Xferr wrote:I'm trying to figure out whether I should accept Berkeley's offer of admission or gamble on the rest of my applications. I need to commit at Berkeley by the 11th, and I doubt I'll hear from anyone else by then.
Stats: T2 80s, 3.96 GPA, top 5% (highest the school calculates)
Career Goals: Up in the air right now, but I'd like to stay on the East Coast, probably New York City. Not sure if I want to go straight to biglaw or clerk first.
Applied/Waiting For: Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Penn, Michigan.
Accepted: GULC, Berkeley.
Rejected: None yet.
I'd take Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia over Berkeley. I'd prefer Berkeley over NYU, Penn, and Michigan, but if I don't accept Berkeley I need to leave those apps in to increase my odds of getting into a good school. Please share any advice or insight you have on this decision. Thank you.
OP. You wanted people's thought process over their "useless" advice?
Your personal preferences are:
SHC
You are in at B
You'd rather go to B than NPM.
You don't know what you want to do, but you'd prefer to stay on the East Coast.
West Coast Schools:
S - no decision
B- In
Mid West Schools:
Mich - no decision
East Coast Schools:
H- no decision
C- no decision
Penn no decision
NYU - no decision
I conveniently struck out the rest because B is your new floor. I'm going to assume that your preferences are:
H
C
S
B
H and S are extremely hard to 1. predict, and 2. get into. That being said, you should assume that you will not get in.
The choices then should be between B and C.
Berkeley is a great school, a sure thing, but on the West Coast. C is a great school, not a sure thing, but where you'd prefer to live.
Only YOU can answer this question. However, if I were in your shoes, I would take a sure thing at Berkeley.
Why? Because it's a sure thing, a great school, a school MUCH better than a T2, and I don't want to be SOL by thinking that I'm going to be the American Dream - telling Berkeley 'no' and then being rejected by H,S, and C.
You are like a gambler in a casino. You got dealt a crap hand at first (T2), and now you're winning some nice money (Berkeley). Your mind is saying, but 'hey!, I can win some more!' (H,S,C). I will echo the sentiments that you so dislike. "Nut up and go to Berkeley." Walk away from the damn table and be happy that you are T14, and that it's from a great school. Berkeley will give you the clout to make it back East.
Enjoy.