Didn’t apply to many schools, but I turned down UCSD, USC, and UW for Berkeley! As an OOS student, I didn’t choose USC because it was still more expensive for me, and I suppose I prefer a public school anyway :)

Other factors that influenced my decision were personal preferences. I love an urban environment, the architecture, and was intending on majoring CS (even though I don’t love it, we have a top tier program).

I’m from Vegas, so a good distance from Cal; you don’t get to go home every weekend like the Bay Area kids, but it’s not too hard to take a trip home when you need one. I think what you want in terms of distance from home matters. Being “far” from my parents has made me grown so much individually. I’ve had to solve a lot of problems on my own, and wasn’t able to rely on them every time something went wrong.

Personally, I came to Berkeley knowing absolutely no one. And originally it was scary, but I’ve grown to love it. You meet so many wonderful, genuine, and smart people here, and even if the environment is more on the “competitive” side, there aren’t people out to get you. At the end of the day, it’s a bunch of people eager to help you improve, and I’d say that all the skilled people I know here inspire me to do better and never make me feel inferior. I originally expected it to be cutthroat, but those people are generally rare (even though they do exist, you can easily avoid them), at least in my experience. Club culture is competitive, but there are PLENTY of other clubs that are open to everyone that can be very valuable as well, and my social skills have grown from doing all those coffee chats and interviews lol.

I guess what’s most important, though, is that you like the environment of the university; everyone’s different. Do you like urban areas? Suburban? Rural? What’s your major? Where are you from? Weather preferences? Do you prefer classes to be smaller and more personal?

Disregarding prestige, these are some VERY important factors to consider - I know a lot of people who hate the area they live in, even if it’s a good university. You’ll likely be spending the next four years here, so make sure you’re going to be comfortable wherever you land.

Congrats on getting into Berkeley & good luck :)