Hello CC forum- need your opinion on which program offers the best opportunity for the money. The UCs are about half the cost of Stanford. We would not be taking loans, but Stanford would definitely take a chunk of our cash flow vs. the UC’s which would be covered by a 529.
Our daughter is graduating from a hyper competitive public HS and is frankly tired of the crazy competitive student body’s win at all costs attitude. She is looking for a friendlier environment in college. Truth be told, she is completely turned off on the “collaboration ideal” and working in groups, which all these colleges say they focus on (but I think she is just worn out from HS and will come around). Her interest lies in molecular engineering vs. devices (hardware)
She has been admitted to:
UCLA - bio engineering (Samueli)
UCI- biomedical engineering (pre med) Samueli (CHP)
UC Davis- biotechnology (School of Agriculture) with Regents ($7500 per year)
UCSB- CCS biochem/chem
Stanford- applied to bioengineering
One of the additional points we are considering is that after many months of “knowing” that she wanted to study a bio related major, she now wonders “what if I hate it and want to switch majors?”. She is NOT interested in medical school and worries that a bio type undergrad degree are not as employable as other engineering degrees. Grad school is probable, but you never know. How easy would it be to switch at each of these schools? What if she wants out of engineering altogether and decides to pursue finance or business? We think it would be relatively easy at Stanford, and probably hardest at UCSB. UCSB warns that you should not choose CCS unless you know “for sure”- which freaked her out a bit at the Chancellor reception last month.
Look forward to hearing the opinions of our amazing CC contributors and current students.