<p>I know it is hard to quantify, but how much harder is it to get into Berkeley than it is to get into UCLA?</p>
<p>My son just got into UCLA from out of state.</p>
<p>I am glad there’s always someone there to ask the questions that I am curious about but don’t ask :p</p>
<p>That’s like asking how hard is it to become a lawyer vs becoming a doctor. The argument can go both ways, but it’s clear that they require different skillsets.</p>
<p>I got into UCLA - Aerospace Engineering, UCB Mechanical Engineering, and UCSD - Aerospace Engineering
Where to go?
Sometimes is better to get one school, then latter make a decision.</p>
<p>Excelblue:</p>
<p>Please elaborate.</p>
<p>My son would probably major in political science at Berkeley, and at UCLA.</p>
<p>How would the two schools differ?</p>
<p>And how much harder is it to get into Berkeley than UCLA?. Or is it harder?</p>
<p>I presume that some kids will select UCLA rather than Berkeley even if they got accepted at both.</p>
<p>Since I don’t have a California orientation, I would appreciate your insight.</p>
<p>@floridadad - I would lean more towards Berkeley for political sci / Engg. You shd definitely visit though. Both towns are v different, here in the bay area, either you love one or the other. But with UC budget cuts, not sure if either is worth the OOS tuition?</p>
<p>But Cal has better alumni giving/support so that says something. Either way, you should visit on admit days.</p>
<p>I can’t speak for UCLA political science, although personally I feel that Berkeley is better (since I’m a poli sci student here). I know rankings have their problems, but if I’m not wrong our department is consistently ranked the top 5 in the world. Go google it a bit. UCLA is typically ranked somewhere between 11 and 20 (below UCSD!). I know these don’t factor in the quality of undergraduates (if they would it’ll probably er, drop), but if the professors and graduate department are ranked so high, then at least you have the best resources and people to network and gain knowledge from. I can say for sure my professors are very knowledgeable; even if they aren’t the best teachers sometimes, office hours are pretty insanely good times during which I’ve learnt a lot from them.</p>
<p>It also matters, I guess, if your son wants to stay here after graduation - for Berkeley, you have San Francisco, and for LA you have er, LA. Haha. Both have different job pools, resources, connections etc. It might be helpful. If your son is pre-law, perhaps get him to consider which law school he wants to go and recce out the likelihood of him getting accepted to those based on the Berkeley or UCLA name/recommendations, etc.</p>
<p>Fall2016:</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I know it is a silly question, but can you possibly “quantify” how much harder it is to get into Berkeley than UCLA. A tiny bit harder? A lot harder? Equal ???</p>
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<p>[University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu%5DUniversity”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu) can give you admission rates for various GPA ranges, test score ranges, major applied for, etc. to satisfy your need to quantify the relative selectivity of various UC campuses. However, the data only goes up to 2009.</p>
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<p>What is political engineering?</p>
<p>They tend to be around the same, even though UC Berkeley tends to be a little harder to get into when it comes to engineering majors. However, for political science, it’s very similar.</p>
<p>If your son gets accepted to both UCLA and UCB, he should definitely visit both campuses. Some people love UCLA but hate UCB, others (like me) find it the other way around.</p>
<p>Four years ago, I had to make a similar decision, except it was between UCLA ECE and UCB EECS. Yeah, I knew that UCB’s EECS program is stronger, but they’re both strong programs with plenty of opportunity.</p>
<p>I visited UCLA and got quite annoyed at how it looked like the stereotypical “perfect” college. On paper, it had everything you could have possibly asked for. Yet, the package as a whole just didn’t feel right.</p>
<p>Then, I visited UCB and really loved the quirkiness / culture around. At that point, I made my decision and submitted my SIR.</p>
<p>At the same time, I have several friends who much prefer an all-around solid college experience to the quirky one here at Cal. It’s all personal preference. Invest the time and money to visit both.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus - I meant political science or Engineering.
@floridadad - hard to quantify…but from personal experience, for N. California students, it seems easier to get to Berkeley than UCLA.
For OOS, not sure anymore. Admissions have been very unpredictable this year. UC Berkeley is supposedly more holistic (Community service ECs…may count more) but then who knows this year? UCLA has denied a lot of good applicants. Being from Florida may help…? Good luck.</p>
<p>What about instate? My D got into ucla but prefers cal. I know she’ll hear next week, but in the meanwhile… Also do the 2 schools share admissions info?</p>
<p>They share the same application but do not and cannot share admissions info. Too little time, too many applicants. Each campus has its own readers and makes its own determination.</p>
<p>And yes, the determination/review does differ, but only slightly. One is not harder to get into than the other. The criteria is just a little different.</p>
<p>There are some threads running around about UCSC using holistic review scores from UCB and UCLA for admissions (but UCSC admission thresholds for the holistic review scores are more lenient). Note the document with the table of applicants which applied to UCB, UCLA, and UCSC – in most cases, the holistic review scores from UCB and UCLA were the same, but there were some that were different. UCLA did seem to give the better holistic review score than UCB in more cases than UCB did.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1306513-ucsc-using-holistic-scores-ucb-ucla-admit-decisions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1306513-ucsc-using-holistic-scores-ucb-ucla-admit-decisions.html</a></p>
<p>Berkeley is a little harder than UCLA to get into for polsci and much harder for engineering. That is a fact.</p>
<p>Cpying my post from another thread-</p>
<p>UCB and UCLA’s admissions are independent from each other. Contrary to urban legend- it is possible to get into both, or be rejected from only one. It’s a bit of a mystery as to who or why. I noted in the last four years on UC’s own Stat Finder that those from public schools the southern part of the state have greater % acceptance to UCLA and those from the northern part of the state have a slightly greater % acceptance to UCB. I doubt this is entirely coincidental. It <em>may</em> have to do with yield rates, or it may be some other reason. The so-called ‘holistic’ admissions process has taken some of the rational and predictable out of the equation. On the plus side, it allows for some unusual and exciting admissions, but it turns away perfect stats-students.
That’s^ the long answer. The short answer is that YES, you might be admitted to UCB and not UCLA, even if UCB is the so-called ‘Ivy’ of the system. This is all that matters individually. You’ll know very soon.</p>
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<p>60% of cross-admits choose Berkeley from what i was reading online.</p>
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<p>[Hacking</a> Democracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacking_Democracy]Hacking”>Hacking Democracy - Wikipedia)</p>
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I agree. From our school (large public Bay area), about 35 kids will get to Berkeley, only half of those (15) will get into UCLA, 5-6 (hypms /other private).</p>