Williams is so well recognized that you would have no issues getting good job opportunities. CS is also about taking your own initiatives with projects by collaborating with faculty. They do lots of undergrad research at Williams. Regarding finances, the fact that Williams is giving you extrs $$ should tell you that COA is not everything. They know that low income students need more than the COA to stay in college.
Everyone on this forum who has given you advice is saying the same thing. They are all experienced adults who know what theyāre talking about. You are a very bright student. You will thrive at Williams. At Berkeley, you will be just another student with little support and massive debt.
I understand this point of view, and Williams personalized approach to supporting each student, as there is more resources and opportunities to invest. My only concern is the perceived prestige, while helps with connections, internships and opens opportunities, regardless of the field of study. While Williams is prestigious, it is lesser known because of its small size and rural location.
Just about whichever general site you consider will place Williams ahead of nearly all other colleges, with Berkeley a bit lower but nonetheless roughly in its vicinity. This analysis related to student profile from several years ago placed Williams 17th and UCB 37th nationally, for example:
While this current site, which considers financial outcomes, places Williams 15th and UCB 17th:
Are schools like Cornell, Dartmouth, or William & Mary lesser known because they are smaller and rural ?
You make a lot of assumptions for a guy who wants to focus on data.
Iām not sure why you feel UCB will āopenā opportunities whereas Williams wonāt.
There are many kids at lesser schools finding opportunities and many at top schools not. One needs to be a go getter to do so regardless of where they are.
My son is a Williams graduate. He received a profoundly good education at Williams and would choose it again in a heartbeat. He is not in tech, but overall the support from faculty both during and after his time at Williams, summer internships that Williams facilitated, the graduate school advising and letters of recommendation, the career center job referrals, all these helped him gain admission to a prestigious graduate school and gave him a head start on his eventual career.
I can fully understand the difference in name recognition between Williams and a globally recognized university. My alma mater is the University of Michigan. Iāve lived in various parts of the U.S. and Asia and I can say that people all over the world know and respect UMich. Although graduate and professional school adcoms and many hiring managers (including those in Silicon Valley) will know and respect Williams as well, itās likely that your family and neighbors will not. Apparently (and unfortunately) this may be a negative for you. Those blank stares can sting!
The CS issue is a little harder to compare. Obviously, thereās only one Silicon Valley (though Boston has a substantial tech industry). Iām not a CS expert, but my understanding is that Williams has a very good program. You can take a look at where some of its CS alumni/ae have ended up: https://csci.williams.edu/people/alumni-directory/
Iām sure that Williams would put you in touch with current or past Williams CS majors so that you could learn more about opportunities, internships and career paths.
Have you visited Williams? If not, will you be able to visit before making a final decision? My son enjoyed Williamsā insular mountain village environment. He liked the natural beauty, the accessibility of outdoorsy activities and the close relationships with his classmates and his professors. You may or may not feel the same. Williams, for all its positives, isnāt for everyone. Do you have any other acceptances ā actual or outstanding ā that might offer a third, middle path?
@Malaj_Ara, I think you need to give yourself a little space to sort out the difference between perceived prestige and real opportunities. Itās apparent to me and most of the adults on this board that it would be a monumental mistake to graduate from Berkeley or any undergraduate college/university with a debt which by then will be close to USD300,000 (and compounding). My concern would be that youāve set yourself up to dislike any school that isnāt Berkeley: a self-fullfilling prophesy so to speak.
Williams should still win easily. Turning down a full ride at the #1 LAC in the country, for six figures of undergrad debt at a public flagship, would frankly be ridiculous, even if you have a qualified cosigner for all those loans (which if you legitimately qualify for Questbridge, you probably do not).
You are conjuring up a difficult decision where one does not actually exist. Set your sights on Berkeley for grad school if it appeals that much to you.
Itās sad to me that you do not appreciate the incredible opportunity Questbridge and Williams are offering you, and are convincing yourself that the unrealistic option is better when it isnāt.
First off, congratulations! Both schools are phenomenal, but they are extremely different. Cal is huge and in an urban area of northern CA. Williams is a small LAC in a rural area of MA. Just something to keep in mind.
