My daughter was accepted at both schools, and is struggling to make a decision. I am trying to provide guidance while not imposing my own preferences on her (no, I’m not having much luck on that front). Here is generally where she is – do people think we are missing some material aspect of either school?
COST. We are fine to pay for either school, although UCB will be about 22K more total over 4 years (based on each school’s estimates) – this mostly due to the cost of housing (see below).
PRESTIGE/RIGOR. Not sure which you want to call it, but UCB seems to have a slightly better reputation with respect to STEM. My daughter is planning to attend grad school in some STEM field (Math or Chemistry). It’s hard for us to quantify this advantage.
BALANCE. The flip side of “Prestige/Rigor” – my daughter is seeking a challenging academic environment AND a fun college experience. UCB sounds very challenging, but will there be time for fun?
CAMPUS LIFE. Both are beautiful, although the area surrounding UCB is grittier. (That being said, she’s fine with gritty – we live near Chicago, and she spends a lot of time in the city.)
HOUSING. Very expensive at UCB, and not guaranteed past one year. We attended Cal Day and saw Foothill (like taking a time machine back to 1977); didn’t get a chance to see UCLA dorms, but I assume they aren’t significantly more impressive.
CONNECTIONS. She knows a couple of other students who will be attending UCLA, but doesn’t know any other UCB students. On the other hand, we have three good friends in the SF area who could at least help out in an emergency – there’s really nobody like that in LA.
Any thoughts are much appreciated!
Hi @JoelShoe my daughter had the same decision to make and while it was tough it was a little easier since we live in Oakland and in the end she said UCB was just too close. She’ll be majoring in Chemistry. Her other reasons choosing UCLA were:
•She loves warm weather. Even though, I will say, despite what you hear from some people about all the rain in Berkeley (we really got a laugh when even Chancellor Block mentioned this in his speech at Bruin Day), there is NOT a ton of rain up here. It is chillier, though, for sure.
•Housing. She really liked “the Hill” at UCLA and knowing that housing is guaranteed for 3 years at UCLA vs 1 year at Cal. She loved that all the dorms were together on the Hill making for a very social experience. Housing at Cal seemed like one more thing to worry about and even though we’re close, she did not want to have to resort to living at home after year 1 OR paying a ton of money for off campus housing.
• Food. The options at UCLA are endless and delicious.
• General vibe of students. Since we do live in Oakland, we are at Cal a lot (she’s gone to many STEM events there and her 13 year old brother takes a math class there weekly and has for the past 2 years). She felt that the students seemed “happier” at UCLA. Whether this is true or not, who knows, but this was her take. She has also heard that Cal is really cutthroat and she wants a less always pressured academic environment. Again, who knows how true this is and UCLA will be no walk in the park academically, but this is her take being on both campuses and having friends at both places.
• Her excitement was always about UCLA. She was very proud to get into Cal but UCLA truly excites her.
What really excites your daughter? What is her gut telling her?
She has 2 great choices. As a parent, being at Cal a lot, I LOVE it. It has a buzz and and energy that totally excites me. I would be a Cal person since I’m much more Nor Cal then So Cal. I like an edgier vibe and I do NOT love warm weather ; )
Good luck with the decision! Looking forward to hearing where she lands.
I’d focus mostly on nonacademic factors; both schools are extremely strong in math. My SO had to choose between the PhD programs at Berkeley and UCLA for pure math, and ultimately it came down to the specific professors he wanted to work with. (He recently finished his PhD at UCLA and has no regrets.)
For a math/chemistry combo, note that they’re in the same college at UCLA (Letters & Science) but separate colleges at Berkeley (Chemistry and Letters & Science). I’d investigate the curriculum requirements and how easy/common it is to double major between colleges at Berkeley.
One added note, when I said the food options at UCLA are endless and delicious, I’m talking UCLA dining halls specifically because all the food at restaurants surrounding Cal are endless and delicious, too, I just don’t think Cal dining halls have the delicious reputation like the UCLA ones do ; )
Berkeley was able to make offers to everyone who wanted on-campus housing for second-year students. I can’t imagine that the diff in housing would be $5.5K more per year between Berkeley and UCLA, that doesn’t sound right. The average 1 bedroom in both Berkeley and Westwood is both around $2500 and from what I can tell, dorm rates are the same.
You probably should go to the Berkeley sub-forum and look at the active threads to see some of the similar questions and subsequent answers.
Thank you for your insights, @crknwk2000! Our daughters sound very similar. I am trying to encourage her to follow her gut/heart, despite her desire to always be super-analytical. (My wife and I were both English majors, so not sure where she gets this!)
@warblersrule, that’s a good point – she has a lot of AP credits, and has talked about possibly exploring a double major so she could graduate with two degrees in four years. She expressed some concern last night about her ability to do Math + Chemistry at UCB, and we need to nail that down.
