Hello fellow parents.
I am a long time member of this forum and I still need your wisdom.
This is my #2 child. Down to three colleges.
This daughter of mine is thinking of majoring in chemistry. Not sure what will come after college, maybe MD/PhD program , Law, or something totally we are unprepared for 
She is a linguist, someone that might look for an international career.
She has visited all three schools. Has a full ride at W&L but does not want to go there - did not like the rich, privileged atmosphere. She did not feel that vibe at Vandy - maybe Ingram kids are different?
Money wise Yale will be the least expensive for the first year and the last three years about 5K more than Vandy and Berkeley.
She is taking a gap year, either in Germany or Korea.
She really liked Berkeley and Vandy, still trying to fall in love with Yale. She thinks that kids at Yale are very nerdy She is not āprestige boundā, but realizes that Yale might help her to launch international career.
All your comments are truly appreciated. Looking forward to brainstorming 
Thatās an easy, easy decision: Yale.
Pedigree matters in law, and Yale is the best pedigree. For an international career, Yale will also open doors more than the others.
(Iām a lawyer with an āinternationalā background, and unfortunately she shouldnāt get her hopes up for an exotic, foreign language-filled career if she stays in the private sector, but thatās for another day.)
Do you mean that she wants to defer enrollment in order to take a gap year (i.e. start college in fall 2016), or she is taking a gap year now (i.e. start college in fall 2015)?
Find out from each school whether they allow admitted students to defer enrollment. This old thread http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/907586-defer-enrollment.html indicates that (at the time) deferring enrollment at Berkeley was not commonly allowed.
Happy Alumnus - why? Please elaborateā¦
HappyAlumnus started this thread http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1754803-skip-an-elite-school-and-doors-will-close-p1.html where you can read about his/her opinions about how school prestige is the most important aspect in choosing a college. Of course, law school prestige is highly important in law employment, but the effect of undergraduate school prestige on employment at the bachelorās degree level has a lot more āit dependsā than law school prestige effect on law employment.
Yes, I will freely admit that prestige to me is extremely important in picking a collegeābut prestige is very relevant in certain fields, particularly for law (which is my career) and for international careers (which Iāve had). Iāve worked overseas, and having a known school on a resume will open doors. People abroad have probably heard of Berkeley, but Yale trumps them all.
@ucbalumnus, undergraduate prestige (not just law school prestige) also matters a lot in law firm hiring, particularly in on-campus recruiting in law schools and but also for jobs at least in the first few years out of law school. Itās not just where you go to law school that matters for someone in the legal field. You can find various studies of this online. Ask my co-workers, who will overlook a poorly-ranked law school if the candidate went to a highly-ranked undergraduate school.
@Kelowna, in my personal experience, having attended a school ranked about at the Berkeley/Vanderbilt level for undergrad and then one ranked around the Yale level (but not Yale) for law school, thereās a world of difference in terms of outcomes and alumni networks, particularly for the careers that are described in your post, except medical school, where I understand, without any first-hand knowledge, that undergrad school shouldnāt matter. (Similarly, if the goal were to be a programmer in a tech company or various other careers, it wouldnāt matter.) Pick Yale.
I beg to differ with HappyAlumnus. I am a lawyer, and I do not believe that your undergraduate school is nearly as important as the law school (and the education you get there). For the kids who are not top 10% of their class in law school, moreover, and with the current glut of new lawyers, practical experience, either through clinics, internships, or jobs, has become even more important for the studentās law career. But the poster is talking about his/her childās undergraduate education. I would suggest that the best place for the daughter is the one that feels like the right fit AND is affordable. Prestige is the last factor to consider.
Yale. Cheaper first year. Apply for Goldwater scholarship if stays in chemistry, 7500 dollars for two years, which will cover the total of 15K difference for the last 3 years.
Berkeley has cut back on classes, many ? most taking 5 years to get requirements done.
But Berkeley Scholars have no problem signing for classes, they have the first choice (or whatever they call it). So absolutely no problem in graduating in 4 years for them.
UCBAlumnus - she is going to take a gap year between HS and college, so she will be the class of 2020. I am at least sure of that
2prepMom - I will definitely google Goldwater, but do you have any more personal info?
the UCās generally donāt allow gap years, so unless you get it in writing, AND an extension of the Regentās, Cal is out.
Choose between Vandy and Yale on which she likes better. I do agree that pedigree is HUGE in the international arena, so that would lean towards Y. But as long as she gets into HLS (or better), the pedigree is taken care of, so even if Vandy is unknown in places ā not saying that it is ā Harvard Law is not.
Or view another way: Vandy undergrad and Yale Law will go anywhere in the legal world, but Yale undergrad and Vandy Law will have significant limitations.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/miscellaneous/#11
People always say this here, but four year graduation rates at Berkeley and other UCs have been rising (probably due to rising admission selectivity). Berkeley and UCLA are now in the 73-74% range for four year graduation (and UCLA reports an 81% 12-quarter graduation rate, indicate that some of the ālateā graduates just took some time off school rather than needing extra terms of school).
http://opa.berkeley.edu/campus-data/berkeley-data-visualizations/undergraduate-graduation-rates
But, yes, it may be unlikely to get a deferred enrollment at Berkeley.
Really? They do not like the gap year at UC Berkeley?
Then she is down to twoā¦
Just chiming in to agree with ucbalumnus it is quite easy to get out of Berkeley in 4 years and quite a few kids I have known from our Southern California high school have actually gotten out in 3 years. My son is finishing up his 2nd year at Berkeley and only needs 8 classes to graduate with a major in economics and a minor in Public Policy. He could graduate early but wonāt because he is having a great time. Along those lines my daughter graduated from San Diego State in 4 years despite changing her major three times, and my older son graduated easily in 4 years (as did all his roommates) from UCLA.
Berkeley does NOT allow you to hold over an acceptance during a gap year. Use it or lose it.
@Suzanne34, I also ādo not believe that your undergraduate school is nearly as important as the law schoolā, so I donāt see why you need to ābeg to differā.
Itās a verifiable fact that prestige of oneās undergraduate school counts in law firm hiring; when I was in law school, a study came out showing that that criterion was the second most important one after law school grades, among students at my law school. There are more current studies showing similar facts now.
Itās my co-workers, not me, who showed a willingness to overlook a new hireās law school (ranked maybe #100 or so at best) because the person went to HYPS for undergraduate and claimed a full scholarship at that law school. My co-workers insisted that he must be really sharp. I figured that his HYPS degree must be a fluke, but who knows.
The kids Iāve known who went to Yale are the most laid-back non-nerdy kids you can imagine. Iād lean towards Yale because I really believe in the value of the residential college system. My younger son (who went to Tufts) after a visit with his best friend who was there, said he was really jealous (in a good way) and regretted not working a little harder in college so heād have had a chance of getting in!
True. In addition to law, Wall Street and the government are also prestige hogs.