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I just received my scholarship offer from UCLA today, and I was floored. I was initially expecting UCLA to match or barely exceed Duke's offer, which would have made the choice easy for me (that being Duke). I live in and want to work in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have visited UCLA, but not Duke (will go there in March).

UCLA

+$11,000 a year cheaper including differences in housing costs
+Many more firms come out for OCI to UCLA than to Duke
Slight +I generally liked the school when I visited, but was not overly impressed by it
+- Not like I would be able to easily drive home on weekends from either one, so proximity isn't that much of a big deal
-Never really liked L.A. as a town
-Does not have as strong of a reputation as Duke (40% NLJ top 250 at Duke vs. 22% for UCLA)

Duke

+Better reputation & job prospects if I do place back into SF
+If I decide to not stay stay in SF (or if I have a hard time getting back there), Duke is much stronger outside of CA than UCLA
+Kind of want a new experience away from CA (went to UG in Southern California as well)
+- Have not visited the school, so can't say anything definitive about that, but from everything I've seen, Duke has much better facilities and a prettier campus
-More expensive
-My parents are the ones fronting at least part of the bill and they would like me to be closer to home

I emailed Duke about it and hopefully they will bump up their offer, but if not, what do you think I should do?

Since you're not necessarily set on staying in Cali and not in love with UCLA, I think Duke is probably your best option. There are good arguments to be made with both, but getting ~$50k to go T14 makes it a solid option, and it will obviously open more doors for you than UCLA.

No Boalt or USC?

UCLA may not have as strong of a national reputation as Duke, but for the western U.S. I feel UCLA is in someways equal with or better than Duke (Duke is very strong in the eastern/southern U.S.). Hard to say, but it seems UCLA would be better for you. They are both great options, though.

Got rejected by Boalt (would have gone there if I had), and I would rather go to UCLA than USC

thesmark wrote:Got rejected by Boalt (would have gone there if I had), and I would rather go to UCLA than USC

I would go to whichever of UCLA/USC ends up being cheaper. They're peer schools. But to each his own I guess.

When I looked at the schools that employees of NLJ250 firms in the Bay Area came from, there were fewer USC grads than Duke grads (!) and many, many fewer than UCLA grads. Considering self-selection, that's a pretty significant indicator.

Assuming Duke's offer stands as it is, are you more debt averse? Going to Duke will put you in the hole for a while, but if you don't care about that (and really shouldn't, Duke's students normally do fine post-graduation) then you should choose Duke.

Nonetheless, I wish I had your problems. I'd do UCLA because I absolutely hate debt and UCLA is still a nationally known school. HTH

thesmark wrote:When I looked at the schools that employees of NLJ250 firms in the Bay Area came from, there were fewer USC grads than Duke grads (!) and many, many fewer than UCLA grads. Considering self-selection, that's a pretty significant indicator.

1. "Considering self-selection." How are you considering self-selection?

2. UCLA's class is almost double USC's.

I voted for Duke. Keeps more options open.

1. "Considering self-selection." How are you considering self-selection?

Self-Selection as far as many more people going to USC wanting to go to Nor Cal than Duke students and UCLA and USC being about equal in that regard

2. UCLA's class is almost double USC's.

That's true, but it's about the same as Duke's which has many fewer people trying to get to the Bay Area than Duke does. I did factor in class size, and UCLA had far more people than USC per student. At this price, UCLA would beat out USC for me.