<p>Recently, I get admitted by both UC schools: Berkeley with major Stats and Santa Barbara (UCSB) with major Actuarial Science for Fall Admission 2014. I really don’t know which one I should get in.</p>
<p>My goal is to become a professional actuary, and since UC Berkeley doesn’t have any actuarial program (but they do have a actuarial club and courses for who pursuits actuarial career), I wonder it will be difficult for me to seek for the support while in UCSB, they have a strong actuarial program with experts who always ready to help me out.</p>
<p>The fact is to become an actuary, it doesn’t matter what your major is. It could be Applied Math or Stats or whatever related to Maths. But I just feel like getting in the school with my exact major is still better. That means my gut is feeling UCSB.</p>
<p>However, all of my friends and my family want me to go to Berkeley (of course, decision is up to me). It’s not only about UC Berkeley is just 30 minutes away from my home compared to UCSB 4 hours away (I’m living in Bay Area) but also studying in UCB is a huge opportunity for me. Everyone knows UCB. Companies seek for UCB graduates… Even though the success of actuarial career depends on the number of exam I pass, not on the school’s reputation, UC Berkeley is still a very big name that most people don’t wanna miss.</p>
<p>I really appreciate your advice or experience shared to me.</p>
<p>I say go with berkeley. You said so yourself that the major doesn’t matter and that big companies hire berkeley grads. I still think the berkeley name will give you an advantage even though you said there’s no hold on the school reputation. You’re so lucky the best public university in the world is only 30 minutes away from you. You could probably commute to berkeley to save money. I wouldn’t move that far to a middle tier school when I have one better close to home. There’s no comparison, just saying.</p>
<p>I also say go with the Statistics degree at Berkeley. This is because Actuarial Science is so specific that what if you change your mind, later? </p>
<p>Also, it’s Berkeley! It’s no comparison to SB, in my opinion. Have you visited SB? I know it’s four hours away but it’s important to visit if you’re considering it.</p>
<p>Well, although UCSB’s actuarial science program will help out a lot, the truth is, like you said, that you don’t need to major in that to become an actuary or even to increase your chances (By much, anyway). Personally, I’d choose Berkeley over UCSB.</p>
<p>If you feel you’re somehow not getting enough math to prepare for the actuarial exams while at Berkeley, I recommend switching your major to math. It’ll be pretty easy to switch majors at Berkeley…they’re known for making it easy to switch majors. A math/statistics degree is excellent preparation for actuarial exams; you can’t go wrong with either of them.</p>
<p>I got into Berkeley for Applied Math, UCLA for Financial Actuarial Math, and UCSB for Actuarial Science. Of the three, I’m going to UCSB. Why? I could answer that question. But I’m not going to :)</p>
<p>@Cayton Does it really matter? It was probably a very personal reason. There are a lot of reason why people pick the college that they do. Maybe he just likes to party.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter much to me, but the OP could certainly use @Sega18’s input and learn why he chose UCSB over LA and Berkeley. But for some reason, he won’t say why he chose it.</p>
<p>By ignoring the question, I wanted to sub-textually emphasize that the name of one’s school ought not to matter when making decisions about a college. There are more important things.</p>
<p>There is an analogy in pick up: you don’t have to have great looks to seduce women. Other SKILLS are more important (although you can’t succeed if you look dirty or unkempt of if you smell bad). With other substantive skills such as touch, eye contact, humor, conversation flow skills, and patterning skills, almost any guy can have the woman of his dreams.</p>
<p>To make the connection overt (as if): you don’t want to go to a school with a BAD reputation, (looking dirty), but you can succeed in your career with a degree from a decent accredited IHL (grooming, style) and a high level of technical skill (conversation, patterning, etc).</p>
<p>P.S. I don’t think “party school” is a bad reputation; it can be spun easily into “social orientation” and “communication skills.”</p>
<p>I also applied for UCLA with major Financial Actuarial Math, but I got rejected. And of course, I understand you, Mr. sega18.</p>
<p>I have been in UCSB for a week, and really like the campus. I can say that it looks nicer than Berkeley (no offense, Golden Bears). Once you see the UCSB campus, it is hard to avoid falling in love with it. There are something like beaches, piers, babes, clean buildings, dorm services like Motel 6, biker and skater school, fun college town, lagoon hiking… Every guy wanna enjoy it, right?</p>
<p>However, thinking about UCB will save me a lot of money makes me hesitant. I plan to visit both schools next week, and then I decide.</p>
<p>Again, thanks for all of your opinions and ideas. Really helpful.</p>
<p>What were your transfer stats for UCB? I intend to transfer either there or UCLA for the same majors and I am very curious. Did you have IGETC and all pre reqs done, GPA? EC’s? ect. </p>
<p>of course man, transferred from CC to UC based on IGETC, personal essay and other stuffs which the process requires. consult your counselor for more info.</p>