Hi everyone, so I’ve gotten all my college acceptances and these are my top three right now! I’ve laid out my pros and cons but honestly there are amazing things about all three so I honestly have no idea where I want to go and I’m afraid I’ll feel like I’m missing out on the other two when I end up deciding.
Also for reference I’m gonna major in history and I’m not gonna go into academia. Idk what I wanna do exactly; I might end up teaching high school or maybe trying to work in a museum or library/archive or do government work or even go to law school so I’m not sure how much the prestige matters.
UC Berkeley:
$22k/year
Most prestigious option
Close to home
I feel like I would like the shops and restaurants and arts culture in Berkeley + I could easily go to SF and other parts of the Bay Area.
More history-related opportunities, research, etc.
Most diverse option + liberal culture, which I like
The culture is not going to be as relaxed as UCSB or UCD, people are going to be focused on their studies which is kind of a pro but it might be harder to make friends.
Cold/rainy weather!!! (not a pro for me)
Worried about finding affordable housing in a safe area
Hard to get classes (this is probably going to a problem anywhere though)
UCSB:
$24k/year
Regents Scholar - I get guaranteed housing all four years and having access to the on-campus apartments could cut costs for me
It’s by the beach! I visited campus over Spring Break so it was kind of empty but it was just so beautiful and I feel like that’s why it’s so hard for me to cross it off my list.
I was planning on going here for a while before getting into Berkeley so I’m kind of attached to it for that reason too
The culture seems very laidback, there’s good social life and it seems like a really balanced and classic college experience.
It’s obviously not as prestigious as Berkeley and the history program/university in general is the lowest ranked out of the three schools; it’s still fairly high though so idk lol
UC Davis:
$27k/year (most expensive option)
Close to home
I’m familiar with the Sacramento area and enjoy it
I like the culture (liberal, seems very friendly and warm)
I honestly feel like Davis is such a good school and there aren’t even any cons besides having less prestige than Berkeley, not being by the beach, and being the most expensive, but I could hopefully cut costs by living in an apartment after freshman year
I really don’t know what to do because I like all of my options a lot! I’m going to Aggie Day and Cal Day so hopefully that’ll help me decide, but I would appreciate any insight or things I should know about any of these schools (especially culture-wise). I’m going to have to take out loans wherever I go but I would like to minimize the costs as much as possible since I’m probably not going into a very lucrative career; other than that there aren’t any obvious factors pointing to one school. Thank you for your help!
Regent Scholar is prestigious and gets you access to additional opportunities. The housing perk is a huge consideration, not only guaranteed for four years but also priority consideration for room type and building.
UCB is a very difficult place to find affordable housing and the vibe is substantially different than UCD or UCSB. You mentioned your positive impression of the social life and balance at UCSB. Sounds like an easy choice.
Seems like if you have affordability problems, choose UCB for the lowest cost, and get on the first come first served wait-list for the Berkeley Student Cooperative housing ( https://BSC.coop ), which costs considerably less than the housing cost estimate in the financial aid budget.
The co-ops look awesome, ty for the info! The cost is definitely an important factor; I’d be willing to take out ~20k in loans but it looks like the co-ops would help cut down on that for sure.
I know, the draw of the beach is real! It’s almost like I’m leaning equally toward all the schools but for different reasons and it’s making it really hard to choose. UCSB is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
My daughter is finishing up her first year at Cal and LOVES it! She has no problem securing housing for next year. If you can afford the dorms, there’s a plethora of furnished apartments at similar cost quite close to school. If your housing budget is strained after your first year—there are coops (sign up EARLY—like September of 2025 for August of 2026) which are cheap! There are also many houses close to school that rent rooms.
She was offered a dorm again for a sophomore year, but she and a friend decided to rent an apartment instead. We just signed a lease for less than the cost of her dorm.
Oh yeah I meant $20k total! Rn it’s looking like Davis might be out of the picture bc of the cost but I should be able to keep the loans under $20k at UCSB or Berkeley, now it’s mostly down to prestige and which one I would enjoy more and I know for sure I would like UCSB but I’m hearing mixed things about Berkeley.
That’s really good to hear and I’m glad your daughter is having such a great experience! This definitely alleviates some of the housing concerns for me, so thank you!!
You’re right, it’s kind of hard to determine how much prestige matters because I don’t know exactly what I want to do, but if I do end up in a field where it doesn’t matter then I’ll probably regret going to UCB over UCSB because in the end I feel like I do like UCSB more and would probably be happier there.
The BSC co-ops (https://bsc.coop) are about $10k cheaper than the UCB off campus room and board budget used for financial aid calculations ($9k versus $19k).
The SBSHC co-ops (https://www.sbcoop.org) are cheaper than the UCSB off campus room and board budget used for financial aid calculations. However, it is not clear how much cheaper, since they apparently offer room-only for about $9k, with shared meals and their costs apparently up to each house, while UCSB’s off campus room and board budget is abot $17k. So the savings off the nominal budget will be significantly less than the savings at UCB.
My family can contribute about $15k per year but the co-ops seem like a ridiculously good deal and if I could get in it would probably mean a debt-free education at a top-tier school, which is extremely tempting. I think I would still be able to afford UCSB without taking out too much in loans, but you’re right, if I got into the co-ops at Berkeley that would be much cheaper.