<p>Three scenarios:</p>
<p>1) Rejected from private schools and have no other option but Berkeley (in-states);
2) Accepted to private schools but cannot afford the price tag (generally for in-states);
3) Berkeley is your top choice. </p>
<p>Just want to get a feel for what kinds of students go to Berkeley because I have met many people who absolutely love Berkeley and many others who are ambivalent about it but have no other option for college.</p>
<p>Berkeley was my son’s dream school and first choice. He’s a second semester sophomore and loves it there. He was admitted as Undeclared Engineering but has since settled on EECS.</p>
<p>I’m sort of in scenario 2.</p>
<p>I was only accepted by Carnegie Mellon for Computer Science (which is pretty good considering SCS selectivity), but we decided that the value added wasn’t enough to spend $30k/year more. We definitely could afford it, but I didn’t want to make my family pay that much more.</p>
<p>I was also rejected by MIT and Stanford, and waitlisted at Caltech. I would have chosen those over Berkeley.</p>
<p>Case one here, although a I was accepted to a few decent private schools, none of which were Ivy League or Stanford, and my mental heirarchy told me Berkeley was next on the rung. Also, got the regents scholarship here, so I figured why not (although I’m still paying what I would at a private university…). </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong here, I like it here, but it was not my first choice.</p>
<p>First to cast a vote for option 3. Berkeley was my first choice, absolutely. Well, I guess that’s not entirely correct. I didn’t even expect to get into Berkeley, so it was more like a distant dream, and I was pretty elated when I found out. I know recognize that Berkeley does have some flaws, but overall, I really, really enjoy it here and I can’t imagine being happier at any other school. It makes me sad, because I have so many other friends who are just indifferent about UCB or even downright hate it.</p>
<p>I guess #2 sort of applies to me, because I got waitlisted at U of Chicago, but even if I got into U of Chicago, I might have still chosen Berkeley, just because of 1) cheaper tuition here 2)I like California, and 3) I would probably still receive as well-rounded an education at Berkeley as I would at U of Chicago.</p>
<p>3.</p>
<p>Chose it over some pretty good privates, including a couple of Ivies (albeit ‘low Ivies’).</p>
<p>Which Ivies were they?</p>
<p>Probably cornell penn brown etc…in which almost everyone gets in.</p>
<p>^ Yep, just about everyone.</p>
<p>Option 1 but still very excited to be accepted to Berkeley!</p>
<p>high Ivies: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn
UC Berkeley can be placed here between the highs and the lows.
low Ivies: Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth</p>
<p>I got rejected by some Ivies so I chose Cal, but I really love Cal so much!!! … wouldn’t go anywhere else.</p>
<p>Bad question. You don’t have to be option 3 to want to be here or to love Berkeley.</p>
<p>I was an option 1, but I loved Berkeley after my first weekend here. Wouldn’t prefer to be anywhere else.</p>
<p>pretty all encompassing options, not bad.
2, but it was a lot of “more bang for your buck” reasoning than anything else</p>
<h1>3. Berkeley was my top choice.</h1>
<p>I was definitely option 1 when I came here, but my time at Berkeley has been awesome so far! Based on conversations with my friends at Harvard, Stanford, and other privates, I really don’t think I would have had a better experience anywhere else.</p>
<p>Case 2 Accepted to berkeley but its way too expensive OOS!</p>
<h1>3 - I have chosen Berkeley over two Ivies (Harvard and Columbia) and also over Stanford, simply because a particular major (Peace and Conflict studies, I will do the human rights concentration). In the case of Columbia (which offers a major in Human Rights), my preference to stay in California, is what ultimately made Berkeley my top choice.</h1>