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?

Honestly, yes. UVA is homogenized and your kid will know 100s of students there already. Berkeley is unique, world famous, a new beginning, everything college is supposed to be.

Complete with hoods and protests. Everything I ever wanted. ?

Yes, and non violent too. Oh, wait.....

Anonymous wrote:YES!! Amazing school with fantastic reputation and wonderful diversity. Congratulations to your kid!!!

+1

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?

Honestly, yes. UVA is homogenized and your kid will know 100s of students there already. Berkeley is unique, world famous, a new beginning, everything college is supposed to be.

Complete with hoods and protests. Everything I ever wanted. ?

Anonymous wrote:Berkeley is a far more interesting experience. We tuck away a lot in the college fund to give our kids the chance to go out of state. I loved college but still think about how exciting it would have been to go to a totally new place across the country. We will nudge our kids to get out of Virginia.

Us, too. None of us really love Virginia. We are willing to pay to send our child to a place we think is a better fit.

OP, congrats to your daughter.

If you can afford it, yes. If she has to borrow it all, no.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it causes financial hardship, then no.

Even if it causes financial hardship, then yes. Some things are worth the sacrifice. And my kid's education is one of them. If your kid was from Indiana deciding between these two schools and UVA was much cheaper, I might consider UVA. But for a kid from Virginia? UC Berkeley for sure.

Not Cal. Stanford, maybe (depends on magnitude of hardship and the kid), but not Cal.

If the alternative were a much lower ranked state school or coming from a much less diverse area than DC-area, maybe.

I'm saying this as a Stanford alum from Michigan who actually would, at the time, have preferred to go to Berkeley. My dad was adamant that he would not pay out-of-state tuition for a public school when we had the option of in-state tuition at UofM. At the time, Berkeley was still better ranked than UofM, but in retrospect he was absolutely right. Depending on the major and your kid, there is a very high probability that you will be paying for five years of tuition at Berkeley, given some of the vagaries of how difficult it is to get into classes. And while many schools offer excellent education, there are non-educational benefits to the elite privates that even the highest ranked publics don't offer.

If money is no object, send your kid wherever you think they will thrive. If it is not, like my dad I would not endure financial hardship or even financial inconvenience to pay out-of-state tuition at a public school if I had UVa as an option.

Berkeley is a far more interesting experience. We tuck away a lot in the college fund to give our kids the chance to go out of state. I loved college but still think about how exciting it would have been to go to a totally new place across the country. We will nudge our kids to get out of Virginia.

Anonymous wrote:It looks like OOS tuition at Berkeley is around $40K/year. Maybe you can afford that, but I would balk. Berkeley's reputation comes primarily from its grad programs. You can get the equivalent undergrad education somewhere else for much less.

If you can get into Berkeley and UVA, you can probably get into another good school for free, or with a significant scholarship.

If you plan to live overseas, it might be worth the extra money for Berkeley. It's one of the handful of non-Ivy's that are internationally famous.

Whatever it's worth, this is true. I grew up in a different country and along with Harvard, Yale, Caltech, and MIT, everyone knew about Berkeley. It gets a lot more respect internationally than here in US.

It looks like OOS tuition at Berkeley is around $40K/year. Maybe you can afford that, but I would balk. Berkeley's reputation comes primarily from its grad programs. You can get the equivalent undergrad education somewhere else for much less.

If you can get into Berkeley and UVA, you can probably get into another good school for free, or with a significant scholarship.

If you plan to live overseas, it might be worth the extra money for Berkeley. It's one of the handful of non-Ivy's that are internationally famous.

For anything other than eecs, no

Anonymous wrote:It depends on your kid, OP. Going away to college is huge for some kids. Many cannot handle the pressures of living away from home for the first time. So, take that into consideration. It is a lot easier to see mom and dad when you are at UVA than on the west coast.

Secondly, what does your son plan to major in? I think that is a really important consideration. Does one school have a better program than the other?

They are both good schools. I am not someone who believes that a “prestigious” university makes any difference with most job prospects. Most employers will not care whether your kid graduated from Berkley or from UVA.

For our family - no way would I go into debt to send my kid to Berkley.

Wrong.

It depends on your kid, OP. Going away to college is huge for some kids. Many cannot handle the pressures of living away from home for the first time. So, take that into consideration. It is a lot easier to see mom and dad when you are at UVA than on the west coast.

Secondly, what does your son plan to major in? I think that is a really important consideration. Does one school have a better program than the other?

They are both good schools. I am not someone who believes that a “prestigious” university makes any difference with most job prospects. Most employers will not care whether your kid graduated from Berkley or from UVA.

For our family - no way would I go into debt to send my kid to Berkley.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it causes financial hardship, then no.

Even if it causes financial hardship, then yes. Some things are worth the sacrifice. And my kid's education is one of them. If your kid was from Indiana deciding between these two schools and UVA was much cheaper, I might consider UVA. But for a kid from Virginia? UC Berkeley for sure.

huh? that makes no sense. why is UVA better for a kid from Indiana than Virginia?

Distance from home. Having few, if any, high school classmates attending the same university, experiencing a different region of the country...

those things are not worth "financial hardship."

Yes, they are worth the financial hardship to me. Different strokes...

what's your definition of financial hardship?

Berkeley is an international brand. UVA, on the other hand, is very LOCAL at best.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it causes financial hardship, then no.

Even if it causes financial hardship, then yes. Some things are worth the sacrifice. And my kid's education is one of them. If your kid was from Indiana deciding between these two schools and UVA was much cheaper, I might consider UVA. But for a kid from Virginia? UC Berkeley for sure.

Depends on the area of study. Forbes ranked UVA higher than Berkeley in 2016, UVA at 36 and Berkeley at 40, on US top college list. Not saying Forbes is the only ranking to go by, but I think Berkeley is living off laurels of the past.

Look a how many CURRENT Nobel Laureates are at each school. Does UVA any? I went to Berkeley and there is value in the name. Wherever in the world I wear my Cal gear I hear, "Go Bears!" when I walk by.

You are an adult still wearing your college name/emblem? I don't care where you went--this is pitiful.

Agreed - this poster is giving Berkeley a bad name.

that wasn't PP's point but given you probably went to UVa, it's understandable.