<p>hey guys, i'm currently an international student choosing between UC Berkeley and Washington University in St. Louis for anthropology and linguistics. I really really like both of them very much but i've heard so many stories about the negative effects the budget crisis is having on UCB and so, am very worried about spending the next 4 years there. </p>
<p>also, i am well aware that UCB is a brilliant school in terms of their graduate and PhD programs, but does this necessarily mean that their undergraduate programs are just as good?</p>
<p>I’m also an international student here at Cal. </p>
<p>Sure the budget crisis is bad, but it’s not THAT bad where you would have to choose WUSTL over Berkeley. To me, the choice is somewhere in the realm of ‘blindingly obvious’.</p>
<p>My advice from another thread that seems relevant yay:</p>
<p>You’re all freaking out over nothing. Tuition’s never going to be more than it is for top private universities, how would that possibly make sense? Tuition is increasing for in-state students, but not too a point where it is unreasonable. The majority of the protesting is being done by a small group of people who would probably jump on any issue they could possibly protest. Seriously, the last protest I walked by was one obnoxious girl screaming into a megaphone while everyone else just tried to get to class. Media does a good job of making it look like a huge schoolwide crisis though!</p>
<p>Unless you are a transfer or have some extremely unusual circumstances, you will graduate in 4 years or less. I am double majoring in two difficult and unrelated fields but can graduate a semester early. I have been waitlisted for classes a few times but have always been able to get in. Overall there’s great professors, best research opportunities you could ask for, and better post-graduation prospects than almost anywhere. I think it would be a mistake to pick anything over Berkeley except for maybe HYPMS.</p>
<p>WashU is a great school. But it’s generally unheard of; Berkeley has a much greater reputation in the United States and especially worldwide (with the obvious exception in the mid-west where WashU MAY be heard of).</p>
<p>Berkeley has over 1/3 of its funding from private sources. It is not completely a public school. Even if state legislators in Sacramento drastically cut public funding for education because of their fiscal irresponsibiliy, it won’t DRASTICALLY or EXTREMELY hurt Cal. Don’t worry; it’s one of the best research institutions in the country that has made a myriad of contributions- around 16 elements to periodic table, among others.</p>
<p>how much do you think the quality of life for both universities differ by? i know that as cal is a public university, it has more students, larger classes etc. but has that adversely affected any of you guys?</p>