Which university should I choose?

I’m having a hard time choosing my future college because I’m just an overall insecure person.
Any advice would be gladly appreciated!!
Here are my options as well as some pros/cons: ( In no particular order )
UC Riverside:

  • Has the Creative Writing major I want.
  • Close to home.
  • I have a chance at the Honor’s Program which offers first pick of classes and small ones at that.
  • It’s Riverside and I really want to go somewhere else.
  • Will I be limiting myself here? I know college is what you make of it, but I can’t help but think rankings and reviews exist for a reason.
  • Also, I’ve heard that any other major that isn’t a science or business is neglected. Ex: My teacher’s daughter went there as a Poli Sci major and tried to switch but apparently, her adviser never got back to her and she couldn’t change majors (ended up extending her bachelor’s to six years, not four.)
    University of Redlands
  • Again, has the Creative Writing major I want.
  • Close to home.
  • Smaller classes, more personal connection with professors for a chance @ good recommendations for Grad school.
  • Maybe it’s “too small” and there won’t be as much to do there.
  • Going there on a scholarship basis, so if at any point my grades drop, there goes my money
  • I want to go to Grad school so I’m looking for the cheapest option as of undergrad studies.
    University of Berkeley California
  • The name. It holds weight for the future. Maybe it will help me get into a specific grad school, who knows.
  • The English program is supposedly one of the best and the faculty is all well recommended.
  • Cheapest option as of now.
  • It’s way farther than Los Angeles (where I was planning on staying). I’m an only child and the distance is kind of holding me back because I love my parents very much.
  • Some people say it’s extremely cut throat. I would be willing to push myself, but I don’t know how true the reviews are. Would you say IB prepares a student for Cal?
  • The supposed ‘grade deflation’.
    ———
    Any help would be much appreciated!! As of now, I’m leaning more towards Cal, btw.

Just my opinion but if I were in your shoes I would go for UC-Berkeley. For this simple reason - if for whatever reason things don’t work out, you can always transfer to the other two places. Going the other way around will be potentially much harder. You might not want to go through life with a possible regret of skipping out on an elite school.

@PammyWammy

Congratulations! You do a great job listing pros and cons. And show a lot of self-awareness and self-reflection, which is important. I agree with the above that Berkeley would be hard to turn down. The pros are very strong. I tend not to worry about the cutthroat thing. I put that in the other-people’s-issue category. If you don’t approach it with a cutthroat attitude, then it doesn’t really matter if other students are feeling ultra-competitive and cutthroat. My college had a reputation for having a lot of academic stress. I never felt stress and did fine. If others were stressed, well, I wish they wouldn’t be.

Your concerns about being away from family, if that’s your feeling and priority, are real. So you have to weigh that. I will point out that when you go away for freshman year, you are not really going away for a year, but really for 8 months. You can be home for Thanksgiving, winter break (something like a month), and spring break. And there’s probably parents’ weekend and fall break. It all goes by very quickly.

But if you feel like a smaller environment with smaller classes is important and a better fit for you, then Redlands would be great. We know a freshman there who is enjoying it.

In terms of insecurity, just remember that the vast majority of your peers are feeling the same thing. They are also often contemplating moving into a new residence with people they don’t know, taking classes that will be at least fairly different from their high school classes, and getting to know, and make, a whole new community. It’s okay and natural to feel that insecurity. The great thing is that almost everyone is in the same boat and are just as hopeful and interested in making it all work out. Trust that, and it will all seem easier. Good luck!

My older daughter went to Redlands, and it was great for her, but I think you will have more opportunities at UCB. And Redlands is not exactly a happening place.