To compare:
• Room and Board on campus at Cal for 2019 will be $17,110 (unless you live in Bowles and then add $3790)
- Room and Board on campus at UCLA for 2019 will be $15,900
• Room and Board off campus at Cal for 2019 is estimated at $14,404 (includes food estimate)
- Room and Board on campus at UCLA for 2019 is estimated at $14,301(includes food estimate)
So ProfPlum is correct, off campus housing at both are about the same.
I will recheck my math, @ProfessorPlum168, and will head to the Berkeley sub-forum as well. Based on the estimated cost of attendance docs each school provided, the difference is about $3,200 per year for housing ($19,134 UCB vs. $15,900 UCLA) and $1,000 per year for tuition ($43,200 UCB vs. $42,200 UCLA). But based on what @crknwk2000 says, it may be that UCB is too conservative in its assumptions.
@JoelShoe lol, SUPER ANALYTICAL which can lead to a big struggle pulling the trigger sometimes. On the one hand, I’m glad she really weighs things out since i was a “jump right into it and then think about the consequences” type of person when I was her age, but on the other hand, there’s only so much talking we can do!
2 other things that helped my girl pull the trigger:
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Her beloved Chem teacher told her to not worry about making the “right” decision, but make the decision you make RIGHT. Like, don’t look back and embrace what you choose.
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Her beloved pediatrician who is really like her big sister/aunt/personal role model weighed out her options with her and when she said she though UCLA would be the best choice, the heavens parted and a decision was made…I really think the decision was made before this, but hearing Dr. M say this locked it in 
Does your daughter have some one like that she can talk about the decision with?
@crknwk2000 Don’t use the COA, use the actual costs, because the UCLA triples are cheaper. With 14P (the most popular meal plan) its $13217 without aircon (classic) and $14081 with aircon (deluxe).
See https://housing.ucla.edu/my-housing/rates-contracts-rules/2019-2020-contract-housing-rates-and-payment-plans
There seems to be more variation at UCB, from $15125-$18935 for triple rooms (https://housing.berkeley.edu/rates) but I’m not sure which rooms students actually get allocated.
Thanks @Twoin18 ! My D is going for the basic classic since everyone says that gives you the best first year dorm experience so cheaper for us 
OP, if your D does choose Cal, which housing did she like the most? There are so many different options in different locations at Cal? I just saw Bowles Hall up close for the first time. That place is pretty impressive—it looks very Ivy League, very cool old building.
For Berkeley, Clark-Kerr will be by far the best dorm in terms of layout, but it is a 20 minute walk to the center of campus (or a few minute bus ride). Bowles looks like a castle from the outside, but never been in it. It has a separate application process from normal Cal Housing. Blackwell is the newest dorm, just opened up last year, and will be very close to the buildings in the west and center of campus. Foothill/Stern will be closer to the STEM buildings.
My kid is in Blackwell this year and just renewed for next year as well. I think the main reason why he likes Blackwell so much is that it’s literally a few steps from the main student gym (RSF) which is an awesome and gigantic place, to relieve the stress after a hard day of classes and studying.
Also, to me a slight advantage of having spread-out dorms in different areas rather than in one area is that it matches personalities better. Foothill has always been the more quiet area, while the Units and Blackwell are more considered to be social dorms.
@crknwk2000 Bowles does look nice, but the added cost (and required essay, I believe?) are a bridge too far, I think. I pushed for the Women in Science and Engineering program in Foothill, but I think my daughter would just prefer Unit 1, 2 or 3 (none of which we saw in person – just looked at online).
@JoelShoe Unit 1, 2 or 3 are right in the thick of things which seems great and I like that they’re above Telegraph. I’ve seen Blackwell and get the appeal of being near the RSF, but I wouldn’t want to be that close to Telegraph (but that is me saying that as an adult).
Clark Kerr would be my choice because I love the Spanish style of architecture and it looks so tidy and peaceful (maybe not the criteria for an 18 year old lol). Prof Plum, when my husband and I were on one of our Cal walks the other day (we can get in 18K steps while our 13 year old is at his 3 hour math class at Evans!) we were walking through Kerr and both remarked about how it really isn’t THAT far from Campus. BUT if all your classes were in the Life Sciences Building, that is FAR. If all your Classes were around Hass or Evans, not that far. So many choices, so many things to weigh, but ultimately all are probably great in their own way.
But of course, OP, I hope your girl joins mine and becomes a Bruin ; )
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/2136831-101-reasons-to-attend-berkeley-p1.html
107 Nobel Prize winners and 14 Field Medal winners have taught at Berkeley. They all have their own parking spaces inside of campus.
In UCLA’s favor, the man who invented the internet (purportedly) also has won a Nobel Prize and teaches at UCLA.
wanted to lighten up this thread…
lol, what needed lightening up? Housing convo just too dark for you?
haha yeah, especially considering that a lot of the dorms are pretty ugly (from the outside) at Berkeley.
One thing your kid may want to consider: quarter system vs semester system.
UCLA starts school around September 23 and ends in mid June.
UCB starts school around August 21 and ends in mid May.
Unit 1 & 2 are above Telegraph. Unit 3 is just below Telegraph.
I’m not quite sure what the relevance of being above or below Telegraph is.