<p>Background:
I'm competitive for both (3.85, pre-reqs done, tons of EC, great PS, non impacted major) and I keep hearing horror stories from people who actually went/go to Cal like:</p>
<p>"Everybody is just chugging Adderall and Ritalin to stay ahead of the curve"
or
"You can't leave your experiments alone or people will sabotage them to make themselves look better"
or
"There's no real community because all people care about is out doing their peers"</p>
<p>I keep hearing stuff like that from Cal grads and from people who transfered there last year. </p>
<p>Does anybody else feel like this is a counterproductive atmosphere if their aim is to educate students?
I understand there needs to be a certain level of cuthroat-ness in life in order to really real one's full potential, but isn't there a point where it's too much?
I have friends at places equivalently ranked to Cal, (CMU, USC etc) who tell me people there don't care at all what other people do. Even my friends at top 10's(Uchicago, UPenn, CIT, Stanford) say that aspect, while present, is no where near as bad as it is at Cal.</p>
<p>*What about Cal, specifically, brings that out in people? *</p>
<p>I've seriously thought about it and I think if I had the choice between LA and Cal, I'd take LA. </p>
<p>The negative aspects of Cal you listed can be found in all comparable institutes of higher learning to some degree. I have worked at UCLA, stayed at the dorms at Cal and Harvard, and the “community” at Cal is on par with those places. Linked to something funny a Cal DeCal class created. </p>
<p>I’d rather go to UCSD/UCD over UCLA and Cal based on prestige.</p>
<p>I’d rather go to Cal/UCSD/UCD over UCLA based on their Engineering dept.</p>
<p>Above all, I’d go to Cal Poly SLO over UCSD, UCLA, UCD except Cal based on their Engineering dept.</p>
<p>It’s funny how a lot of people on this forum think Cal Poly SLO is a back up school. Sure, make it your back up school because in reality almost everyone gets rejected, especially for Engineering. 13% admit rate for transfer isn’t so high now is it?!</p>
<p>I think you’d still find a very similar environment at UCLA, I have many friends at both institutions and everyone seems to have a hard time with their courseloads. </p>
<p>Big factors to consider are whether you prefer the quarter or semester system better and the overall feel of the campuses. Have you been to visit both?</p>
<p>My best friend got acceptances to both Cal and UCLA for freshman admission and chose UCLA. But that was because of many different factors (none owing to Cal being too competitive).</p>
<p>^^ i was thinking along the same lines. People probably aren’t so cutthroat at UCLA simply because there’s no time to do it. You’re too busy trying to keep up with the work they’re giving you and trying to balance a lot of other stuff. Sure, this depends on the person, and some people can manage working 20+ hours a week with 18+ units, but most cannot, and most struggle to get through. I hear the howls of south campus major every time midterms come around; it is not pretty.</p>
<p>Also, since the vast majority of students don’t go into an engineering department, no one except for engineers cares what engineering rankings are. My brother went to Cal, i go to UCLA, and other than some friendly joking on either side, we both enjoyed our universities, and i’m sure he’d enjoy LA and i Berkeley, if things had been different. </p>
<p>Berkeley has better prestige, and in general, better grad programs, but unless you’re looking to jump directly into the job market it doesn’t particularly matter.</p>
<p>IMO, the difference between them is insignificant. UCLA is better regarded among regular people, while Berkeley is better regarded among the highly educated. Even so, no academic would frown on a UCLA education.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley is the number one public school in the world, UCLA isn’t, not even close. I know you guys probably thinks it’s close, but it’s not, it’s just not.</p>
<p>What’s your source? Yes, Berkeley is number one, but that doesn’t mean number two is a huge step down. The most frequently cited ranking, US News, lists Berkeley at 22 and UCLA at 25 or 26 among all national universities, IIRC. That’s pretty close. ARWU ranks Berkeley 2nd worldwide, and UCLA 15th. There’s a bit more of a difference there, but when the ranking includes 500 universities in total–they’re both in the top 3%.</p>
<p>la all the way baby! i was born and raised here so i would honestly rather go to a school like UC Irvine that is closer, then UC Berkeley…sad…I know…but i love la way too much. and in terms of what u said:</p>
<p>“Everybody is just chugging Adderall and Ritalin to stay ahead of the curve”
or
“You can’t leave your experiments alone or people will sabotage them to make themselves look better”
or
“There’s no real community because all people care about is out doing their peers”</p>
<p>UCLA is probably ten times worse than Berkeley when it comes to all of that. my phil professor right now tells us stories about when he was at ucla 10 years ago and people would act/do all the things u just said. and that was 10 years ago so i can imagine its 10x worse now.</p>
<p>In my last post, I confirm that Berkeley is number one, and cite two sources that confirm Berkeley as the top public university. I was asking for the source of this statement:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree with the first part (UCLA isn’t the number one public university–there can be only one number one, right?), but not the rest. It is close.</p>
<p>EDIT: I believe you added the “you’re right, it is close” bit after I posted the above, so it sounds like we agree now. :-)</p>
<p>ime, most people thinking berkeley destroys UCLA stems from the historical conception that it does. I thought so too before i started going here and my peers, and the institution, really impressed me.</p>
<p>according to my bro, the best public uni’s were (in order):
Berkeley
Michigan
UVA
UCLA</p>
<p>while i, and the rankings, don’t agree with this, i wouldn’t be surprised if this was how it was viewed among employers/academics outside the west coast.</p>
<p>the only ranking that lists berkeley and UCLA at a significant difference is AWRU. but does anyone really think that berkeley is better than yale, columbia, stanford, MIT, or caltech? i wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted to put it above harvard, but pretty sure they knew if they did, no one would take them seriously.</p>
<p>Reasons I want to go to CAL: perfect excuse to live in the Bay Area for the next 2 years. I have always loved it up there. Berkeley has been one of those schools I just feel awesome being there. The campus is beautiful and just being able to attend is such a reward for all my hard work. Lots of great professors I would love to meet/take classes with.</p>
<p>Reasons I want to go to UCLA: I am TAP certified so I will get in easily and have access to TAP money. The campus might be one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever been to in my life.Not really stoked on living in LA, but I am very open to the experience. So many great professors I would love to meet/take classes with. I read everything I can by Jared Diamond.</p>
<p>Reasons I want to go to UCSD: Save money by not moving out of San Diego. I already have a nice place in PB. UCSD has a great anthro/archaeology program. Still a top school and I am sure I will get a great education there.</p>
<p>Notice none of my reasoning on my choices are anything at all mentioned in this thread. You guys gotta chill out. No matter where you go and what you do in life there will be challenges and people trying to bring you down. Just focus on what is the best place for you to be and grow as a student. </p>
<p>For me, I know I want to go to grad school and keep pursuing a career in academia, so that also factors into my decision. But I know overall, all 3 schools I am choosing from are a win-win-win situation. All 3 schools are great places to finish my undergrad.</p>