cornell, of course, is an amazing school, it’s smaller than Berkeley and it’s out of state. I haven’t yet received my financial aid decision from Cornell, but am expecting the cost not covered will be similar to Berkeley’s, possibly less. I haven’t visited Cornell yet, either, and honestly am debating whether or not I even should.
To put this into perspective, I live in a smaller town in California, so the urban setting at Berkeley would be different for me and the weather at Cornell would be very different for me. I absolutely love the Bay Area, so Berkeley’s location is awesome. On the other hand, I love nature and hiking and Cornell is the greater provider of both.
So if any of you have helpful input on my next course of action I would love to hear it.