<p>concur with UCLAAri; whichever fits, including UCLA. But, don’t forget, the UCs believe in self-help for finaid, so sometimes private colleges can be less ex*****ve out-of-pocket.</p>
<p>Boston is a fantastic college town, but Cal also has a great college feel – Memorial Stadium on a Saturday afternoon?</p>
<p>BC has a core curriculum (which could be good or bad, depending on your persuasion). BC is also athletically-inclined, ala Notre Dame – over half of students participate in athletics, including intramurals. As a Jesuit school, BC also values highly community service.</p>
<p>Cal (and the UCs) is extremely liberal with AP credit, allowing you to skip the Frosh grade-deflated classes. However, are you sure that BC has grade inflation?</p>
<p>Berkeley would be much better for your case. Also, if you were to pick a popular major at BC you still wouldn’t get THAT much more personalized attention than at Berkeley. Especially by the time you are a senior I hear that they have seminar-like classes with less than 20 students. Not to mention Berkeley is a much more known and better institution academically and the price is amazing. Just so you know BC is quite stingy when it comes to financial aid so beware. Best of luck.</p>
<p>If you want any personal attention I would choose BC. Berkeley is huge some classes have over 700 people in them. And maybe that would work for you, but Berkeley sounds awful to me.</p>
<p>“Its just that it seems like Berkeley students are all about academics and not fun, which is obviously not true. How about grade deflation? Maybe its a little early, but I want to go to a good grad school, and I heard grade deflation is pretty bad at UCB.”</p>
<p>“I heard” is nothing; I’d suggest you check it out yourself. =)</p>
<p>“UC is right in the middle of down-town Berkeley. Berkeley just seems too big. Over 20,000 undergrads. Some people enjoy that though, but its a bit overwhelming.”</p>
<p>It’s beside downtown Berkeley. The university campus is enormous, and since everyone works on a different schedule, 20,000 undergrads won’t seem as much there.</p>
<p>“I don’t question Cal’s faculty for one second, but (maybe a misconception), they seem more interested in graduate students and research than undergraduate studies.”</p>
<p>Somebody inserted something about that at the Wikipedia entry for UCB. I edited it, and somebody noted: All universities are going to have a degree of that (professors less interested in undergrad studies). But people make it seem as though UCB only has professors that don’t care much for undergrads, which isn’t true. (How else would UCB produce such great grads/professors/etc., if the professors didn’t really involve all students?)</p>
<p>lets see:
1:academics= Berkeley
2location= Bay area, San Fracisco, mountains
3"weather=Berkeley
4:prestige=Berkeley
3but the most important is the fit, that’s up to you…</p>
<p>I go to BC, and I can say there really isnt much grade inflation here (especially in the sciences, Im a physics major). You will get personal attention if you major in something that isnt as common (the physics department is very small, so all the professors know the students which can be very good), but if you major in communications, poli sci, history, english, bio (these are probably the five most popular majors in A&S at BC) you probably wouldnt be able to tell the difference between BC and UCB. BC has a better location, but I dont think its more diverse than Berkeley (unless Prop 209 has really changed Berkeley that much). BC is 74% white and very elitist (most kids come from traditional feeder schools like St Johns Prep, St. Sebastians, BC High…, and most are very affluent). The financial aid office at BC is known to be stingy, as someone had mentioned. Overall, its just not worth the money to leave the state to attend a school that is less prestigious (although I wouldnt say that it is obviously worse academically, the stats arent that different, and BC is harder to get into every year), so you should go to Berkeley. </p>
<p>I know why you would want to leave though, in fact i know a lot of kids here who were in state for UVA and turned it down for BC just because their entire high school went to UVA, but still in terms of finances and prestige, Berkeley is better. Go there.</p>
<p>Why do you think WUSTL is so good? The academics at BC are nearly as good if not as good in many areas as WUSTL. Check out BC Fulbright winners over the past few years and you will see we are on a list with most of the top schools (since washu is known for having good sciences and pre-med, i brought up the fulbright). I am unbiased also, as I dont really like BC that much and I am trying to transfer to UChicago, but BC and WUSTL arent all that different academically. Berkeley is better than both, but its not a huge margin either, at least for undergrad. Grad school, then you dont want to go to BC except maybe to the law school.</p>
<p>on the religion topic, a lot of kids that come to BC dont even know its jesuit when they get there, so that goes to show that religion isnt forced on anyone. You go to church at orientation because everyone does, but besides that there is nothing unless you want it.</p>
<p>I think you need to cast your net a little wider. The two places are so incredibly different. I’d think BC would be alot preppier, and even if the Catholicism isn’t pushed, the student body will have more religiously raised students, I’d think. Make a list of what you really want in a school, then make a short list of the schools that offer what you want. How about a place like Pomona if you want academic rigor but more of a collegiate atmo?</p>
<p>Fit is always more important than prestige. Why be miserable for four years just so you can say you graduated from X College? Your grades are more likely to be better where you are happy.</p>
<p>Boston College has a good reputation on the East Coast, but it does come with the baggage of being a Jesuit school. People will assume you are Catholic, whether you are or not. Georgetown does not have that same baggage, even though it is also a Jesuit school.</p>
<p>WUSTL has a great reputation here on CC, and in the rankings, but its prestige does not extend much farther than that - at least in the Northeast. If you choose to go there, it should be because you love it. </p>
<p>In any of the three, you’ll get a great education, as long as you take control of your own course load and challenge yourself academically. Don’t be afraid of grade deflation. Graduate schools know which schools are tougher.</p>
<p>You said that it was too late to apply to LACs. Some, like Haverford, have January 15 deadlines, so there’s still time. If you spend a few hours researching today, you might be able to add one or two more schools that would be a better fit. Actually, for those schools that take the Common App, you might still be able to get under the wire for Jan 1 deadlines. (You should really take a look at Lehigh and Lafayette, if you think you can make their deadlines.)</p>
<p>I understand perfectly why you want to go OOS, as large and as diverse as California is. There’s something exciting about embarking on a new phase of your life that takes you to another region of the country. Please keep in mind, however, that, logistically and financially, it will be tough to be a cross-country flight from home. If you don’t mind, then go for it.</p>