UC Berkeley vs. Wesleyan?

College Search & Selection
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<p>thank you for all of these great comments!</p>

<p>for the money issue: it's basically up to my parents, but we could afford Wesleyan. If I wanted to go to grad school, I might have to take out a few loans, but not much. The question is quality of life: if I went to Berkeley, I would have a lot more leeway to travel, live more comfortably, etc. I am very interested in traveling, so this is an important factor. If I went to Wesleyan, the tuition plus the flights there and back, would probably mean that I couldn't travel as much as I'd like.</p>

<p>Yes, I am definitely interested in grad school, and john raises a good point, because I would like to go to two different schools for undergrad and grad.</p>

<p>I am actually a US citizen, and Californian, so I get the in-state tuition. Sorry I didn't specify before, liek. oh, and I'm a girl - haha the anonymity of the internet!</p>

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<p>haha perspective, I know the feeling! out of 7 people that got in at my school, I'm the only one that sent my deposit, and I really hope you get in!</p>

<p>yes liek, I would am willing to shell out that much money for wesleyan, but now that I have the option of Berkeley, I feel that I need to reconsider my options. It definitely should be about which school fits better (which I'm not even sure about!) but only up to a certain point. finances, reputation and resources are important to consider too.</p>

<p>katliamom: all of the aspects you said about wesleyan are so true, and I love that about wes: different from the Bay Area, smaller classes, easier to make friends, amazing people... but then the "gap semester" is really appealing too (haha: "underwater basket weaving"). I do have a few issues about starting later than everyone else... and I'm going to try to e-mail or call someone at Berkeley to ask about if I have enough credits to skip a semester and still graduate on time...
I'll let you guys know if I hear anything back. And thank you SO much for all of you time in helping me decide!!</p>

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<p>From the way you described the campuses in one of your earlier posts, I would say that you like Wes more.</p>

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<p>interesting observation, teenage_cliche. I guess I <em>know</em> Wes better: I visited, did an overnight, did lots of research, etc. and I loved it: the campus felt comfortable, great, exciting.</p>

<p>I think that Berkeley is "scarier", even though it's closer to home, because it's so huge, I'm worried about making friends/getting lost/not enough advising/huge classes with hundreds of students, etc.</p>

<p>I would say that Wes felt more like "home", but I don't know about a $100 000 difference...</p>

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<p>UC Berkeley would seem to be a much more sensible choice that could redound to your benefit in so many ways personally and professionally, particularly if your life after college will see you back on the West Coast. Wesleyan is certainly a unique and attractive college for a certain student, but it's not clear that you're necessarily that type of student or at least not to the extent that the sizable financial difference should be taken on. </p>

<p>These are extremely different undergraduate experiences and each will present opportunities and challenges, but barring some major change in the financial comparison or some compelling vision of how Wesleyan will position you for a postgraduate position, I think UC Berkeley is the better choice for your situation (and I don't think you'll find UCB to be gritty).</p>

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<p>No school in the world is $100k better than Berkeley. You use that money, take your parents to the Big Game every year. That is priceless.</p>

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<p>her parent's have already said it would be okay with them. stop trying to put a price tag on everything.</p>

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<p>Wesleyan for undergrad, UC Berkeley for grad school would be ideal for you. I think living in the Northeast is quite world-expanding for CA kids, and the smaller class size makes the intellectual environment more engaging. At Wesleyan you are likely to take your junior year abroad, so will get some travel experience then. We live in the East Bay and my S will be attending Wesleyan over several UC options, for exactly the reasons I mentioned. Good luck with this decision.</p>

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<p>yes, $100k is a mind blowing amount of money, but my parents are willing and able to spend it (my grandparents have been saving up since I was in kindergarten), so I feel like I should not ignore that. I wouldn't have to take out any loans, at least for undergrad, so it would be do-able...</p>

<p>calgal: The idea of Wesleyan for undergrad and Berkeley for grad school is very appealing to me, it's kind of like the best of both worlds. By the time I get to grad school, I will have a better idea of exactly what I want to study, and will be more able to "fend" for myself, so making friends/getting lost will be less of an issue. And financially, going to a public grad school means that I probably won't have to take out loans. Also, the fact that nobody has heard of Wesleyan wouldn't matter as much since I would go to a big name grad school. But there are no guarantees... how do I know I'll get into Berkeley again?</p>

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<p>A couple of random thoughts: I had a friend who went to Wesleyan and after two years transferred to Berkeley. I remember being struck by what he said: "The people in Berkeley were grown-ups." I don't know; this is one opinion from one of my very close friends who's actually twisted.</p>

<p>I adore Berkeley, but I think this depends on a couple of things. The first is how stretched will your parents be to support you at Wesleyan? If they are really well off and it's not so much skin off their teeth, I'd recommend going to Wesleyan. The second is if you put together a plan of action to account for the "lost semester," I would look at that very favorably and that might swing me in favor of Berkeley.</p>

<p>My parents met at Berkeley. I went there undergrad. There is plenty that Berkeley offers particularly for someone self-actualized. However, you raise a valid concern about the challenges of the place and getting to know friends after starting late. But you can overcome these if you are good at making friends. The bigger issue, I think, is what you said about discovering a new place and seasons and really culture. Your life will be enrichened if you get away from California and go Back East, in many ways that you can only speculate about now. Trust me on this. And by the way, I'd make the same argument for an East Coaster considering, I don't know, Dartmouth or UVA vs. a West Coast school.</p>

