<p>I got accepted to both UC-Berkeley (College of Letters & Science) and U of Rochester, both undeclared major. I am pretty interested in bio and BME (partially because i was good at it in high school), but still not sure what exactly i wanna do for career, so i am planning to explore a bit in freshman & sophomore year. Also, beyond academics, I desire to have a well-rounded and life-changing college experience, hoping that college is not another high school.</p>
<p>If you are in my position, which school would you choose? Berkeley or Rochester?</p>
<p>I hope students currently studying a bio major can kindly offer your experiences and suggestions. Your help really means a lot to me. Thank you!</p>
<p>Which school requires you/your family to take on less debt? </p>
<p>Where (geographically) do you want to have a career when you graduate? (East Coast? California? PNW? International?)</p>
<p>What kind of campus experience are you looking for? Berkeley is a large, diverse campus in an urban area. Rochester is a smaller campus in a mid sized city. Quite different from each other.</p>
<p>Will you be able to gain admission to the COE at Berkeley from and undeclared major?</p>
<p>If you have specific questions about the bio program at UR, I can address them…but you need to be more specific.</p>
<p>College is what you make of it. Don’t expect any college to serve up life-changing experiences unless you go looking for them. (And you can find profound life-changing experiences just about anywhere, not just on a college campus. In fact, you’ll probably more likely to find them elsewhere. College campuses tend to exist in their own bubble-universe/cocoon quite separate from the real world.)</p>
<p>Berkeley has one of the larger biomed programs in terms of research funding, but you’re talking about 26k undergrad versus 5k undergrad. If $ / student matters - sometimes it does, sometimes not - then UR has more funding per student. Berkeley has 300 undergrads in bioengineering. Great school. You may feel somewhat like a number.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice, WayOutWestMom ^_^</p>
<p>UR offered me a scholarship of $11,000 per year, and I am out of state for UCB. So the two schools cost about the same, UR might be slightly less, if i do not take the cost of travelling for summer internships into account. </p>
<p>I grew up in a huge city, but lived in suburban area for about one year, so i am ok for both settings. One concern I have for Rochester, though, is that whether there are enough opportunities for undergrads to reach for. You know, as for Berkeley, it is close to the Valley and also to UCSF Med Center.</p>
<p>I definitely want to live on the East Cost, but I’m not sure whether i want to work right after college. May apply to grad schools. So i am very interested in undergrad researches, the kind working with professors in bio and BME department. Just have to take recommendation letter into consideration~</p>
<p>Most competitive summer internships pay your travel and living expenses. That’s a non-issue. Plus some of the best internships are not necessarily on the East Coast.</p>
<p>What kinds of opportunities are you talking about? Lab research? UR has large number of slots. Basically, if you want a lab position, all you need to do is go looking. Most bio majors have found a lab by midway thru sophomore year. D2 started in her lab at the beginning of sophomore year. There are some students who have a well defined interest and prior lab skills who start in a research lab as freshmen. However, most profs prefer students who have already passed Gen Chem and Intro Bio. (The same is true at Berkeley, BTW.)</p>
<p>I am less familiar with what BME has to offer, but I know the dept is doing some cutting edge stuff in vision. You might try looking at the research interests pages of various BME groups at UR. The BME dept sponsors a monthly seminar series that brings in top researchers from all over the US to give talks. </p>
<p>As for getting off the Berkeley campus and to UCSF…that’s across the Bay and 16 miles. A long commute for lab volunteering. Getting out to the Valley is even tougher unless you have a car. (Parking in and around Berkeley is expensive and difficult. )</p>
<p>Many thanks for your fast response, WayOutWestMom, cauz’ i really have to decide in a day or so. So far, sounds like UR offers a better deal~</p>
<p>Yeah lab research is very important. How about intern/volunteering in Med-school or hospital? I believe I have read about it in some sort of brochure that UR sent me.</p>
<p>Besides, I believe that guidance from top tier mentors is always priceless to undergrads. How are the professors in Rochester? I went on BME department’s website, and found only two professors out of fourteen primary faculty. All others are assistant/associate prof. How about in bio department? Also, I feel it’s really hard to find out how prestigious or influential these professors are nationalwide. </p>
<p>Again, I really appreciate your time and patience to share your stories ^_^</p>
<p>Strong Hospital (associated w/ UR’s med school) is literally across the street from River Campus. Highland Hospital is about a mile away–within easy walking distance of campus. Both offer volunteer opportunities to undergrads.</p>
<p>UR is a small school. It is not going to have the breadth of faculty (or the breadth of research topics) that a much larger school like Berekley can offer. Nor does UR have the money to compete for well known, famous faculty. </p>
<p>What it does have is some faculty who have established a name for themselves in a small specialty, or faculty who are up and coming (potential rising stars in their field). Some of them are not yet tenured. </p>
<p>If you want famous, brand name faculty–go to Berkeley. </p>
<p>(But the odds of you actually getting to work with the faculty member themselves are low since undergrads usually have little contact with the superstar. You might work in his/her lab, but your actual work will be under the supervision of a grad sudent or post-doc. Big research groups work that way.)</p>
<p>It is an acknowledged strength of UR that undergrads can get into research. </p>
<p>As for internships and the like, the Rochester area has 1 million people and UR is the largest employer. There are many avenues for involvement in the larger community and less competition. That is my kid’s experience. We compare how easy it is to get into the Rochester community versus how hard and competitive it is to do that in Boston.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot! I have finally decided to attend Rochester. ^_^</p>
<p>Congratulations. </p>
<p>One thing that really impresses me about UR is that so many kids do things, that they follow their interests. This is an advantage of not being too big but being large enough.</p>