UPenn vs UC Berkeley vs UCLA for Biochem

matark
Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:53:22 +0000

My brother was put into this situation when he was a freshman as well. He had already SIRed to UC Berkeley when he was taken off the waitlist at Penn, so he was able to sample both universities a little bit.

From his purely anecdotal evidence, Penn’s dorms are much better than Berkeley’s, and the atmosphere at both colleges are about the same (extremely academically competitive). However, one thing you have to consider is that Penn is located on the East Coast, and this represents its own sets of pros and cons. My brother was able to undertake internships, research opportunities, and apply for jobs that he would not have been able to at Berkeley. The East Coast is much more densely compacted than California. You could potentially end up working and living in New York like you wanted to if you went to Penn. My brother visited the Big Apple numerous times just for fun. Berkeley is also a much larger school with much larger class sizes than Penn. Penn’s campus is very small compared to Berkeley’s.

However, Berkeley is by far the cheaper school in your case. Penn matched my brother’s tuition at Berkeley, so cost was not a factor him, so maybe you should petition your case for financial aid as in the above posts. And when push comes to shove, the differences in ranking and prestige between both universities are extremely slight. A degree from either institution will carry plenty of weight.

If it was not already apparent, in the end my brother chose Penn because he valued prestige. Personally, I would have chose Penn as well, but for different reasons. Choose Berkeley if you really can’t afford the tuition, either way you will be at a great university!