<p>I'm an 11th grader residing in Arizona. I'd love to go to school in California, UCB or UCLA preferrably. I still have to raise my SAT scores a bit and take the SAT II so I have a long ways to go...but I've been browsing these forums and I've read a lot of people saying that the UC schools are not a "good value" for OOS students. </p>
<p>The thing is, I've been wanting to go to UCB or UCLA for years now. But now that I've looked into it a bit more, tuition and cost of living is so high at both the schools. My question is, in terms of academics, how do other top-notch public schools such as U-Chicago and U-Michigan compare? The chances for me gaining acceptance to UCB or UCLA are slim, so I want to know whether or not I should be disappointed if I have to pick a different public school (assuming I don't go to an Ivie).</p>
<p>"My question is, in terms of academics, how do other top-notch public schools such as U-Chicago and U-Michigan compare?"</p>
<p>The University of Chicago is not a public school. Do you mean the University of Illinois, perhaps? </p>
<p>Of the UC schools, Berkeley and UCLA have national reputations, as does the University of Michigan. As an Illinois resident, I would personally be fine with paying OOS tuition for my children to attend any of those three (assuming they were otherwise interested, of course). The other UC schools? There have been threads about this; if you want to live / stay in California, great, but they don't have any particularly strong meaning or reputation outside of California.</p>
<p>Having said that, the quality of your in-state state school has a lot to do with whether it's "worth it" to pay OOS for a UC school. I would have a hard time justifying paying OOS for a UC school other than UCLA or Berkeley, when I have the in-state option of U of Illinois. I think I'd feel differently, however, if I lived in Arizona and U of A / ASU were my state school choices.</p>