<p>Finally, and on the other hand, a semester or year spent seeing the world would give you a breadth of experiences that could really serve you tremendously. I can't look back at your post quickly, but didn't you say you learned 6 years of Mandarin? So work your connections and get into some kind of program or internship in Beijing for a few months that allows you to take classes and maybe work in a company -- don't teach English. Or go to Guatemala and learn Spanish or something. PM me if you want help or ideas.</p>

<p>Finally, if you want to go into development, whatever element of it you want to do (health, environment, etc.), you will be helped by having international experience, knowing languages, and by learning economics. Berkeley, along with Harvard and MIT, is the top of development economics. But it's rigorous and you want to do the math-focused track.</p>

<p>I think the bottom line is you've got two great choices. (By the way, I've had plenty of friends who graduated from Wesleyan and they were interesting and well-educated).</p>

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<p>moi26 --</p>

<p>pm me your email, and I will forward it to my neighbor the Berkeley Junior I mentioned who started 2nd sememster after traveling in Australia. </p>

<p>He can give you the inside scoop on starting 2nd semester. apparently over 500 kids to exactly that, so there would be a large group coming in with you.</p>

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<p>I’m going to be contrary. This seems to be the old dilemma: your heart is telling you one thing, your brain another. You know were you <em>want</em> to go to school, and where you <em>should</em> go to school. Of course Berkeley is the logical, sensible choice for all the reasons mentioned … but. As an adult, I can assure you that you’ll face this dilemma again and again. And far too often circumstances will force you to choose the logical, sensible option. In many cases that will be the best choice, but sometimes not being logical and sensible can open opportunities you never dreamed of. Maybe this is one of those cases. Sit down with your parents, and have a serious discussion. Can they really afford Wesleyan, or would it in fact be a real sacrifice. If it is affordable, do what your heart is telling you. If you do go to Berkeley, take some of the money you will save, and do something wild. Travel, or pick a country you would really like to get to know, find a less expensive mid-size city, and spend a month living there using the town as a base. Heck, after recently spending a week in New York City for the first time in my life, I’d even recommend spending a month in NYC. In my opinion it’s the most exciting city in the world. Above all, don’t find yourself 40 years from now thinking what could have been.</p>

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<p>Wow, everyone has such perceptive and though-provoking comments, thank you!!</p>

<p>I spent all of my free periods today trying to figure out what credits I'll get at Berkeley. The bureaucracy and difficulty was astounding, and I'm worried that the next four years will be more of this. In the end, someone told me that I wouldn't get any credits for the French Baccalaureate! I'm not positive that this is true, but if it is, taking the first semester off may not be possible. I would have to go to community college, which is not very appealing when I know that I could be at Wesleyan... (Thanks for all of the ideas for travel during my free time, BedHead and JustaGuy. I definitely would love to travel and I have lots of ideas, but it looks like it's not going to be possible.)</p>

<p>JustaGuy, I think you may be right about me wanting to go to Wes but thinking that I <em>should</em> go to Berkeley. However, it's not totally clear-cut as there are aspects of Berkeley that I love, and some of Wes that I dislike. But it IS clear to me that Berkeley is the logical, sensible answer.</p>

<p>I'm going to discuss all of this with my parents this weekend, and to try to get a better idea of where exactly we stand financially. I'm also going to try to find a definitive answer on the credits, and to talk to a student from my high school that now goes to Berkeley (they'll hopefully be able to tell me about credits, and the experience of moving from a small high school to Cal, etc).</p>

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<p>By any chance couldn't you do fall at wesleyan and then decide if you would want to stay or leave for the spring?</p>

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<p>^^^^</p>

<p>Kudos to liek0806 for a creative idea. However, my strong recommendation would be to commit fully to one or the other. If you keep thinking maybe you'll go somewhere else, you'll close yourself off from really experiencing what you could at one place.</p>

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<p>That would be ideal, liek, but I have to tell Berkeley of my decision in a week or so, and they don't allow you to say "yes" and then enroll at another 4 year college for the fall. Good thought, though!</p>

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<p>I read one guy turned in SIRs to 2 schools. He is still deciding. Not sure what will going to happen.</p>

<p>If money is not a problem I would vote for Weleslyan.</p>

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<p>haha BedHead, you beat me to it! And you do raise a good point about committing to a school. I think that one of the reasons I want to go to Wes is because I'm already enrolled, I've already met a great room mate, and generally convinced myself that that's where I'm going to school. (I didn't want to hope too much because I wasn't sure about getting into Berkeley.)</p>

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<p>yeah, my friend sent in 4 SIR before finally deciding on NYU! Very bad idea, especially that 2 were UCs, so she could easily have gotten her admissions revoked! That would never work for my situation, though, because I would actually have to attend Wes, and Berkeley would find out about that (credits transferring, etc)</p>

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<p>Moi, why not try calling Berkeley, and seeing if you could do what I suggested. Maybe they'll allow you to.</p>