<p>So I’ve reached a conundrum in considering what college I want to attend next fall. My main question is:</p>
<p>Do I go for the school with the highest ranking in my major?
or do I choose the one that’s overall more undergrad focused and more prestigious in general?</p>
<p>(Also, the idea of a top UC versus a private school like USC, Wellesley, etc)</p>
<p>Just for more info, the school I’ve been accepted to is Berkeley and it is one of the top 5 schools for strength in my major and department. And as for the overall more prestigious college admissions, those decisions haven’t come out yet, but since I’ve been so successful thus far in admissions I’m hoping that there might be some good news come the 30th.</p>
<p>So yes, any opinions are welcome!</p>
<p>If you go for the one with the best major what would you be left with if you changed your mind and decided on something else? Since changing ones major is so common, almost expected at some point, the odds would favor you picking the best school. However, only you know how committed you are to the specific course of study. But if there’s the slightest doubt, go for the best school.</p>
<p>Hmm, that’s an incredibly good point that I hadn’t thought of. While I think that I’m committed to what I’m going to study, I’m open to learning new things so I could see myself changing my course of study if that’s where my brain took me. Thanks for the input!</p>
<p>Berkeley is good in a lot of things, but it depends on how good each school is in both your current intended major and all of the possible alternative majors (and/or minors or other things you want to study), as well as the net cost after non-loan financial aid at each school.</p>
<p>Yeah, I was really impressed with the academic strength found at Berkeley, but I’m wary of the increasingly unreliable state funding for the UC’s. It would be a great choice, but I’m still not sure if it’s the BEST choice for me. So then my thoughts turn toward private schools… but now we’re drifting from my original question.</p>
<p>At this point in time, the ability to change my major and still have that major’s department be highly ranked would be a huge plus, but I think I may experience that at any of the universities form here on out that I’m (hopefully) accepted to.</p>
<p>At most times, a good overall ranking is followed by good specific major ranking…
However, I’ll advise you to put more weight on overall rankings as they evaluate colleges in context (as much as they can at least), which means that the environment, fanilities ect are being evaluated, which are all crucial factors in choosing a college.
Good Luck</p>
<p>Can’t go wrong with UCB</p>
<p>I’m Psychology, pre-med. </p>
<p>So far I’ve been accepted to USC, Cal, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, likely to Wellesley, wait-listed to Northwestern. I’m waiting on some of the top-fifteen-ish schools, which would be my ideal place of attendance.</p>
<p>But this is where my conundrum comes in–if I were accepted to any other schools, none of them would be higher ranked in Psych than Berkeley, but nearly all of them would be higher overall.</p>