Would UC Berkeley be worth the debt?

<p>I'd need to take out about a 30k-40k loan per year (unless things change next year) in order to afford it (out of state), is it worth it for me to do that? I'd need to do the same at NYU but at my state school I wouldn't need a loan. I plan on going to either law school or med school after undergrad (quite the extremes I know, but I haven't decided!) but then again I've always wanted to go out of state for undergrad.</p>

<p>Other posts indicate that you are from Washington. Assuming that the University of Washington is the no-debt school, go there. Medical or law school is expensive, and you want to avoid undergraduate debt that would be added on to medical or law school debt.</p>

<p>In any case, $120,000 to $160,000 of debt is not a good idea, especially when you have a school as good as the University of Washington with no debt.</p>

<p>"…but at my state school I wouldn’t need a loan." you got the answer!</p>

<p>I see your points, but I don’t want to regret passing up opportunities I might get at berkeley. But as I read more and more into student loans I think it would make sense not to take them out as early as undergrad. I think I’ll sleep on it, and decide Monday. Thanks for the advice!</p>

<p>You’re pre-med/law. Your school does not matter as much as GPA + MCAT/LSAT. Plus, you’ll probably need to take on debt for med/law school. There is no way going to Berkeley over UW is worth it in this case.</p>

<p>Can you really borrow that much? That sounds …like a lot…</p>

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<p>That much extra debt may eventually be more constraining on your future opportunities than the difference between Berkeley and Washington. Imagine, as a new medical school graduate, being forced to chase the highest paying medical specialty because the lower paying medical specialty that you really want to do would not let you pay off the higher debt in a reasonable amount of time.</p>