Help me better understand Southern Cal universities & colleges
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
Why, why would anyone choose to pay that OOS?? |
Anonymous
Irvine is over $81K for OOS; I don’t think that includes airfare, etc. https://www.admissions.uci.edu/afford/index.php These all seem to be trending a lot closer to $85K than some of the other numbers in this thread. |
Anonymous
If your kid is interested in film, then USC should be on the list, but there is a reason why its nickname is the Univ. of Spoiled Children. For an intellectually curious student, UCLA, Pomona, Harvey Mudd (if a science major) and Scripps (if female) should get a closer look. |
Anonymous
Here’s one reason: If a prospective applicant takes a holistic approach to planning their future and considers an institution’s academic reputation (in the U.S. and globally), its excellence across a very broad range of programs, its grad. school and professional outcomes, its diverse social opportunities, and its overall quality of life, there are less than 20 other colleges or universities on the planet that can compete with the likes of UCLA or UC Berkeley. |
Anonymous
| *fewer than |
Anonymous
|
UC out of state costs generally average at $65k
tuition circa $45k boarding circa $20k depending on location (it can be cheaper) |
Anonymous
We’re paying far less for Berkeley, since we’re in-state, but there are far more than 20 other schools where our kid would have thrived, and where she would have had a richer academic and social experience. It was the right choice for us because we’re a donut hole family and she wanted to stay in California. But after seeing her experience there, our younger two didn’t even apply to Berkeley, and they had better academic records in high school than she did. By all means, your kid should apply if they would like to and you have the money for it. It has a lot going for it and every time I’m on campus it just “feels” like college. My younger kids have several friends (both in-state and OOS) who will be starting there this fall, and I’m sure they’ll all have great experiences. But recognize that there are tradeoffs to every school, that Berkeley and UCLA are no different in that regard, and that the cons will outweigh the pros for a lot of students, especially when factoring in the costs. And there are many more than 20 schools out there where your kid can absolutely thrive. |
Anonymous
Can you link to a single UC’s COA page where it’s that low? I’m not seeing $65K anywhere for UCs, and the links earlier in this thread don’t bear that out at all. Riverside is $78K https://financialaid.ucr.edu/cost Merced is $84K https://financialaid.ucmerced.edu/cost-attendance |
Anonymous
Because it is the best option among the acceptances. |
Anonymous
That is a different test, though. Are there at least 20 other institutions that can provide an applicant with a wonderful, enriching, fulfilling undergraduate experience. Of course. But are there more than a few handfuls that can deliver the overall experience that UCLA or Berkeley can? No. |
Anonymous
| I'd absolutely want my kids to consider Berkeley for grad school. For undergraduate though? No thanks! |
Anonymous
I'm PP. It's precisely "the overall experience" at Berkeley that my oldest had that my younger two wanted to avoid. It's a machine, and it does what machines do. Like the poster directly above me noted, Berkeley — as with many of the schools on the US News list — is a phenomenal grad school. For undergrad, though — and especially for the OOS cost — there are many others that will give a better "overall" experience. Like I said earlier, if you have the money and the interest, great. But don't put it on a pedestal and think it's some magical place where all undergrads have access to research, or that undergrad teaching is a priority, or that undergrads have reasonable access to housing, etc. etc. It's a good school. But, again, it's a machine. |
Anonymous
This really depends on your DC's talent and drive. DS goes to Berkeley and got research as a first year by a professor who saw his talents. He's in three different clubs, one building a product for tech firms, and the others do consulting work with industry partners. This summer he is working at Mount Sinai in a professor's friend's lab. When he returns in the fall, he's expecting to write a first author publication. This was all due to being at Berkeley and meeting the right people. |
Anonymous
PP again. Congrats to your son. In a way, I agree with you, but I think reducing this to "talent and drive" is a bit disingenuous, when the thrust of this conversation is "the uniqueness of Berkeley/UCLA/some 18 other schools" at providing some "overall experience" — specifically, to quote the argument I disagree with from above, "are there more than a few handfuls that can deliver the overall experience that UCLA or Berkeley can? No." My daughter's had a ton of really great experiences as well — she's the editor of an undergraduate publication, has taken grad-level seminars as an undergrad, won an international travel / research scholarship, has taught several sections of undergrad classes, supervised an undergraduate research group, has had an on-campus job, has had internships (both in-semester and over the summer), yadda yadda. But, again, the core point of this part of the conversation is "is there some small fraction of undergrad schools (and, specifically, Berkeley/UCLA, from OOS) where the "overall experience" is somehow magically better than what it would be at other undergrad schools, and, again, specifically, is that experience so great that it warrants paying OOS rates? For some, sure. Maybe there are a bunch of people whose talents unlock at a UCLA/Berkeley in some way that they wouldn't at other schools. But I disagree with the PP's argument that the "overall experience" is somehow unattainable unless a student attends one of 20 schools. And this gets us back to where I agree with you — good students will bloom where they're planted. And if that's someone's in-state school, or some small CTCL school that threw money at them to attend, or a school where need-based aid opened a door, I don't think the fact that they aren't paying OOS rates to Cal (or full-freight at one of the other 20 schools the earlier posted mentioned) will hold them back. |
Anonymous
It’s sad to me, but the description you provide suggests that you view college principally as a training ground, a place to rack up accomplishments. If I wanted college for my child to be mostly about training for a career, I’d be depressed. |