<p>Wellesley and Berkeley are the colleges I'm seriously considering right now. I know they're really different but I can't figure out which one I'm more inclined to go to. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Haven't been to Wellesley yet, but I've been hearing that Berkeley is so huge and that you go to school with "the cream of the crop" of schools in California, including the bad ones. Thus people feel dragged down and don't get the attention that's offered at a small school like Wellesley.</p>
<p>Plus, isn't it good to know you can study and focus on the weekdays and party on the weekends? </p>
<p>I have to choose between a research university and Wellesley, and these are just the reasons why I'm leaning towards Wellesley.</p>
<p>Last year, I was deciding pretty much between UC Berkeley and Wellesley, too.</p>
<p>The main reason that I chose Wellesley was the size. Berkeley is a massive institution with tons of students (as well as graduate students to compete with) whereas Wellesley is about the size of my high school and has an amazing amount of resources, faculty, facilities, etc. dedicated only to its relatively small body of students.</p>
<p>I'm also not a California resident, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to be attending a school with pretty much 80%? Californians... Wellesley had a lot more variety from within the states (although California is one of the most represented states) and I thought that I would feel more comfortable that way.</p>
<p>The other really big factor in my decision was something I had heard someone say during Spring Open Campus. She said that while she was choosing colleges, she tried to decide which one she would regret not going to the most. Since Wellesley is only an undergraduate institution, you only really have one chance... whereas you could feasibly still attend Berkeley for graduate school if your heart is set on it.</p>
<p>Of course there are tons of other factors, like location and cost and so on, but I think those were really the biggest differences that I grappled with between the two.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>yeah, as an early decision applicant, i knew that for me, wellesley would be the school i would regret not going to.</p>
<p>that one factor definitely made the whole decision process sooo much easier.</p>
<p>The competition at Berkeley is ferocious, there is no "dragging down." </p>
<p>But that's a separate question from the amount of attention that students received. The UC's are very good but they're large, impersonal, and often bureaucratic. </p>
<p>If you're the kind of student who benefits from class discussion, there's absolutley no comparison, due to typical class size and, no, having a dicussion section for a large class once a week really is no substitute.</p>
<p>Wellesley offers on campus housing for four years; Berkeley only for one.</p>
<p>Finally, for the OP, I'm a big believer in going "away" to college...it's one of the few times in your life that you can make such a radical change easily. Sure, there are differences NorCal/SoCal, but New England is very another kettle of chowder altogether. For someone on the East Coast, I might recommend the opposite.</p>
<p>So if it's between Cal and Wellesely, imo go to Wellesley.</p>