usc vs berkeley vs wustl for econ/business

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! i got all my deicions back, and i've narrowed down my list to those 3. what do you think is the best school for me? i am hoping to double major in econ and business at these schools.</p>

<p>usc
pros:
-presidential scholarship (half tuition) will be roughly $30,000/year
-interviewed for the scholarship, felt like i was wanted
-marshall ranked 10th
-trojan family
-socal
-football!
-many friends going/awesome social life
-definitely a school that's going up</p>

<p>cons:
-not as 'prestigious' as others
-lane kiffin
-in the ghetto, although seemingly not a factor
-still has that lingering 'rich boy' reputation</p>

<p>berkeley
pros:
-perhaps most respected in the academic world, domestically and internationally
-norcal: weather not as nice as socal, but sf>la
-haas ranked 2nd
-sports are also not bad
-fits me politically</p>

<p>cons:
-stereotyped as cutthroat, competitive, etc
-cannot be in haas until junior year, while guarenteed at marshall+olin as a freshmen
-OOS tuition- will be roughly $50,000/year
-recent financial crisis
-"a number"
-feel less focused on undergraduates</p>

<p>neutral:
too many asians. (i'm asian, how will this affect me lol?)</p>

<p>wustl
pros:
-wustl ranked 12th, olin ranked top 15 business school
-rather chill for a prestigious university
-more fluid academically than other two
-high quality of life
-dorms</p>

<p>cons:
-st louis is not los angeles or san francisco
-tuition- will be roughly $50,000/year
-lack of sports
-lacks a bit in name recognition, though not a big factor for me.
-trivial, but school colors are green and red? really?</p>

<p>pros of all three:
-sweet research opportunities
-awesome campus
-all fine business programs</p>

<p>my parents earn an income of roughly $250,000, but money is always a factor. USC's $80k/4 years is very tempting. but, for this, try to focus purely on academics. also, after graduating, i am planning to go onto graduate school, whether it be mba business school, a phd, or maybe even law. thanks!</p>

2

<p>as soon as i saw this thread post, my jaw dropped. i am making the same exact decision as you for the same exact academic interests, and with the three exact same schools. the only difference is that i received trustees (100% scholarship) at usc, which makes usc (which id previously nixed) look like a really amazing deal right now. </p>

<p>where are you leaning toward right now, personally? im really caught.</p>

3

<p>berkeley for business. you’ll be going into short term debt for a potential bigger pay off in the end in terms of job placement.</p>

4

<p>hey cambridgehope. this may be the biggest decision we’ll ever made in our lives! good luck to you.</p>

<p>i’m leaning towards cal. despite the financial crisis and all, i think berkeley is berkeley, and won’t affect it that much. even with usc’s scholarship, berkeley is only 10k more expensive, and that may be worth it, given their incredible programs. i feel a degree from berkeley is more attractive to employers than one from usc or wustl. i dislike the intense competition though. </p>

<p>however, i’ll be attending multicultural weekend, so hopefully i’ll get to know wustl a bit more. and i have a long pros list for usc. i loved it when i visited… so i’m probably 40/30/30 berkeley right now… man i have no idea hahaha. what about you?</p>

5

<p>bump – any more suggestions?</p>

6

<p>All your choices are excellent. I wouldn’t get caught up on the rankings of each school’s program. I say this because when you come out of undergrad, a lot of the jobs that will be available to you through your school’s network/career resources will be from companies that are offering jobs/positions in your school’s region.
So even if you attend USC, it won’t matter that it’s not Berkeley, because USC will be the better choice if you want to work in LA. Berkeley will be the better choice if you want to work in the Bay Area, and so on with WUSTL.</p>

<p>Considering your major, you need to think about the money you’re saving in the long run. For this reason my vote is for USC. If you’re really good at IB or finance or whatever job you expect to get after majoring in econ/business, you will have learned the basic skills to know how to invest the money you would have technically saved by going for USC. Assuming the money saved is anywhere between 80-120K, that 80-120K is a lot to invest that can result in an even higher pay off than simply going to the “better ranked school” and expecting a higher return on that investment.</p>

<p>Lastly, law school/mba, comes out of your pocket. The money you save from taking half tuition at USC, will put you in less debt in the long run for grad school. It would seem that the extra money you save by going to usc, is worth more when you spend it on grad school than undergrad.</p>

7

<p>With the scholarship money, I’d probably choose USC. That already being admitted to the business school can be more important than you think. It will take at least a 3.45 GPA or better the first two years at Berkeley to get into Haas–and trust me, it is cutthroat and it is going to be hard to get many of the classes you want (especially as a dual major) because of the current California budget crisis.</p>

<p>Also, there is the possibility that you’ll end up in more protests than classes. Students seem to be overly active politically up here.</p>

<p>I like SF over LA, too (and live up north near SF)–but LA is pretty nice when you are in your 20s (that’s when I lived there) and when you can spend your time hanging out at the beach on the weekends. WUSTL is also nice–but there is a reason to live in California instead of St. Louis–like the freezing weather during the four months a year (out of 9) that you’ll be at school–and because if you plan to end up living back in California after graduating, it will be easier to get a job if you are already local (as pointed out by liek0806 above).</p>

<p>P.S. You won’t go wrong with any of the three–but I’m giving you my own personal view (and reasons) here–and this from someone who has lived in LA and SF (and also in the midwest and also on the east coast). Good luck with your decision.</p>

