<p>Due to the recession people now shudder at the idea of an out of stater turning down private schools for one of the UCs. I am thinking about pursuing history, and Berkeley is one of the absolute highest ranked schools for that field of study. Wouldn’t it be beneficial to go to undergrad at a school with such prowess in the discipline? Or is that faulty reasoning? I just wanted to hear your take on the situation. Also, if anyone would like to comment, how are the history and other humanities/social science classes at Berkeley? Are they warm, and more intimate than perhaps some of the science courses?</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter where you go for undergrad… the ranks refer to the graduate programs and it doesn’t really affect the undergrad level. The humanities/social science courses are definitely warmer/more intimate than science classes, but the intro courses for many social science like sociology, polisci, etc. are still very large classes (300-400 students). With that said, if you do have the option of private schools and since you are out-of-state, I think the private university option is better.</p>