<p>How would you rank the Universities of California?</p>
<p>UCB
UCLA
the rest</p>
<p>Why in that order?</p>
<p>Berkeley's considered the best. Common knowledge, accurate or not.</p>
<p>top: ucb ucla
high: ucsd
mid: ucd ucsb uci
ok: ucsc ucr</p>
<p>i think ...</p>
<p>Ucb/Ucsf
Ucla
Ucsd
Ucd/ucsb
Uci
Ucsc
Ucr
Ucm</p>
<p>UCSF is only grad isn't it?</p>
<p>Right now I'd rank it as follows (schools are ordered within tiers):</p>
<p>Top Tier:
1. Berkeley
2. Los Angeles</p>
<p>High Tier:
3. San Diego</p>
<p>Mid Tier:
4: Santa Barbara
5: Davis
6: Irvine</p>
<p>Low Tier:
7: Santa Cruz
8: Riverside
9: Merced</p>
<p>
[quote]
UCSF is only grad isn't it?
[/quote]
Yes, Berkeley's defacto medical school.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how you're defining "best", but if you want national academic reputation, UC Berkeley is way above the rest, UCLA is fairly good (though people know it more for sports), none of the others are close. There was a thread about this a while back, asking people who lived in areas of the country that weren't the West Coast for their local perception of the UCs.</p>
<p>Where I am from Berkeley is definitely the most prestigious. UCLA ..while very good, definitely does not carry the same prestige. Saying you go to UCLA would get a nice smile from most people where I'm from. No one knows any of the other UCs, except maybe for Santa Barbara as a party school.</p>
<p>Washington Monthly ranks UCLA #2 in the Nation
"The</a> Washington Monthly College Guide " by The Editors</p>
<p>US News Ranks UCLA #25
USNews.com:</a> America's Best Colleges 2008: National Universities: Top Schools</p>
<p>Business Week ranks UCLA Anderson school of management #1
UCLA</a> Anderson School of Management | Media | #1 in Intellectual Capital</p>
<p>UCLA Medical Center is #1 in the west
University</a> of California - UC Newsroom | UCLA Medical Center rated best in the West again</p>
<p>UCLA is #1 in NCAA Titles
UCLA</a> first to win 100 NCAA team championships - UCLA Today Online</p>
<p>And a UCLA Student won College Jeopardy</p>
<p>^^ I believe Berkeley outranks UCLA in most of those (Berkeley outranked it in the Washington Monthly ranking last year--this year is right behind it)</p>
<p>While I share the sentiments of UCLA Band Mom and while I think UCLA is closing the gap. It still is 1) Berkeley, 2) UCLA, 3) UC San Diego, 4) UC Santa Barbara ( I pick UCSB 4 because it has a great all around college experience), 5) UC Davis, 6) UC Irvine (commuter school mostly) 7) UC Santa Cruz, 8) UC Riverside and 9) Merced</p>
<p>
[quote]
^^ I believe Berkeley outranks UCLA in most of those (Berkeley outranked it in the Washington Monthly ranking last year--this year is right behind it)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Actually, the Washington Monthly ranking IS from last year. They haven't done one this year</p>
<p>Time goes by fast. :)</p>
<p>Post #14 has it right, though I always think of UCD, UCSB and UCI as peers together (with Cal Poly SLO in this grouping as well, though a Cal State and not a UC). And a <em>huge</em> dropoff from UCSC to UCR and UCM. The %admit and midpoint SAT agree with these rankings generally.</p>
<p>Here's one more. UCLA was recently named by Newsweek as the "Hottest Mega-University" in the country. It is the only UC on the list.</p>
<p>25</a> Hottest Universities | Newsweek Kaplan College Guide | Newsweek.com</p>
<p>^ Prob because it's the only UC that qualifies as a "mega-university"...:rolleyes:</p>
<p>As an east-coaster, I can confirm the general impression of UCB as by far the best and most prestigious of the UCs. UCLA is the putative next-best. None of the others is really talked about. The University of Southern California is generally lumped in with the others as a school better than UCLA, and comparable in quality to NYU.</p>