UC Berkeley vs. U Washington??

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

<p>I got accepted to both but I'm not sure which to go to. I live in California so obviously UCB would be much cheaper however my parents are fine with paying for either. I'm pretty sure I want to major in physics but Im not completely sure yet. Ive visited seattle many times before and I absolutely love it but i have also visited berkeley before and ive liked it there too. ive wanted to go to uw since the beginning of this year but when i found out i was accepted to berkeley i got hesitant. I want to enjoy college and not be studying 24/7. Im worried about how competitive ucb is. advice??</p>

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<p>Go to UW if you wanna enjoy college.</p>

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<p>If you want the easy way out, go to UW.</p>

<p>The two schools are in completely different tiers of academic rigor.</p>

4

<p>Physics at Cal v. physics at UW???
I don’t know about UW, but Cal engineers take the same lower div classes as physics majors, so you’ve got all those engineers competing with the physics majors for those A’s. Plan to do a LOT of studying at Cal! It doesn’t have to be ALL the time, but it’ll be a lot of the time. ;-)</p>

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<p>Not necessarily. Many of the physics majors take the honors lower division physics courses.</p>

<p>The academic rigor in physics and math courses probably is not as different as posters above seem to be thinking. However, be aware that if you change your major, more majors at Washington Arts and Science require applying to, compared to Berkeley L&S (engineering majors will be difficult to change into at either school):</p>

<p>[UW</a> Advising - List of Majors](<a href=“http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/majors/majoff.php]UW”>http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/majors/majoff.php)
[Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: List of Majors](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/major/majorlist.html]Office”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/major/majorlist.html)</p>

6

<p>My son attends UW and found the calculus and physics courses quite difficult (he was required to take then for NROTC). UW has a great medical school and so you’ve got a lot of students taking high level math and science courses. My son received a B- on a midterm with a score of 94. So there are some really hard working students that receive full credit that are setting the curves in these classes. UW is a beautiful school, weather is very different than Berkeley (which you should take into account). You should go visit and speak with some of the students.</p>