<p>I think Upenn is gonna cost me around 15k to 20k extra a year, which adds up to around 60-80k over 4 years. Is it worth paying this much more money, esp if its gonna be all in loans? I plan on attending law school about a year or two after i graduate college and I am planning on majoring in history. UPenn has given me an EFC of 38000, from which im hoping they will lower to get close to my other schools EFC (27k, 29k, 32k)</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>i should have clarified what "is it worth" means
basically anything and everything?</p>
<p>is the whole 'who you rub shoulders with" thing true?
Will law schools treat a UPenn grad and Berk grad much differently?
Is the education much different?</p>
<p>(Im weighing UCLA and Berk almost equally btw)</p>
<p>I would attend Berkeley if money is a factor.</p>
<p>but im wondering
would a UPenn education eventually "pay it off"? compared to a berk education?</p>
<p>i think so.</p>
<p>a friend of mine from cali was wondering the same thing. he graduated last year and said the experience was well worth it.</p>
<p>Penn has a better alumni community with which you'll want to be rubbing shoulders.</p>
<p>There are elite alumni networking parties for the IvyPlus (Ivies + Stanford, MIT). Berkeley is not on that list.</p>
<p>Think of it as trading your one mercedes now for a whole lot more merecedes in the future ;)</p>
<p>Law school is the factor. You could submatriculate to Penn Law and save a year of tuition. Boalt at Berkeley is also a fine law program.</p>
<p>what kind of benz? if its a C-class no...but for a CLS 63 AMG? hehe :)</p>
<p>asians drive camry</p>
<p>Don't forget that your loans will accumulate interest...and you'll be taking out loans for law school too. Go to Berkeley.</p>
<p>how about accord meng</p>
<p>where's the honda</p>
<p>go to Penn if you like it better.</p>
<p>
[quote]
i think so.</p>
<p>a friend of mine from cali was wondering the same thing. he graduated last year and said the experience was well worth it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not a huge surprise that a person decided they made the right choice in this situation. The odds favor a person thinking they did the right thing no matter what they did. I don't think that's a useful piece of comparison personally.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Penn has a better alumni community with which you'll want to be rubbing shoulders.</p>
<p>There are elite alumni networking parties for the IvyPlus (Ivies + Stanford, MIT). Berkeley is not on that list.</p>
<p>Think of it as trading your one mercedes now for a whole lot more merecedes in the future
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In my experience, these networking events are more often related to professional schools than to undergraduate schools. And Berkeley is included in these events, depending on where you are. And many Ivy League schools are excluded depending on where you are. This metric is silly, in other words. Though I would agree that Penn has a somewhat greater sense of alumni affiliation, particularly related to Wharton.</p>
<p>Penn and Boalt are great law schools. According to Prince. Rev., Boalt is the 4th hardest law school to get into the country and Penn which is ranked higher in US News, can't be far behind. I never get it when people say "go to Penn and then go to Penn law" or similarly Berkeley and Boalt as if one begets the other. Except that this person talked about the possibility to sub-matriculate at Penn from Penn undergrad, and that is an interesting option (though I'd find out how often it actually happens; I've had good friends go to Penn who were amazing and didn't get into Penn law).</p>
<p>If you are really itching to get out of Cali, go to Penn debt and all. My personal bias is to get away from where you grew up. But if it's not that important to you whether you are or are not in Cali, go to Cal and get a great education. The Mercedes comparison is a good one because many people are stupid (IMO) when they buy such cars going into a lot of debt to do so. If you do well at Cal, you'll end up at Harvard or Stanford or Boalt or Penn or wherever for law school. And then the massive amounts of debt you take on won't be compounded by the Mercedes. And then if you are one of the many who go to law school and then decide you revile the law, you'll have more latitude to quit.</p>
<p>There is a good argument that if you want to end up back in California that you go to school Back East for undergrad and then go back to Cali for professional school (Boalt, Stanford, UCLA, USC etc.) because your network will be there. Your graduate school network is the one that will mean more professionally. But if you can get into one of the top national law schools, that won't matter hugely.</p>
<p>If you're going to wharton, no doubt, Penn. If not, Berkeley. Berkely's programs, other than business, are of comparable quality to Penn's.</p>
<p>a penn degree alone isn't going to pay off the debt. what if you go to penn and are just a mediocre student? that first job at 40k a year isn't going to make any headway. You'll find that the school you go to most impacts where you get that <em>first</em> job, and if you do well at berkeley, you can get just as good of a job as you can get out of penn...even <em>wharton</em>. If you like penn more than berkeley though...you should go there.</p>
<p>Penn isn't a superior school, but I'm of the belief you should never settle for which school you want to go to. If you really want to go there and you don't like berkeley, go to penn. If you're indifferent, you should go to berkeley.</p>
<p>err...haas is comparable, but it still isnt wharton. berkeley is a great school, as is penn. internationally, i believe berkeley receives more recognition. domestically, penn holds more focus because of wharton, the banking industry, and numerous graduate schools at penn such as vet, med school, and law. the deciding factor should probably not come down to a car, but rather, which school you truly like better. ditch the car for an airline ticket and visit both schools :) go where you feel better suited. plus, who wants a car at college, its a waste, leech of your other friends ;)</p>
<p>If the decision were made in terms of pure academics, I'd say its probably about a toss-up. Berkeley's perenially got one of the best history departments in the nation, but Penn may be more likely to give you more individualized attention.</p>
<p>Wharton is a huge driver of prestige and influence for Penn, but I don't see how that's hugely relevant for what you want to do. Law at Berkeley and Penn are roughly on par. Berkeley's de facto or functional equivalent med school, UCSF, is the premier West Coast med school. And Berkeley is a top 2 or 3 grad school across the board across science, humanities, engineering, etc. But Berkeley's public and not Ivy League.</p>
<p>What you should look at is what impboy89 said you should look at: where do you feel better suited?</p>
<p>I assumed the Mercedes thing was illustrative, not that you were literally going to get a Mercedes. But if it's not.... ;) If you go to Berkeley, don't park a Mercedes on the street and anyway a Benz is a bit middle-aged. I'd recommend a nice perhaps aged BMW that you don't mind getting a little dinged up. Or if you have a garage, newer is fine. If I were going to put some money into a nice lifestyle, I would put it into a sweet property with a view for after I moved out of the dorms, deck it out a bit and audit some art history classes to meet da ladies. Have fun...</p>
<p>PhillyCarShare(.org) is all you need, baby</p>
<p>or a chinaman with a rickshaw</p>