Is it worth it to pay out-of-state tuition for Berkeley?

[Anonymous]

Yes not even a close call.

[Anonymous]

What is with this meme that every public U has full classes and forces you to be on campus for 5 years? Berkeley's 4-year grad rate is over 75%! *Up from the high 60% a decade ago!*

Granted it's lower than UVA's 87% but not nearly as dramatic as you all make it. Cal also has a lot of community college transfers which are the likely culprit to lowering that number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is with this meme that every public U has full classes and forces you to be on campus for 5 years? Berkeley's 4-year grad rate is over 75%! *Up from the high 60% a decade ago!*

Granted it's lower than UVA's 87% but not nearly as dramatic as you all make it. Cal also has a lot of community college transfers which are the likely culprit to lowering that number.

UVA also had a large CC contingent coming in from guaranteed transfer, yet the 4 year grad rate is much higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is with this meme that every public U has full classes and forces you to be on campus for 5 years? Berkeley's 4-year grad rate is over 75%! *Up from the high 60% a decade ago!*

Granted it's lower than UVA's 87% but not nearly as dramatic as you all make it. Cal also has a lot of community college transfers which are the likely culprit to lowering that number.

UVA also had a large CC contingent coming in from guaranteed transfer, yet the 4 year grad rate is much higher.

CC transfers are not included in the 4-year graduation rates.

[Anonymous]

NOVA seems to have an unhealthy, materialistic, status-obsessed culture. Personally, I would send my kids to school in another state just to get them somewhere that people are a bit more humble and thoughtful.

I'm not sure if Berkeley fits that description, but it's probably a healthier environment than UVA, even with the aggressively partisan political atmosphere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NOVA seems to have an unhealthy, materialistic, status-obsessed culture. Personally, I would send my kids to school in another state just to get them somewhere that people are a bit more humble and thoughtful.

I'm not sure if Berkeley fits that description, but it's probably a healthier environment than UVA, even with the aggressively partisan political atmosphere.

You haven't spent much time in Silicon Valley, I see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NOVA seems to have an unhealthy, materialistic, status-obsessed culture. Personally, I would send my kids to school in another state just to get them somewhere that people are a bit more humble and thoughtful.

I'm not sure if Berkeley fits that description, but it's probably a healthier environment than UVA, even with the aggressively partisan political atmosphere.

You haven't spent much time in Silicon Valley, I see.

Even Silicon Valley cannot compete with NOVA in this regard. It's certainly competitive and expensive there, but it's not nearly as materialistic. It's totally socially acceptable to live in a small apartment, with no car, walk around wearing cheap clothes, etc. In NOVA, this would never fly. Part of that is the East Coast vs West Coast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NOVA seems to have an unhealthy, materialistic, status-obsessed culture. Personally, I would send my kids to school in another state just to get them somewhere that people are a bit more humble and thoughtful.

I'm not sure if Berkeley fits that description, but it's probably a healthier environment than UVA, even with the aggressively partisan political atmosphere.

You haven't spent much time in Silicon Valley, I see.

Even Silicon Valley cannot compete with NOVA in this regard. It's certainly competitive and expensive there, but it's not nearly as materialistic. It's totally socially acceptable to live in a small apartment, with no car, walk around wearing cheap clothes, etc. In NOVA, this would never fly. Part of that is the East Coast vs West Coast.

The big difference is that the DC area is full of people who mistakenly think they are awesome - bunch of poseurs. The Bay Area has legit brilliant innovators. That's why *they* aren't humble. DC is just a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia resident whose kid has gotten into UVA (honors), but also Berkeley. So is it worth it to pay twice as much to go to Berkeley instead of UVA?

Can't your kid just establish CA residency after 12 months? I did that as a grad student at UCLA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia resident whose kid has gotten into UVA (honors), but also Berkeley. So is it worth it to pay twice as much to go to Berkeley instead of UVA?

Can't your kid just establish CA residency after 12 months? I did that as a grad student at UCLA.

By the time I left Cal in 2000 (BA, 1994; PhD 2000), it was three years if you were enrolled in school. They were trying to keep people from doing that.

I went to Cal a million years ago (as you can see above), but I would still recommend it to anyone who can get in. It's where you want to be.

My degrees are in Humanities fields, and they still command respect. I have never had trouble finding work, even now as a military spouse.

