Our friends had kids with one at UChicago and the other at a state flagship. At the state flagship if kids got an internship it was entirely their own doing. At UChicago the careers services followed up until you found something for the summer, and for the few who didn’t get something on their own, we were told the college would ensure you found something to do (on campus job, study abroad program etc, with funding provided if necessary).
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That’s not my experience. It’s hard to believe the career center could do that for 7,000 undergrads (nor has anyone I know who has gone there or worked there mentioned that.)
Big picture, all students I’ve known have had to hustle for internships outside their school (not talking about study abroad, or on campus jobs), regardless their year of college and regardless the type of school they attend, from highly rejective LAC and unis to large publics and everything in between. I do agree the more wealthy schools tend to have more resources for students.
Except right before and after a test… 
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Or bunch of premed trying to brown nose some world famous professor hoping for a letter down the road
There is very little academic reason to take UChicago over Cal in Astrophysics other than for a specialized area of interest. That is mainly a consideration for graduate study. Given the costs involved, I would say that you should go to Cal.
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If cost isn’t a deciding factor for you, I’d take the guaranteed transfer to UChicago. There are many advantages to getting your education at a private institution. I’m saying this having done much of my schooling at public institutions up to undergraduate.
- Most of my classes at UChicago were exceedingly small. I had a science class where I was the ONLY student. I had a language class where I was one of four students. Having had only gone to public schools, I only came to recognize the advantages of going to a private school until I attended one.
- I did top-notch undergraduate research at UChicago, which resulted in four papers on peer-reviewed journals (one of which was first author) before I even graduated. My supervisor was kind enough to include my name on a patent he/she filed. My story is the norm rather than the exception at UChicago. I was surrounded by peers who were prolific in their undergrad research and got numerous kick-ass recommendations for grad school application. I ended up doing MD PhD, and everyone I know who applied for PhD programs got accepted basically everywhere.
There are opportunities for undergrads afforded at private institutions like UChicago that are just that much harder to find at larger, public universities like Cal. Not saying you wouldn’t have to work hard to do well at UChicago, but if you’re good enough to get an acceptance here, there’s no reason why you couldn’t excel in this environment.
I would also like to echo others’ sentiment that getting a 3.5 GPA in your first year is challenging anywhere you go. First year was a big transition for me, and I had the lowest GPA that year.
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