<p>Hi there! Im a mom whose daughter is undecided between Wellesley, USC, and Berkeley. She's aware that I'm writing this as as she's swamped with homework. We live in So. Califorina. Her debt at the end of her 4 years will be pretty much the same for all 3 schools. She is interested in Global Policy, International Relations, or Econ/Poly Sci To help her out a little I thought Id give you an isight of her pros and cons to all 3 schools.</p>
<p>Wellesley--She was set on Wellesley even before Spring Open Campus...she feels she would receive the best education with endless opportunities. She likes the fact that classes are relatively small and that she'll have easy access to professors. But...she doesnt feel that she have the full college experience (all girl school) and has this idea that the majority of the girls at Wellesley are Type A personalities and wont be open to a having a little fun!! Also, Boston is on the other side of the map.</p>
<p>U.C. Berkeley--She liked the diversity at Berkeley and feels she would fit right in (she's latin,friendly, humble, outgoing, with a touch of an indie style). Berkeley is a great school (2nd best in World for Public Schools and 22nd best Nationally in US News) and is 4.5 hrs away from home...but classes are overcrowed and feels she'll fall in the cracks. From what I hear lots of parties here!</p>
<p>USC--Divesity yes..maybe not as much as Berkeley. Offers many options and has one of the strongest alumnis in the US. Since USC is a private school, classes are smaller than Berkeley (average 30 per class). US News ranked this school Nationally at 25. She feels USC is too focused on sports but is do-able as it is 2 hrs away from home. </p>
<p>Thank you all for reading this and giving us some insight. Your help is greatly appreciated! I will be posting this on the other two threads.</p>
<p>My daughter has been agonizing between Berkeley, UCLA, and USC for weeks. She finally chose USC because of the more personal feel (meeting with an advisor), admittance into Annenberg, great internships available, smaller class size, and greater diversity.</p>
<p>Unparalleled Diversity* (a recent email from USC)
* 11% first-generation college-goers
* 20% African American, Latino and Native American
* 7% International
* 48% from outside California </p>
<p>We also live in Southern California and know of the fabulous USC alumni and connections. There were about 8 students accepted to Berkeley from her school and many of them were athletes, so her perception is that Berkeley is more into Sports.
Your daughter has 3 very different and wonderful schools to choose from. Just thought I would offer you my daughter's reasons for choosing one of the schools that your daughter is considering. Best of luck, let us know where she decides to commit!!</p>
<p>Thank you for your insight. She decided to go to Wellesley. She got the same feel about SC as your daughter (the personal feel), but Wellesley has a huge academic support system with small class sizes (more so than SC). This was tough for her as it was for me. I always felt that Wellesley was the best choice but the distance is heart-breaking! Good luck!</p>
<p>Berkeley is much more prestigious than USC. USC is a great school but is just not on the level of berkeley. I am a UCLA student and actually transfered from USC because I found that the class sizes were rather large and if you are paying the fees of a private school you should have smaller class sizes. Berkeley is arguably the best school in the world for poli-sci and is very diverse. USC is also in a terrible area and I just did not get the college feel I was looking for.</p>
<p>I agree...Cal has one of the best if not the best Poly Sci programs. She has to submit her answer tomorrow. It was down to Cal and Wellesley. She did a 3 day stay at Cal and one at Wellesley. Berkeley felt more like home but it all came down to class size and teacher support. You wont fall under the cracks at Wellesley...your professor will call ur cell if you miss class. Wellesley has great connections ie. United Nations and White House Interships to name a few. Very, very, very tough choice! Who know she might wake up from a dream and decide Cal.</p>