It is sooooo different from UVa, though, that I would also suggest a visit. I went in 1988 to visit Stanford, Berkeley, and UCLA as a rising Junior from Alabama. Stanford was so quiet and bucolic (yawn). The minute I stepped off BART into downtown Berkeley, I knew it was where I needed to be. Had I not visited, I would have had a very different sense of where I wanted to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NOVA seems to have an unhealthy, materialistic, status-obsessed culture. Personally, I would send my kids to school in another state just to get them somewhere that people are a bit more humble and thoughtful.

I'm not sure if Berkeley fits that description, but it's probably a healthier environment than UVA, even with the aggressively partisan political atmosphere.

You haven't spent much time in Silicon Valley, I see.

Even Silicon Valley cannot compete with NOVA in this regard. It's certainly competitive and expensive there, but it's not nearly as materialistic. It's totally socially acceptable to live in a small apartment, with no car, walk around wearing cheap clothes, etc. In NOVA, this would never fly. Part of that is the East Coast vs West Coast.

The big difference is that the DC area is full of people who mistakenly think they are awesome - bunch of poseurs. The Bay Area has legit brilliant innovators. That's why *they* aren't humble. DC is just a joke.

Moved to Silicon Valley where I live now from DC. You guys don't know what you're talking about. There are wonderful people and superficial people in both areas. There are people who do genuinely valuable things and people who status shop in both areas. I don't think there is a lot more inherent value in developing the next dating app or figuring out how to "disrupt" an industry by flouting regulations than there is in working on K Street...but that's just me, I suppose.

Honestly, I appreciate a lot more people who acknowledge that they aren't saving the world with their BigLaw partnership more than the people who think that their next app is somehow going to bring about world peace. SV is fine if you want to be a technologist, but to think it's full of brilliant innovators is just a romantic fallacy. As for poseurs, at least people in DC recognize there is value to what other people do; here, not as much.

[Anonymous]

My DS is in his third year at Cal, came from a DCPS high school. The education is superb and the reputation, especially internationally, is excellent. Also, it can be hard to get classes, but not that hard to graduate in 4 years if one is strategic.

Cal is much more diverse than UVA. White kids are the third largest group after Asians (about 50%) and Latinos (about 25%), and it is a real meritocracy. Many smart kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who are the first generation to go to college. None of the "legacy" admits that you find at the top privates.

One caveat - at Cal, there is no hand-holding. So, if your DC needs more support, Cal may not be a great fit. But, if your DC is very independent and driven, it is a fantastic experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is in his third year at Cal, came from a DCPS high school. The education is superb and the reputation, especially internationally, is excellent. Also, it can be hard to get classes, but not that hard to graduate in 4 years if one is strategic.

Cal is much more diverse than UVA. White kids are the third largest group after Asians (about 50%) and Latinos (about 25%), and it is a real meritocracy. Many smart kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who are the first generation to go to college. None of the "legacy" admits that you find at the top privates.

One caveat - at Cal, there is no hand-holding. So, if your DC needs more support, Cal may not be a great fit. But, if your DC is very independent and driven, it is a fantastic experience.

How can it be a meritocracy if kids who got in (like OP's child) may not get to attend if they can't afford it? It isn't. It screens for solvency.

I found Berkley to be overwhelmingly Asian. That's a good thing as far as academic standards go, but I wouldn't call it diverse. It's different from NOVA, for sure. But that doesn't make it diverse, just different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia resident whose kid has gotten into UVA (honors), but also Berkeley. So is it worth it to pay twice as much to go to Berkeley instead of UVA?

Can't your kid just establish CA residency after 12 months? I did that as a grad student at UCLA.

Or do a gap year internship in California?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia resident whose kid has gotten into UVA (honors), but also Berkeley. So is it worth it to pay twice as much to go to Berkeley instead of UVA?

Can't your kid just establish CA residency after 12 months? I did that as a grad student at UCLA.

Or do a gap year internship in California?

Nearly impossible for anyone under 24 to establish residency for tuition purposes.

If you’re an unmarried undergraduate under the age of 24 and your parent(s) are not California residents, you must be able to document (for example, using tax returns, W-2 forms, bank statements) that you have been totally self-sufficient for two full years prior to the residence determination date, supporting yourself, for example, through jobs, financial aid, commercial/institutional loans in your name only, and documentable savings from your earnings. This also means you can't have been claimed as an income tax dependent by any individual or have accepted gifts (cash or other support) that contributed to your subsistence for two tax years immediately preceding the term.

http://ucop.edu/residency/establishing-residency.html

OP, I went to Berkeley (as a california resident). I left and transferred to a state school back east because I wanted something different. Go, visit, if you can and haven't already. Just for a day, even. It is a different world than out here. The type of student who loves Cal and the type who love UVA are not often going to be the same student.