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I live in MI and I want to go to UCLA or UC Berkeley. My parents think that visiting colleges, taking tours, meeting the dean, etc. is just a waste of time,money,energy, etc. They want me to apply purely on reputation. I really want to go look at these schools to see if I want to attend. Any thoughts? Thanks

By Rohitram01 (Rohitram01) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 09:39 pm: Edit

same here studiousvegetar. I am not getting a chance to visit Cornell/Duke, and I live in NY. *Shucks*

By Thedad (Thedad) on Sunday, March 23, 2003 - 02:23 am: Edit

StudiousV, the difference between reptuation and reality and is like the difference between map and territory: one is a guide but you really won't know it until you've experienced it. (We can extend this metaphor to a sickening degree if you'd like...see, for instance, overlooking the notation "map not to scale.")

If you don't visit beforehand, then I would strongly urge visiting before making a final selection. UCLA and Berkeley are very different experiences. Some people seem to think that college is a very "objective" experience: that you can rate the quality of the knowledge being poured into your opened skull and rate the profs doing it like mechanics. Even with the "purely" academic part of college this is not so.

Things like Campus X is really unfriendly or Campus Y believes in working hard but partying harder or Campus Z is really cliquey are all valid points to examine and to figure into the decision-making process, imo.

Optimally you want a college that is a good fit with your abilities, your interests, and your temperament. It's hard enough to figure this stuff out.

For a point of departure, you might want to read up on your various schools with Princeton Review's GUIDE TO THE BEST 345 COLLEGES. In addition to all the raw stats kind of stuff, it has lots of student-derived commentary and rankings.

By 2132 (2132) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 07:35 pm: Edit

Quick infor on UC B and UCLA
UCLA is Southern Ca and so has some of the traditional LA mentality while UCB is hyper politically correct to the extrem. Both have beautiful campuses and people who work hard.