UCD (University Honors Program and $30k merit scholarship) vs. UCB

Hello,

Here is some background: I have been blessed with two very amazing options for college and I am having a difficult time deciding what exactly it is that I should do. I live in Sacramento, so both campuses are very close to my home (within 2 hours), so proximity is not necessarily an issue. My major at both is Mathematics and I am hoping to get a minor or some sort of focus in Computer Science. I would love to work a tech job or something along those lines. Also, my parents have saved enough money to cover the cost of schooling for me, so money is not necessarily the issue. However, my parents offered me cash for any merit-based scholarship that I could receive.

My Dilemma: With all of that being said, I was accepted into both UC Berkeley and UC Davis. At UC Davis I was selected to join the University Honors Program (which I would definitely do if I were to attend) as well as the James and Leta Fulmor Scholarship which grants a total of $30k if I maintain a 3.25 GPA. I like both campuses quite a bit, but have always been more of a rural guy (though I am very open to living in the city). My question is, is the prestige of UC Berkeley enough to give up the scholarship and honors program? I am worried that if I do end up choosing UC Davis, then I will not have as much opportunity as I would at UC Berkeley since I want to get a job in tech. I would love some opinions on this, because I don’t know what exactly to do from here. Thank you!

Go to UCB. Far apart.
You’ll miss a lot of opportunities.
Can’t put a price on them.
The 30k is one summer internship.

You believe so? Do you think that I will be able to find a better job going to UCB that will compensate for the $30k that I would get from UCD?

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30k is absolutely nothing for math/cs majors. The odds of a better job are much higher from UCB. If you get the same job, of course the pay is the same from both places. But the opportunities are far different from the two places.

Internship paying 30k may be difficult freshman summer, but very possible by sophomore summer.

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Another thing is the UHP at UCD has a lot of benefits, such as priority classes, special housing, professor mixers, honors hangouts, etc.

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Is UCB affordable without taking out loans?

Prestige can get your foot in the door for jobs and internships but once there it will be up to you to prove yourself.

Where would you be the happiest for the next 4 years? Happy students are successful students.

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Thankfully, I would not need to take out any loans for either. That is a good point, and I really don’t know. That is something that I would need to think about, but I feel like I could be equally happy at both.

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“A total of $30k” means $7.5k per year?

Regarding the UCB CS minor, see The Computer Science Minor - EECS at Berkeley . It says that

You may want to find out how full UCD CS courses are and whether it will be difficult to get into them as a CS minor student.

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Good to know, thank you! I’ll go check that out.

Our middle daughter loved Davis! Didn’t like Berkeley. She had lots of friends at Berkeley and they would just crash at her place to relax and be young kids. The students at Davis work “collaboratively”, and actually help each other. The large flat Aggie campus suits the biking environment well.

Just the openness, the 40K bikes, the college town, the smiles on student’s faces there, everything. The school really fit her. She got into med school. Her friends in engineering and CS had no problems finding jobs in Silicon. Davis has massive amounts of money donated from the wineries in Napa for new buildings, equipment and student activities.

We’re biased. So if you’re in Sac, you know it very well. Plus, Woodland is not that far for the big box stores.

You’ll be living there for 4 years, so select wisely.

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My son was in a similar situation last year. CS at UCLA with 8k/yr regents vs EECS at UCB without. Even though the money would have been nice, he ultimately went with UCB.

Since the cost doesn’t seem to be a significant issue for you. I think you may want to decide based on which program best aligns with what you want to study and which has the best prospects once you graduate.

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Doesn’t the Honors Program come with priority registration? That in itself in worth a lot at a UC.

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Yes, UCD honors comes with priority registration.

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I don’t think the OP will have problems registering for math courses. CS on the other hand is a different proposition. Does priority registration work for impacted classes, that are usually reserved for majors first pass, or would priority registration be beneficial for anyone including CS minor pursuing Math majors?

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A student with priority registration would be the first to register during first pass and the first to register during second pass. If a course is restricted to certain majors during first pass, the student would be amongst the first non-majors to be able to enroll during second pass.

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Assuming you do well at UCB and are able to take enough CS classes to get your foot in the door at a tech job, I agree with the comments that the 30K can be considered not relevant. But those are two reasonably big assumptions at Berkeley. Do you want to spend four years competing with extremely highly driven students for CS classes and research opportunities. Or would you prefer the four years at UCD which is likely at a slower pace, but with almost the same opportunities.
In four years, if you were to graduate UCB with a math major and 6 CS classes that were not your first choice, vs UCD math major and 8 or 10 CS classes of your choosing, I expect the job opportunities would be identical, maybe even favor UCD.
The environment you thrive in will be the one that provides a better outcome in this case.

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Welcome, Jacob_Squires!

A strong student at either of those schools will have great options going forward. Recognizing UCB is generally considered ranked higher, I would still vote you take the UCD opportunity. The honors program will give nice perks and the scholarship value is huge.

Full disclosure: my kid turned down UCB and my nephew is at UCD.

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Does the University Honors Program provide a pathway to participating in research opportunities? If this opened the door to any research in an area that spans CS and math, I think that could be extremely valuable.

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Yes, see Year 3 Signature/Capstone Work Preparation and Year 4 Signature Work.

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I love UCB. However I am not sure if it would be a great option for a Math major who wants to take CS classes. Here are the current enrollment guidelines for these classes: Getting Into Computer Science Classes

Currently, it looks like CS 10 and CS 61A are available to all majors. CS 61B and CS 70 are available to all majors during the adjustment period, if there is space remaining. CS 61C and all upper division CS classes have extremely restricted access outside of COE majors and L&S CS majors.

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