8

<p>Good luck, neon. All of your choices are fantastic. I hope you choose Berkeley…but your list of pros and cons are well balanced.</p>

9

<p>I would have recommended Berkeley for you, but when you said you’re Asian, I would rather not instead. I think there are just too many Asians at Berkeley and by going there you’ll be just another smart Asians at Cal. I will go for WUStL if I were you instead, and then go to Haas Business School after.</p>

10

<p>I was in the same situation as you two years ago (wealthy parents, usc scholarship, asian, socal weather, love usc for wanting me, found out very early for usc, love usc campus, etc) and I just got into Haas this year and I do not regret going to Berkeley at all.</p>

<p>Also, there is the possibility that you’ll end up in more protests than classes. Students seem to be overly active politically up here.
False. Those politically active are the same people and they make up less than 5% of the student body. </p>

<p>The only difference is that I am from California…</p>

11

<p>lots of great advice… thanks for taking the time to read and comment, guys. i really appreciate it. i should not put so much weight on strangers opinions, but i do hahaha…</p>

<p>can someone comment on how difficult getting a 3.45 is?? using UC’s grading system, i had a 4.0 unweighted gpa in a top 50 public high school. 3.45 is shockingly low… and how competitive is economics at cal? is it up there with engineering and premed?</p>

12

<p>my sat score was 2250 and i have a 3.65 at berkeley, but im slightly lazy</p>

13

<p>hey i m in a really similar situation too! but i have NYU Stern to compare with those three … and i’m not really considering USC anymore
i m international so if i go to UCB the tuition will be almost as high as private school’s</p>

<p>edit: since i visited washu last summer and really liked the atmosphere, i m leaning towards it a little. but i heard that the internship opportunities aren’t THAT great…(especially if compared to NYU, considering its location)
and i really wanna know how good the other programs are besides pre-med at washu</p>

14

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</p>

<p>Even though 3.45 is the minimum GPA to get into Haas, I saw somewhere on the Haas website that the accepted average GPA is around a 3.8…! So how difficult is it really to get into Haas? I probably want to go down an econ/business route too, and I’m probably going to choose Berkeley but I’m a bit worried that I might not actually end up getting into Haas if it really is that difficult to get a high GPA there.</p>

15

<p>I’m also in the same situation, except i’m also considering UNC and Michigan. I talked to a few relatives, and they recommended Berkeley for me. (I’m asian). Their reasoning was that St. Louis is not a progressive city like SF or LA, and that Berkeley’s prestige goes a long way against USC. I don’t agree with them completely, as they’re in their 50s and USC isn’t the same anymore, but that’s what they said. My $0.02. Good luck! :)</p>

16

<p>I’d hesitate to pay OOS tuition at Berkeley. You may end of feeling like you’re overpaying. That’s not a good feeling to have. USC looks good to me from what you say.</p>

17

<p>are you kidding…$50,000/yr for berkeley?
I know plenty of people unemployed berkeley grads right now or going to tier 2-3 law schools, etc</p>

<p>Go to USC with the presidential scholarship</p>

18

<p>hi everyone. i’m sorry i’m bumping this up.</p>

<p>i just got back from washu multicultural weekend. it was amazing, with an awesome campus and some of the smartest and relaxed student body i’ve ever encountered. it had the best dorms i’ve seen, and the food was excellent. however, it lacks one thing that’s very important to me: athletics. they are very good, but in d3, so… idk, lacks a bit in school spirit.</p>

<p>that leaves me between usc and berkeley. usc updated their package, giving me about 23k in merit and 5k in loans, leaving me to pay about 27k/year. berkeley, on the other hand, gave me nothing (54k/year). if i were a parent, i’d tell me to go to usc. i went there for the interview, and i absolutely loved it. however, my parents almost insist on paying for berkeley… and i honestly think they are both equally awesome. i wouldn’t mind going to either, i think i will end up flipping a coin or something… </p>

<p>is it really crazy to pay an extra 25k/year to go to berkeley over usc?</p>

19

<p>I would go to USC. USC is really pumping resources into their academics and its a great bargain at 80K less.</p>

20

<p>I was having a really tough time deciding between usc and berkeley
i just came back yesterday after visiting berkeley, and found i liked the campus very much, and the surrounding area was very fresh and inviting- everyone seems to really like cal</p>

<p>however i decided (about an hour ago) that usc was the right choice for me- I recieved teh trustee full tuition scholarship and i’m already in the usc marshall school -a MAJOR plus with the uncertainty of the haas entrance system and gpa requirement- and USC’s connections for jobs and internships are truly incomparable</p>

<p>the size and vigor of berkeley’s “cut-throut” atmosphere gave me the impression that it would certainly not be as easy to acquire such opportunities at cal.
plus, at the end of the day, I am someone that thrives in a very personal learning environment. I’m not sure if this is true for you, but I haven’t seen anything bad come from more individual care and attention for each student, which I know from experience that USC offers (my siblings and cousins attended)</p>

<p>berkeley is an amazing school, and it certainly has so much to offer, but USC has the connections and guarantee you’ll study what you’ll want to at Marshall- and if youre a presidential scholar youre likely to easily get into which ever classes you need to take (not guaranteed at cal) USC also is very flexible in terms of double majoring</p>

<p>Also, a main reason i had such a dilemma was that berkeley would be cheaper for me than USC – i would never pay more for cal!</p>

<p>GO TROJANS!!!</p>