Northwestern vs. UC Berkeley

[icy trout]

What. The content was deleted? BRUUh

Ok then nevermind lol

[woven rampart]

northwestern

[timber dust]

Check the guidelines

35 lines or less per message. We unfortunately can’t override for this channel since the bot we use isn’t fully compatible with forum channels. I would recommend sending a separate message per part so you don’t cross the limit

So send one message for school 1 pros, another for school 1 cons, another for school 2 pros, etc

[icy trout]

Alright

I’ll do that when I go home

[icy trout]

Should I use this forum?

[timber dust]

You can either resend in here or make a new one

[icy trout]

Aight

[woven rampart]

just go to northwestern

[solar bloom]

UC berkeley

[icy trout]

Schools: Northwestern vs UC Berkeley
Intended major: Environmental studies/policy
Similarities: Near major cities, pretty damn good, a lot of good student orgs

Northwestern
Pros:
-Better minors/secondary majors for me personally than at Berkeley
-Excellent courses and student orgs in journalism (a hobby of mine)
-Higher overall rank (#9 according to US News)
-I like the quarter system
-Easy to switch between schools
-Better advisors
-More intellectual from what I've read (could be wrong)
-Much closer to home

Cons:
-Evanston is much more suburban than Berkeley and I'm looking for an urban environment
-Nothing that I find interesting besides Chicago for hundreds of miles
-Their environmental sciences major seems too STEM for me and I'm not exactly great with STEM
-The major is not well-known
-My family has personal issues with Evanston (nothing too big tho)

UC Berkeley
Pros:
-Better major for my interests (#4 environmental studies/policy major in the country if I remember correctly)
-Much more left-leaning (Northwestern is liberal, but not really leftists--I'm looking for literal socialists)
-Big and thus a lot of opportunity
-Near extended family in San Francisco that might be able to help me if I ever need it
-Better off-campus food options imo
-More urban than Northwestern
-I know one of the professors in my hypothetical major

Cons:
-Perhaps too much competition for internships because of schools size
-Many classes are too big and not personal enough
-Almost completely White/Asian--not very diverse
-I really don't understand Californian culture at all and I'm not sure if I'd fit in
-Much lower on US News (#22) than Northwestern
-Minors not as good as at Northwestern (for me)

Tiebreaking considerations:
-Greek culture (I'd like to avoid it)
-What is more important: school ranking or major ranking?
-Where is it easier to get internships/jobs?
-How culturally Californian is Berkeley? Not sure if I'd fit in.
-Course loads/difficulty (which is easier)

Things that I don't care about: Weather and sports

Thanks

Ok fixed lol

[solar bloom]

uc berkeley is cheap and greek life is avoidable

and has more diversity than nu

nu is a relatively white and preppy school and heavily greek

you won't find ultra socialists at berk but it's left leaning enough

[sleek oriole]

I'm a Northwestern student right now, and if I am being honest, I highly don't recommend it.

Coming here was one of the biggest mistakes I made, and I regret committing to this school extremely.

It seems like you like Berkeley a lot more too based on your pro/con list, so I think you'd find it a better fit based on what you told us.

[solar bloom]

for what reason

like greek life, preppy atmosphere, depressing weather

[sleek oriole]

I did want to give a heads up that this post is a really dark and intense post because I don't want to go over any boundaries you all have, but I hope it's helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/syc0up/my_experiences_as_a_transfer_student_at/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

[fickle fjord]

oh yea i remember seeing ur post on reddit and it was kinda disturbing to see this culture at nu

[sleek oriole]

Thanks for your support. I definitely would like to acknowledge that I do think part of is that I've just had a lot of bad luck because I know a lot of people here who love it so much and find it a great fit.

But I've personally just unfortunately found this place very unaccepting, and the more time passes, the worse it's been getting.

[fickle fjord]

yea but its still good that you recognize that its not the right school for you! i was always told that transferring would always be an option no matter which school i will end up choosing

[sleek oriole]

Thank you, I appreciate that a lot! It's just really unfortunate because I already transferred.

[fickle fjord]

Omg it really sucks to hear this. Especially when you’ve been the face of positivity on this server and r/a2c, and just knowing how bad things are for you right now. Ik that I’m only a high schooler and haven’t experienced college myself yet, but please remember that things will get better! Who knows, it may even be right after your final quarter at NU this spring

[sleek oriole]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

[ember spindle]

hey glad to hear that you transferred out of a toxic environment!!

im curious, where did you transfer to?

[sleek oriole]

Thank you for saying that, I really appreciate it, but I unfortunately haven't been able to leave yet!

I transferred out of my former school, which I really liked, to Northwestern because my former school didn't have what I wanted to study.

And I'm trying to transfer out of NU now, but I'm still waiting on results for now.

[ember spindle]

ah ok good luck, honestly hoping the best for you ;')

[fickle fjord]

np, and if u ever need someone to just talk to just know that i’m always here to listen!

[sleek oriole]

Thank you both so much, I really appreciate it, @ember spindle and @fickle fjord!

@icy trout And if you have any more questions, please feel free to let me know!

I'd be happy to try to answer anything you're wondering about.

[icy trout]

Thank you so much for sharing. Unfortunately all of these schools that I have the opportunity to go to have these problems. It is a plague among the large prestigious schools. Small schools don’t have these issues to this degree but I was just not interested in small schools.

I’ve heard the sam rumors at Berkeley

Soooo

Yeah

[icy trout]

I personally know someone who was in a similar situation at Berkeley. It really is a case by case basis. I hope that problems like this don’t arise for me in college but we’ll see.

Btw I hope all the best to you at whatever new school you go to

[sleek oriole]

Thank you, and I’m sorry to hear about that for them. I hope things for your friend improve a lot more!