I got admitted to both Berkeley and UIUC and they’re the main two schools I’m debating between. Here’s some of the points I was considering:
I’m a California Resident (1 hour away from Berkeley, no culture shock other than the competitiveness; Cal would be a lot more convenient)
UCB would be ~ $75k cheaper than UIUC (not including plane tickets / transportation fees), but fortunately fees aren’t too much of an issue [still a point for the argument though]
I’m not entirely sure what I want to study (hence the Undeclared), but I know it’s something STEM related.
I almost certainly wouldn’t have been admitted to UCB Engineering/CCDS, as my interest started late. Also, my parents really want me to go the CS/DS pathway, and I thankfully have a good network in the field already.
At Cal, I’d probably try to declare Data Science (which will be in the new College of Computing, Data Science, and Society, NOT in L&S anymore) with a minor in Psych or Econ.
The fact that there’s a new school opening in the 2025 - 26 school year for the expansion of CS/DS gives me a little hope that there’ll be more spots available for strays like me.
The main thing holding me back from Berkeley is the possibility of me not being able to declare a STEM related major since I’d be placed in L&S my first year. Everyone in L&S is technically ‘Undeclared’ their first year, though. I’d have to switch colleges within UCB, which I hear may be very difficult.
At UIUC, the CS + X program seems to have great career pipelines, and I know the university is very well regarded for Computer Science. The main argument for Urbana-Champaign is that I’d be enrolled in CS without ever having to deal with the possibility of not being in STEM: there would be security.
I’d appreciate any insight, especially on what it’s like to be Undeclared / declaring impacted majors. Thank you in advance!
I think you hit the nail on the head - an assurance vs. not.
So how important is the $75K?
One thing I didn’t like that you said was “my parents really want me to go the CS/DS pathway”.
It’s not their life - it’s yours - and at 17, you don’t know what you want as you said - and that’s a good thing. It gives you a chance to explore.
In the end, it’s easier to start in the harder to get major and if you decide to pivot, and say, for example, go to math - then you can.
But not so easy as you note to go the other way.
UIUC is far and not the easiest to get to - although you can fly there. The weather will be different and the campus will be different - have you visited?
It’s really a tradeoff - savings and convenience - but a very real possibility that you can’t study exactly what you want - although you can certainly find something quant and STEM heavy at UCB.
In the end, I hope you study what you decide you want to study and not what others want.
As for what you should do - only you can decide. I’d go UIUC - but that’s because i’m risk averse and to me, attending a school without the assurance of studying what you want is a wasted opportunity. But I’m not you.
L&S includes lots of science majors plus math, so there are STEM majors there (where the criteria to declare is typically completion of prerequisites with C grades and/or 2.0 GPA). However, CS, DS, and statistics are in CCDSS, so you would have to go through comprehensive review to major in those (though probably statistics is less difficult to get into, or take upper level courses as a non-major, than CS or DS).
What majors are you (as opposed to your parents) interested in?
There are plenty of STEM majors you could get into at Berkeley pretty easily - Math, Applied Math et al.
But if you want to have access to CS/DS courses its going to be pretty tough.
One trick you could use is to enroll in the CS/DS courses during the summer sessions when there are no enrollment restrictions - and it will be significantly cheaper than paying $75k extra at UIUC.