I am posting this for my daughter who is trying to decide between Berkeley and UR. Thanks!
I originally committed to the University of Rochester (planning to study Brain and Cognitive Sciences), but I recently got off the waitlist at UC Berkeley for Undeclared Letters and Sciences and will be required to start with FPF in order to start in the fall. I have always wanted to pursue the pre-med track, and I know that the pre-med track at Berkeley is not ideal, not to mention grade deflation. I also know that the name “Berkeley” has a lot of weight for any job or career path. At 18, I have no way of foreseeing exactly what my career will be in the future, but I definitely have the ambition to pursue med school whichever school I go to. However, because premed weed-out courses are so notoriously ridiculous at Berkeley, it probably would not be realistic to do the premed route if I were to attend Berkeley. At the University of Rochester, despite having less name recognition, there is an open curriculum and no general requirement courses, and professors, research opportunities, and volunteer opportunities are known to be accessible. There is also a by-application take-five program which allows students to take a fifth year researching in something unrelated to their major tuition free.
As more context, with the financial aid and merit scholarship I received from the University of Rochester, my parents would be able to afford both schools. Also, I did grow up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and many Berkeley students who have attended my high school have said that the academic environment is similar to the academic environment that I experienced in high school, both the good and the bad. Also, I really wasn’t expecting to be admitted into Berkeley in the first place, and initially, I really wanted to experience a totally new place in my college experience. Both schools are definitely great schools, which unfortunately only makes make decision more difficult.
Since Rochester is more undergrad-focused than Berkeley (and you’re an undergrad),
my vote would be to go for the new experience. New school, new town, new area of the country.
Rochester will allow for more exploration during your four years, with better advising, so that you can get closer to a decision regarding your academic and potential career path.
You can always come back to UC Berkeley, and California, for grad school.
“…I definitely have the ambition to pursue med school whichever school I go to.”
UCB will be a tough and long route to med school. Our friend’s D just graduated from UCB as premed last Fri, and it took her six years. Since there was no time for volunteering it will take another year to matriculate in med school if she gets in. If OP wants premed and decent GPAs she should opt for UR,
Regarding comparative reputations, your daughter might want to consider that the University of Rochester lands among the top UCs by student profile: https://amp.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9. If your daughter has been inclined toward UR, I can’t think of any academic reasons that should keep her from choosing it.
Thank you for your replies. I know that premed is difficult no matter which college you go to. If I go to Berkeley and I’m not within the top 20% of my weed-out classes, is it recommended to just give up my premed aspirations right then and there? Another one of my concerns is that at Berkeley, even if I don’t decide to do premed, there are still many top notch programs while if I dropped out of premed at U of Rochester, I might feel like I wasted going so far, going somewhere so cold, and paying more tuition (although there are also many great programs as well). How does the experience of going to a large public school differ from going to a small private school?
In addition, because I attended a relatively competitive public high school in the Bay Area, many people that I have talked to have mentioned that I am adequately prepared to succeed if I plan well and don’t over-commit. I am definitely planning to be proactive with my experience, but I also don’t necessarily want to finish 4 years of undergrad feeling completely burnt out and demoralized. Of course, I have no idea whether this will happen or not because I have not started college yet.
I actually wouldn’t say that Rochester is a small, private school. Reed is a small, private school.
Regarding switching out of a pre-med track at UR, you’d simply be joining the majority of students there who chose it based on interests across its range of arts and sciences programs.
Rochester technically is not open curriculum, but it is pretty close. Most students would probably complete the 3 clusters by accident unless they were extremely committed to a very narrow field of study.
It’s hard to see how anyone would have to add more than 1 or 2 classes that were of general interest to them anyway, based on what they have already chosen to study.
Based on my experience 30+ years ago, premed at the U of R isn’t a cakewalk either. Many of my friends got weeded out there too. However one can get an absolutely fantastic education in the humanities there and go on to great grad schools (I did! (I never was premed)).
Absolutely no one who knows colleges (that includes folks who hire in all sorts of fields) is going to care which one of those two you go to esp for pre-med, but also for the vast majorities of majors. Pick whichever one you prefer.
The “man on the street” who knows colleges mainly by their sports teams won’t recognize Rochester, but they may also wonder if Berkeley is one of those British schools (seen that happen - not making it up).
UCB definitely offers more flexibility than UR if pre-med track does not work out.
UCB is similar to UCLA for pre-med, both have huge class size and too many wanna-be pre-meds to be weeded out, but both schools still end up with huge applicant pools (600-700) each year (typical college would be around 200 or less).
You need to plan out your class schedule VERY carefully around the harsh weed-out pre-med classes. Couple pointers - no more than 2 weed-out classes (with lab) per semester/quarter, pick easy major with easy-A classes as the other non-pre med classes so you’ll have more time to focus on weeder classes…
