My son is trying to decide between UC Berkeley, Colgate and Wake Forest. These schools are all so different with very different sets of pros/cons and he is not sure which is best for him. He is really struggling with the decision. Any thoughts on these schools and the student experience at each of them?
What are his likes/dislikes about each? Shall we assume you are taking cost out of the equation?
Student preferences, net prices, student intended or possible majors and future goals?
Hi - thanks for responding! Yes at this moment we are removing cost although for us, UCB is definitely the best value as we live in CA. I think he likes the fact that Wake and Colgate are away from home (UCB is only 30 min away), but Colgate may be too remote and too cold in the winter. It seems that Berkeley and Colgate are more highly selective but that is just one thing to consider in a long list. He likes nature and is an outdoors person. He likes creating and playing music (piano/guitar) and would like a scene where he can play in a college band - he may decide to minor in music. He is an avid fly fisherman. He is interested in innovation/entrepreneurship, economics, neurology/psychology, data science/statistics…so he really doesn’t know what he is going to major in yet. Such a tough decision and 2 weeks left! He has been to Wake and Berkeley and we are visiting Colgate soon. Thanks for any thoughts!
Hi - thanks for responding! Yes at this moment we are removing cost although for us, UCB is definitely the best value as we live in CA. I think he likes the fact that Wake and Colgate are away from home (UCB is only 30 min away), but Colgate may be too remote and too cold in the winter. It seems that Berkeley and Colgate are more highly selective but that is just one thing to consider in a long list. He likes nature and is an outdoors person. He likes creating and playing music (piano/guitar) and would like a scene where he can play in a college band - he may decide to minor in music. He is an avid fly fisherman. He is interested in innovation/entrepreneurship, economics, neurology/psychology, data science/statistics…so he really doesn’t know what he is going to major in yet. Such a tough decision and 2 weeks left! He has been to Wake and Berkeley and we are visiting Colgate soon. Thanks for any thoughts!
Big? Small? Political concerns (don’t talk politics here- just yes/no)
I think he probably likes medium size best, so Wake is likely best on that, but that is not the most important factor for him. I don’t think political concerns factor much for him.
At UCB, economics and statistics are not capacity-limited high demand majors, while psychology and data science are capacity-limited high demand majors. This means that there are criteria beyond passing the prerequisite courses with C grades to declare the major, if the student did not list the major when applying.
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No need to factor in selectivity. It’s irrelevant once you are at school.
If Colgate is too remote cold and not the best for fishing, remove it.
In fact don’t look at all three. Choose two and compare - see if you can eliminate on that way - then you’re down to two.
UCB is huge; Wake in the middle but still in a big time conference for sports (ACC) and Colgate is the biggest outlier by far.
Wake has a B School too - so might sit better than Colgate for entrepreneurship - might.
Fishing and more - I’d eliminate Colgate…just based on your words.
And again, selectivity - zero impact on a decision. Many kids choose safeties over reaches (both mine did) - and you don’t have a safety on your list. All three are selective.
Good luck.
Center for Entrepreneurship - Center for Entrepreneurship (wfu.edu)
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All three are now safeties if they gave admission with affordability, even though they were not safeties when applying.
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Double Wake dad here. There’s great fly fishing in North Carolina within an hour of campus. Hanging Rock and Pilot Mountain state parks are 30 minutes from campus and are very popular with students. Wake’s marching band is pretty small, but good. DS’s fraternity has a rock band most years that plays at Campus Gas and other parties, so lots of demand for that. DD had a similar situation to your son, decided between Smith College and Wake Forest on the last day. She just about drove her mom nuts over the decision. Go figure.
He has three great choices. Congrats on the great acceptances. Best of luck!
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Wake has a heavy Greek presence, so if that doesn’t appeal to him…
If that is your real name, you might consider changing it to something more anonymous.
I believe an opinion was being expressed that this group of schools is absent of qualitative safeties.
Thanks so much to all those who responded for all these thoughts and considerations. I waffle on a daily basis on which school might be right for him. I just hope he feels confident in two weeks and has some well thought out reasons. Please let me know if you can think of any other considerations or pros/cons regarding these three choices! Thank you!
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I am pro Wake for your son! Mine is going and NC has best weather for his EC interests and love that you don’t have to choose your major until Soph year. The only major you have to apply for is business but everything else open! I do not understand why that option isn’t valued more!
My son is not keen on fraternities but know a similar quiet kid who is in one that doesn’t haze. S planning to study engineering.
I am UCB grad (business major) which was great once I got in but torture until then. Housing was and expensive and that was in 1992-1996 … at Wake, you can live all 4 years on campus or easy to find outside housing … it’s expensive for sure but we live In NC and everyone says I’ve never heard a bad thing about Wake, ps friend who Duke grad told me that 1 son went to Duke and 1 to Wake and Wake 
better experience bc they care about UG students.
DM if you want discuss further …
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