<p>D. has been accepted into UC Berkeley and Tufts. She is interested in English lang, Lit, Psychology, economics and other humanities subjects, and plans to select her major only after a couple of semesters. We are from the east coast.
Can you please help compare the two universities with respect to:
1. Size of undergrad classes
2. Access to professors for undergrad students
3. Internship opportunities
4. Impact, if any on opportunities for graduate study </p>
<p>She is wait listed in Williams and Amherst. Would you recommend that she hold on to these colleges rather than accept one of the universities and be done with the process?</p>
<p>Of course the classes will likely be larger than Tufts and much larger than Amherst and Williams. If your daughter would prefer the smaller environment, go with the private options. </p>
<p>My roommate years back was an English major. He raved about how great the classes were. He went on to do Teach for America.</p>
<p>IMHO the UC schools are not worth the OOS tuition. She could have got the same large classes, lack of attention, and the like for much less money in your home state. Econ and psych in particular are among the most popular majors at UC schools and so the classes tend to remain large all 4 years (as in 180 students upper division Econ, for example)
Perhaps I’m parsing incorrectly what you said, but it seems you misunderstand the process. Being on a waitlist is not a guarantee of eventual admission. If she does not accept a place at one of the colleges that has offered her admission she stands a very strong chance of not having a college to attend in the fall. </p>
<p>She needs to accept a place at a college that has offered admission. No rather about it. Then she faces a choice. She can decline positions on the waitlists and be done. Or she can agree to be placed on the waitlist. In which case she may find out sometime this summer they have room for her, which would bring up another decision; forfeit the deposit at the place she already accepted and enroll off the waitlist, or decline the offer.</p>
<p>“She is wait listed in Williams and Amherst.” I’d accept a place on the WL and realize that WL admission is rare. </p>
<p>Not certain about the Tufts/Cal dilemma. As Berkeley is large, Tufts may be better for “plans to select her major only after a couple of semesters.” You’ll have to accept at Cal or Tufts before WL’s are decided.</p>