I want to live and work in San Diego after I obtain my degree. I hope to land a corporate business role in either product marketing, marketing, recruiting, business ops. I have the option of going to UCSD for free or Berkeley for about 15k total for the degree. For those of you who have experience in these fields in SD, would the Berkeley name make me stand out? I know the market is competitive so I just want to make sure spending that much on a degree would be worth it. Berkeley’s location is also great for gaining experience. Hometown is SD, born and raised here. I want to take the leap but is Berkeley worth 10-20k ? I also wanted to add I have savings to cover the cost of Berkeley but it’s hard for me to pass up a free degree in an amazing city like SD, not sure if I’ll like the Bay Area
Free degree in hometown or Berkeley for 15k total
byu/Upstairs-Spare7738 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Upstairs-Spare7738
20 Comments
I imagine Berkeley will have you stand out in most, if not all, industries. And $15k in total for a college degree is pretty much nothing.
15k is pretty cheap for any undergrad degree, I think berkeley especially is well worth that
I dont think there is one right answer here… Would you be living at home if you went to UCSD? $15k all-in for Berkeley is not bad if you/your family can afford that, excluding any additional housing and living cost. If you plan to stay in SD, going to university there and finding a company to work at locally would likely be the smoothest transition upon graduation. If you were around the Bay Area and got work experience up there, it may help transition to their MBA program if that was ever a consideration in your career path.
Having Berkeley on my resume definitely helped with job searching when I was just starting my career, though I’m in engineering so slightly different. But I do recall a lot of my early interviews noting Berkeley, the name does pull some weight.
More personally, as someone who’s hometown is also SD, I don’t regret choosing the Bay for college at all. Leaving home helped me a lot in my personal growth, and the Bay has some of its own charms! And you’ll still be in CA, getting back to SoCal is a short flight.
$15k is nothing for a bachelors and Berkeley is an elite school.
Where do you want to go to school? A $15k difference is pretty trivial and I’d Berkeley is your dream school, it shouldn’t stop you from attending.
Choose Berkeley all day, every day for $10-20k total.
UCSD is a very good school, Berkeley is a great school.
Diff is pretty small. 15k over 4 years is not that much. Berkeley is pretty good school but UCSD is not bad so it’s not a clear cut
Entirely up to you
In regards to finances: 15k is really not that bad especially for Berkeley.
Everything else: you’ll definitely have more a competitive advantage globally with the Berkeley background but if you’re sure you want to come back to SD, you’ll be missing out on a lot of local connections and networking that UCSD could potentially provide you. Most of the people I know working in my field are people I went to school with in SD.
With all that said, I would pick Berkeley. College is such a unique time and experience and you get to challenge yourself by being out of your comfort zone. Also it sounds like you’ll have the opportunity to come back to SD afterwards anyways.
id go Berkeley personally assuming it’s 15k for 4 years
UCSD is also a good school so I think there’s no terrible decisions here though
in the grand scheme of things I think 15k isn’t that much money either so I’d choose the better school
15k includes housing or rent cost? if you’re from SD… it would be worth it to just get some experience outside of what you know, dont you think? that’s worth it alone. especially if you plan to just go back to SD to stay there forever afterwards. get yourself out of your comfort zone is hard, but its worth it
Are you only looking to work afterwards in SD? If so I dont know that its smart to go up to Berkeley only because UCSD has a lot of internship opportunities there that can get you more job access in the area. If you are willing to live and work outside of SD I recommend Berkeley it’s a big network and for business there isn’t really much better than HAAS beside Harvard and Wharton.
A $15k degree from Berkeley is a better deal than a free degree from UCSD
15K for UC Berkeley? For all 4 years. Kid take Berkeley. The market is looking choppy and you need all the advantage you can get.
I love San Diego, SO went to UCSD and I own a place in SD. I’m still telling you to take Berkeley. You’re also young and should explore outside your bubble.
Dude fork up the $15k it’s worth it.
The experience is worth 15k.
The “UC Socially Dead” moniker isn’t just a joke.
$15k total is a very good deal for Berkeley. You can probably pay that off in a year or two max after graduating. As much as people say school name doesn’t matter, I’ve seen plenty of interns and new college grads selected over others simply for having a Berkeley degree when all else is equal. College is also a great time for you to be in a different environment from what you’re used to. There will be no other time in your life when you will get to navigate being in a completely new world and stage of life with a ton of other people experiencing the same thing at the same time.
Getting the opportunity to go to Cal is a once in a lifetime thing and is worth far more than 15k. UCSD is a great school but Cal is world renowned for a reason.
Don’t just think 15k as how you perceive money today. The upside of your salary in an area like Bay Area and silicon valley and opportunities opened to you with the UCB degree may be much higher than it.
Going slightly against the stream here: Berkeley is certainly fine, but if you want to end up in SD, already being SD and being able to intern around locally could give you a slight edge.