UC Berkeley vs U of Minnesota?

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

<p>I know, i know, I know most of ya'll are dying to say UCB just by reading the title. but please read on.</p>

<p>So I was accepted into a couple of schools, including UCB and U Minnesota Honors. I am going to be a psychology major, and most rankings do place Minnesota over UCB when it comes to that major. but ucb is obviously more prestigious and more rigorous. and perhaps lead me to a better graduate school than uminn could, and probably lead me to better jobs than uminn could. </p>

<p>BUT UCB costs me 42,000 a year (128,000 total) in loan after all the grants are taken into account, whereas uminnesota will only cost me a mere 3,000 a year (9,000 total in loan, since i'll be graduating in 3 years if i went to uminn) after taking all the scholarships into account. thats like 5% the cost of berkeley.</p>

<p>berkeley is my dream school. i really, really love berkeley. i love its campus, i love its people, i love its curriculum, i love its weather, i love its everything. but is my love for this place worth that much money?</p>

<p>so i guess what im really trying to get at is, is berkeley worth it? in the psychology realm, uminn DOES have a good department. but everyone knows that ucb is much "better" of a school. will i regret my decision of taking uminn instead of berkeley when it's time for me to send in graduate school applications? will the graduate schools not choose me because of my uminnesota undergrad? should i just risk everything and attend berkeley? will i regret not taking the cheaper alternative when it's time for me to start repaying my debt? </p>

<p>what should i do? </p>

<p>does graduate school look more at what department you were in and how good that department was, or how good your undergrad school was, or how good you were in that particular undergrad school? and if i did average-well and got a slightly-above-average gpa in berkeley, how would that compare to, lets say, being the top 1% in honors at uminnesota?</p>

2

<p>Honestly, I would go to the Minnesota. The costs between the two schools don’t compare to one another, and both schools are extremely highly regarded in psychology. I think if you are motivated to do well, you will be able to find various opportunities at either school, and you may even have an easier time doing so at Minnesota since Berkeley is known for significant grade deflation (though this, of course, depends on the department and I’m not sure how it compares to Minnesota). </p>

<p>I’d think about a few things, though, beginning with what you want to do (at least to the best of your ability given you’re only a senior in high school). Graduating in three years has the drawback of offering you less time to develop your resume (internships/research), and you may want to get a better bearing of whether you want to go into academia or business jobs (consulting, etc.); some big firms only recruit at the top schools (Berkeley being one) and graduate schools, while they do care about the applicants’ undergraduate school’s prestige, are very concerned with your ability to participate in meaningful research. All just a few things to consider.</p>

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<p>for psychology, the undergraduate school doesn’t matter too much. Just be sure to get a good GPA or a masters degree at a better school</p>

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<p>DEFINITELY Minnesota. 3000 a year is chump change.</p>

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<p>$116,000 to $119,000 is a huge difference. Since you are taking loans to pay the $9,000 at Minnesota, it would appear that you would have to take an extra $116,000 to $119,000 of loans to attend Berkeley. That much debt for any undergraduate study (if you can even borrow that much) is not a good idea.</p>

<p>And psychology is a strong department at Minnesota, so don’t worry that it will look bad generally when you apply to graduate school (assuming that you do well, have undergraduate research, etc.). Where your undergraduate school matters in academic graduate school admissions, it is more based on the strength of the department (as seen by the graduate department you are applying to), not the overall undergraduate school.</p>

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<p>Minnesota You betcha!</p>

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<p>just to clarify my previous post, i think Minnesota is the better choice.</p>

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<p>I would say minnesota, the “prestige” and whatever else comes with Berkeley is NOT worth an extra 100k!!! Minnesota is a GREAT school for psychology…I would go to U of M in a heartbeat if I were studying psychology.</p>

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<p>Their football is still on the losing streak… if you care any of that.</p>