UC Berkeley vs Amherst

Midwestmomofboys
Tue, 13 May 2014 13:21:14 +0000

Parent here – as some other posters have said, you are comparing two schools which are at the very top of their own pyramid. Many people consider Berkeley to be the top public university in the country (you can argue about whether Michigan is also the top or not), and Amherst is (along with Williams and some will say Swarthmore) the top LAC.

My husband and I both attended LACs and we have a kid at an excellent public flagship. The experiences are entirely different. We had small classes, small departments, and sometimes, due to faculty being on leave etc., only a few choices for classes in specific departments. Professors knew us, we took classes over and over again from the same core faculty in different departments. We wrote a lot of papers.

For our kid, he had big intro classes, TAs leading discussion sections (who are Ph.D. candidates in their department), and an absolute wealth of choices for classes. Looking at his course list for the next semester is jaw-dropping. There must be 30 or more upper level classes offered in his major each semester. Personality-wise, it takes a different kind of person to thrive in that environment. He likes the option of being able to disappear into anonymity sometimes, and does not want to be “on” in every single class every day. At the same time, he has had options in his first two years to participate in field work with his professor, and has had meetings with professors in his major where they are excited about his work and eager to bring him into their area of interest. (He is a Humanities/Social Science major, not science/STEM).

I really don’t think you can say one experience is “better” than the other. They are entirely different. My kid was fine visiting the small LACs, but when he stepped onto campus at his school, he knew “this was it.” I don’t think this is a decision made by weighing pros and cons. With that being said, instate tuition at Berkeley is a great opportunity, plus you get to live in the Bay area. After the winter we had this year, the option to skip snow is really appealing . . . .

To the OP: what do you love, where did you feel “this is it.”
Good luck with your decision, there is no right or wrong here.