I applied to and was accepted to, surprisingly enough, all of the schools I applied to! Unfortunately, now I have to make the decision between the two that seem the most appealing.
My main problem is that I applied as different majors for each school (Physical Sciences for UCI, and Biological Sciences for UC Berkeley), and am still almost completely undecided as to what I really want to major in (although I do know I am interested in research oriented science of some variety). This leaves me with the question of whether I’m better off being in a more challenging, rigorous environment where I may or may not succeed, versus a more approachable, safe environment that may come with less opportunities.
The biggest fear I have with going to Berkeley is the possibility that the field I really want to study in is chemistry, in which case I would have what I’ve been told is a slim chance of transferring in to the supposedly horribly rigorous college of chemistry.
With UCI, I just don’t love the campus environment. It’s very green, but something about the Berkeley campus inspires and invigorates me, at least it did the one time I was there. I also feel like I could fit in much better at UCB, and already know a few people going there who I’d love to become better friends with. It also occurs to me that a UCI education, CHP or not, may not look as good on a future resume, and my education may not be quite as good as if I went to Cal.
I would appreciate any advice at all anyone could give me, and I apologize if there are any grammatical errors in here; I haven’t been great with that lately. Thanks! 