Go to Williams. Speaking as an alum, a UC Berkeley education is not worth going into $200,000+ in debt. It has worldwide name recognition but Williams is the more selective school. Those who know anything about elite colleges and universities in the US will know that Williams is ranked #1 among LAC. If there is any chance that you may want to go to grad school/professional school, you will not want to be that much in debt from undergrad and I do believe that Williams may better prepare you for grad school. Williams will teach you how to think critically and write well and those are not skills many people, even college graduates, have these days. Thatās not to say that you wonāt learn how to think critically and write logically at Berkeley but your first and second year courses will be mostly large lectures with smaller sections taught by TAs. There will be no hand holding and the competition among students is extremely fierce. At Williams you will have the opportunity to get to know your professors well and will get more individualized attention, assuming that is what you prefer. It takes a lot of work and energy to get that type of relationship and attention at a large public school such as Cal.
Also, if you are planning on working in tech, go to Williams and with the money you save spend the summer at Berkeley taking summer classes there. I understand that itās not the same as getting your BS from the school but if you truly believe that you need the Berkeley prestige/connections/ proximity to SV, spend a summer there. And if you go to Williams and after a year or two you are not convinced that it was the right choice, you can always try to transfer. That would cut your debt in half although I donāt believe that going into $100k+ worth of debt for a Berkeley education is worth it either.
hereās the thing: you have an incredibly unique and fortunate opportunity to attend one of the best colleges in the nation completely free with an extra $10K to boot. no undergraduate institution is ever worth going into ~$250K in debt, and i genuinely cannot imagine choosing to do that simply because of something as silly as having someone know where you went to college. that amount of debt is seriously, seriously crippling. iām going to give you some tough love and say that you really need to check your priorities, friend, because this is a littleā¦ ridiculous. i canāt lie.
This is abhorrent that UCB would send out an FA package like this, and illustrates how people get in loan trouble.
There is no decision to make here, UCB is NOT affordable.
Your family is low income, and as such, your parents might not even qualify to take out $59K in parent plus loans 4 years in a row. Even if they did, how would they make the $2,700 monthly payments for 10 years in a row? Even if you got a job after college with a $100K salary, $2700/month is unaffordable.
Here is the info on the parent plus loansā¦4.228% loan fee, 6.28% interest rate: Federal Student Aid
Go to Williams, and donāt think twice about it. Unless you have more than a quarter of a million dollars in the bank for undergrad (which is about what Cal will cost you)ā¦you will be trying to fund this CAL education with loans. Who will cosign those? Please donāt ask your parents to take loans for you to attend college. With a $0 EFC, they donāt have the resources to do so.
Williams will leave you with a first class education and no debt. Itās a great school with excellent alumni connections as well. Congratulations.
And to respond to thisā¦I say you are not well informed on the strengths of Williams.
ETAā¦the monthly payments on the loans to fully fund Berkeley will be about $3000 a month for ten years. Thatās $36,000 a yearā¦and even on a starting CS salary, that will be a sizable chunk of your take home pay for a LONG time.
Williams is offering you an opportunity that most people would be so thrilled to take. You knowā¦folks from Williams can do internships in the Silicon Valleyā¦or get jobs thereā¦or go to grad school there. Williams will open doors for you that you donāt even know exist.
QuestBridge | Ranking Colleges says that āYou are committed to attending your match school the following fall. Admission through ranking colleges for the Match is binding*.ā
This is truly a no brainer. No college is worth an extra $250k for a low-income family, especially over a college like Williams, regardless of your major, school reputation, geographic location, etc.
What was your instate flagship option? If you wanted a large and affordable flagship university (put prestige hunting aside), that might have been a good option for you. Some states have excellent awards for high stats high performing students. UVA and UMichigan and UNC CH meet full need for all accepted students. GA has the Zell Miller. FL has Bright Futures.
If you were a NMF, that would have opened up lots of other very low cost and excellent options.
Not sure why you applied to an unaffordable OOS public university at all.
Just my opinion here: I donāt think Berkeley is better than Williams. But letās say Berkeley is a bit better for CS. Is it being that tad better worth 250K?