Is it worth going to UC Berkeley?

... what the benefits are of going to big name schools like UC Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, etc. To me it seems like if i go to a state scho?

• ... what the benefits are of going to big name schools like UC Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, etc. To me it seems like if i go to a state school, i can still get the same degree as if i ...show more

• Answer:

  I went to a non-prestige school for college and to Harvard for graduate school. There is a huge difference: 1. At the "name" school, the students will be a lot smarter. Your friends will be higher-achieving people, and your spouse prospects will be higher-achieving, and the alumni you meet after graduation will higher-achieving. Your peers will have a big influence on how high you aim and what you do with your life after graduation, and higher-achieving alumni can do a lot more for you when you're out working. When you see them accomplish a lot, you'll realize that you can, too; at the non-"name" school, people don't accomplish as much, and your expectations of yourself, based on peer pressure, will be lower. 2. The "name" school has a lot more money for financial aid, buildings, grants, etc. It can be cheaper to go to a "name" school than a non-"name" school. 3. The exact degree that you get at either school might be the same, but the degree from the "name" school will open more doors. In short: at a non-"name" school, you can have the same job prospects and grad school prospects as people at "name" schools, but since you don't have the "name", you'll have to have much higher grades than you would at the "name" school, so you might have to work harder at the non-"name" school. I'd pick Harvard over the non-"name" school I went to anytime.