How much debt is Berkeley worth to you?

woolybugger51
Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:44:25 +0000

Of course it’s all a matter of personal opinion, but your experience at a given school (or anywhere, for that matter) is more a function of what you do to make that experience a fulfilling one, not so much a function of the school itself. You can always apply to Berkeley for grad school (which is extremely strong in EECS anyway) if you want the Berkeley experience and/or letterhead on your diploma.

Berkeley undergrad EECS is indeed world renowned, and I had a roommate in undergrad who loved the department, had great research and academic opportunities, took advantage of them, and is now in a PhD program at MIT, but I also knew other students in the department who struggled just to pass classes, felt lost, and didn’t enjoy their time at Cal at all.

So if I were you, I’d take the option with less undergrad debt. But again, it’s a matter of personal opinion. I did choose to go to Berkeley over a less expensive (for me) and less prestigious school (Davis) and haven’t regretted the choice for a second, but the difference in cost wasn’t nearly as high as $90,000. Lots of things you can do with that much money…