I am enrolling this fall to study Computer Science. My options are Yale-NUS (which after aid and tuition grant costs me 15,00,000 INR) and Berkeley (which costs me 1,80,00,000 INR). My main priority is employment, job security and stay back.
Considering the strength of its CS program and Bay Area placements, Berkeley is a stronger choice. However, considering the political situation in US, I feel that stay back in Singapore is better. Further, if I do UG from Yale-NUS and PG from US, then I’ll have both countries open to me anyway. In that case, if I have to leave US some time after PG, I can always use my Yale-NUS degree to find employment in Singapore.
I also need to consider my Master’s prospects from both colleges, but I don’t know much about that and hope you could advise me more on that too.
Hello!
What exactly about the political situation in the US makes you uneasy about committing to Berkeley? Here at Crimson, we understand that each student and family have unique considerations to take into account when deciding on a destination, but as of now, nothing that we are monitoring should be of serious concern to students considering coming to the US for higher education.
As you’ve noted, if the tuition is not one of the main considerations, Berkeley’s CS program is far and away the better choice given job and internship placements, proximity to Silicon Valley, and the recognition of the degree worldwide. Yale-NUS is a fantastic institution backed by two of the most prestigious universities in the world, but it has been operating for less than 10 years and does not enjoy the same type of recognition worldwide or in the US as Berkeley does.
Granted, tuition at Berkeley is many times the cost, but the investment is sure to be a safe one in terms of your career prospects and degree. That being said, future career prospects also depend on your activities, coursework, and internship experiences while in college!
Hey!
So the political situation I was referring to was basically the government’s attitude towards immigrants. While US currently is dissuading immigrants (yes, they’ve increased H1B visas for PG students, but it’s still limited, a lottery, and I’m going for UG right now anyway), Singapore actually welcomes immigrant workers. This is evident from how the Singapore government pays for a part of your college tuition if you work in Singapore for some years after graduation.
While tuition is not a huge concern for me, I’d preferably not drain too much of my parents’ money. I’ve planned to not take more than 2Cr INR (280,000 US$) for my education. Therefore, if I go to Berkeley, I cannot have my parents fund my PG whereas if I go to Yale-NUS, my parents can fund both my UG in Singapore and MBA in US. Though I could always do UG from Berkeley with my parents’ money and finance my own MBA somehow. But I don’t know how easy it will be for me to procure a loan from US as an international student.
As you said, future career prospects depend on activities, coursework and internship experiences while in college. Berkeley, by virtue of its prestige and location in the Bay Area would probably give me better exposure to those. However, I do not know if UG in Berkeley would be worth foregoing an MBA,
how do i apply for this degree
Apply through Common App, just as you do for most US colleges
Fair point about immigration policies, but keep in mind that each successive administration will have different policies regarding immigration, international students, and visas such as the H1B. While current trends do point towards what you’re saying, no one can say for certain what the landscape will be like when you graduate, look for a job, apply for an MBA, and look for a job upon graduation there!
MBA classes typically include a much, much higher proportion of international students (some as high as 30-40%+!) and you would not be disadvantaged because of an undergraduate degree at Yale-NUS, for example. A history of strong academic performance coupled with good work experiences after college will make sure you are competitive for a good MBA program regardless of whether you complete your undergraduate degree at Berkeley or Yale-NUS.
One more factor to consider is the overall college experience, but each student will weight that differently. Getting your undergraduate degree from Berkeley isn’t just about the quality of the education, but also the experiences you’ll have outside of the classroom and the friends from all over that you’ll make!