Thank you for this advice. I think the prestige is getting to me but if I don’t end up liking Berkeley when I visit I think I’ll feel okay turning it down. I’m still not totally sure but your replies have definitely helped put things in perspective, so thank you!
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That means:
- UCB average price housing: $22k net price means $7k student work earnings and loans
- UCB BSC co-ops: $12k net price means no need for loans or work earnings
- UCSB average price housing: $24k net price means $9k student work earnings and loans
- UCSB SBSHC: $20k??? net price means $5k??? student work earnings or loans
If you have work-study, that means that you get preferential hiring for work-study eligible jobs (on-campus and perhaps some non-profits), but typically only to the amount of work-study (work-study subsidizes the amount the employer pays you, so they will prefer to hire you over a non-work-study student, but let you work only up to your amount of work-study).
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You don’t have to worry about the relative rankings of the history departments at these three schools. All of these departments have rock-star scholars (those are the only scholars who can get jobs at places like these). So for history, you might want to look at the faculty and see if there are any concentrations of specialties that interest you – but honestly, as an incoming undergraduate, you might not want to do that at all. Your interests will develop over time, and it might turn out that you end up focusing on a different field of history than you’d anticipated – or you might end up choosing a different major altogether. So focus instead on anything special about the undergrad program (opportunities for research, internships, etc.) and the overall fit of the university. It sounds like UCSB has offered a deal that would be very difficult to turn down!
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This is such awesome advice!! It makes me feel a lot better about choosing UCSB. Thank you so much!
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Congratulations, and good luck!
I will provide a different view - what do you want to do after you graduate?
For most careers, I would say go with your heart to UCSB, unless those $8,000 is a financial burden. However, if you are thinking of grad school, prestige matters, and a degree from Berkeley will make it easier to be accepted to a grad school. Berkeley has an international reputation in history, while the other two do not.
Congratulations, and good luck!
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Depends on what they want to study in grad school. For some things, it may. For others, like business or law, it won’t. IMHO of course.
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Have you decided on UCSB?
Honestly, I disagree – not about the international reputation (you’re right about that), but about getting into grad school. All of these schools could position this student to get into a good grad program in the fields they are considering (teaching, public history, archival work, public service, law, or related fields). If they’re applying to grad school internationally, my answer would be different, but what will really matter is what they choose to do with their time in college. It’s not that prestige doesn’t matter at all, but I don’t think the difference is big enough to outweigh other factors. This is especially true if the student decides to stay in California, but even if they don’t, any of these schools will position them well if they take advantage of the opportunities available.
A prestigious scholarship at UCSB looks great and might free this student up to do more interesting things with their time. If they do end up applying to grad programs in history or history-adjacent fields (museum studies, library science), then the faculty in those prospective programs will know that the undergrad history department was outstanding (whether it’s UCD, UCB, or UCSB). I think the biggest priority is to choose someplace where the student will thrive.
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Good comments on this thread. The key factor is the collaborative-competitive continuum. If you don’t mind stress, Berkeley is the place. Conversely, it is hard to beat UCSB for excellent students/faculty and the most relaxed setting possible. Advantage UCSB. ‘90 Math, UCSB
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You make good points, and I was thinking more along the lines of “PhD”. You are correct that for law and careers that require a masters degree, it matters far less.
My point stands for a Ph.D., too. Because the people who really decide Ph.D. admissions are the faculty in the departments (more so than the general admissions staff in the grad schools). So someone from a history department at another university will know that some of the absolute top US historians anywhere are at UC Davis, and those recommendation letters carry a lot of weight (to take just one example from my own field – the same could be said of the UCSB history dept.). But the student said they have no intention of going on to a Ph.D. in history, so I didn’t dwell on this piece of it.
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Aren’t you a history professor?
Yes.
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Whether prestige (of the specific department, not the school overall) matters for PhD program admissions likely depends a lot on the specific subject, and is probably more specific to whether the PhD program sees those graduating with BA/BS from that specific department as being suitable PhD students based on past experience.
I’m still going to visit Berkeley but I will most likely being going to UCSB! I feel like it will provide me with the best balance of academics and social life.
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Hi, thank you so much for your perspective! I’m probably not going to go for a PhD and would be fine going to a less competitive master’s program as well if I couldn’t get into a more highly ranked one. The international recognition you mentioned with Berkeley is definitely a perk, but as of right now I’m planning to stay in California and do pretty local and mundane jobs lol so hopefully it doesn’t matter too much!
So go to UCSB, and enjoy the beach, as is appropriate for a sea turtle! I am certain that you will do very well there.
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Haha thank you so much!!!
UCSB sounds like the perfect choice for you 
. It’s a UC, so it’s excellent, and as a bonus you like the environment 
Congratulations 
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