Argh! College! >:(

[Apollo]

Hey guys,

So, I have a few questions! I recently got into UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Santa Barbara.
Well, I've been accepted into many more, but I've narrowed down my pick to these three.

Anyways, I need help trying to select one as well as some advice, regarding financial aid.

So, my parents make too much to receive any money from the grants and FAFSA, but offered to pay for my college. The thing is, I don't want them to pay for all of it. Is there any suggestions besides scholarships (as I haven't gotten any) to help pay for college?

Also, anybody who's been to college, may they please go into depth regarding college life, amount of studying, difficulty, social life, etc.

Any advice/information is appreciated!

Thanks,

~Parth

[plmafiaboss]

Parties and debt ftw lol

[Walkhardd]

If you wanna party go to ucsb.

As far as the money situation. If your parents offered to pay, let them. Pay them back when youre rich.

[drewcapu]

Well, if you're gonna narrow it down to those 3, I'd pick Cal.

It almost doesn't matter what you plan to major in either. If someone is looking at three resumes with those schools on them, the one with Cal on it will jump to the top.

All the UCs are definitely more expensive nowadays than while I was in school in the late 90s. At the time I was able to get by on a $500/semester scholly from my mom's employer, plus a few random small scholarships I applied for (basically just writing essays, in most cases). The rest was covered with money both I and my parents saved up as I was growing up. It also helped that I ended up being a commuter student and used as many books as possible from the library rather than buying from the bookstore. I'm thankful to have finished college debt-free having used zero loans.

If you go to school in Berkeley, you're really close to a lot of internship possibilities. Depending on your field, there may be quite a few that are even paid. A lot of students do part-time paid position on campus. Many are simple desk jobs to monitor entry, resulting in a lot of time where you can just study anyways.

I honestly didn't study much. I was a super-procrastinator. My AP US History teacher in HS was awesome and taught us how to write quickly. I wrote just about all of my papers the morning they were due.

As for the social aspect, definitely do as much as you can! As a commuter student, it was a bit harder for me. I really didn't do a whole lot my first two years because I had a bunch of responsibilities in my hometown, including church work and teaching some kids. I had a little bit more time after that, but there are definitely things I missed out on my first couple years. Social life should be a lot easier these days with facebook and cell phones. All I had were pagers and the beginnings of email !

[Walkhardd]

Make sure you make it clear how good you are at pl...the females will flock.

[Fyrce]

I'd say place out of everything you can so you can take the classes you really want to take. If you're good, you should be able to go in as a sophomore or junior. You don't necessarily want to graduate early though. There's tons of seminar classes and profs you can hang with. And double, triple majors, etc.

I don't see a problem with parents paying either, assuming they're not cleaning out their retirement accounts to do so. You can also get a job, like tutoring or in the computer labs or something to help or to get some pocket money.