I’ve been accepted to both schools (Umich’s LSA and Berkeley’s Letters and Science). I’m not sure what I want to study, so that’s a bit of an issue also. Since I live in Michigan and I would be paying in-state for Umich, I feel like going to Berkeley and paying 50k+ a year would be a ridiculous choice…thus, I am not sure if the warm weather/new atmosphere at Berkeley is worth the money. Any thoughts? Comparisons of the two schools would be very appreciated. I have yet to formally visit Michigan, and I’ve never set foot on the Berkeley campus. Hopefully, I can visit both soon.
If you are in-state for UMich, then yes, I think that paying almost twice as much for Cal would be a ridiculous choice.
If you want the weather & atmosphere, you can always move after graduation.
Both Great schools. If i was in your situation, it would be UoM. if you were in-state california, Cal would be obvious choice.
Another vote for Michigan here, unless you really, really want to explore and change environment for a while, then Berkeley would be a fantastic choice for that. But since you’re not completely sold to moving to another State, and you have an equally fantastic admission offer, then why bother? go for UMich and do summer program at Cal such as the BASE Summer Program, where some UMich students have already tried and enjoyed. https://haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/BASE/
Congratulations on your acceptances. As others have pointed out, both are exceptional institutions. You cannot go wrong either way. If money really isn’t a concern, and your parents can easily afford both schools, I would recommend going with fit. Just because you prefer warm eather does not mean you will fit in better at Cal. Cal and Michigan have very different on and off campus cultures. But if money is a concern, there isn’t a university in the nation that is $100k better than Cal or Michigan. In your case, Michigan is the obvious choice.
We are CA residents paying UM tuition, and it’s HELL. My whole family went to Cal, and my son is at UM. Academically, I’d say they’re very very similar, especially for LSA. Certain schools at either campus may be ranked higher than the other, but not by much. Cal is in a pretty sketchy area, not a cute town like Ann Arbor. But then you have access to great cities like San Francisco, which definitely wins over Detroit. Yes, the weather is great in CA, but you’ll also be doing a lot of flying at peak holiday times ($$$) to get home. If you’re undecided, I say stay in state.
Nobody pays fulls freight to go to Berkeley from Michigan unless they can easily afford it. It just doesn’t make any sense. Berkeley is quite a bit different from Ann Arbor. It would be very foolish to commit to a school that costs so much more without ever stepping foot on campus beforehand. My advice is to go to U-M and be happy that you can attend a world class university at instate rates. Thousands of out of state students on campus wish they were in your shoes!