Hello I will take an exchange year either UCBerkley, UCLA, University of Toronto, or Boston College. Could you please give me advices which one I should take. And pls rank these four and give me reasons.
Tuition fee is not required so please do not consider about cost.
Where are you from?
UK
Those are four great schools. No one can give you advice on which one you should take without knowing what you are looking for.
Tell us what is important to you when choosing a school?
I’m still thinking if I should prioritise réputation or collège life there.
But both of them are quite important for me.
UCLA for the weather, beautiful play areas (beach, mountains,) and sophistication, when you want that. All great schools. Ucb is near San Francisco, beautiful city, on the bay.
When it’s an exchange year, it’s more than academics, to me.
Yeah I feel like I should prioritise it more than academics, thank you for your advice
Don’t know anything about UToronto, but all 3 others are both great colleges and great locations, in different ways from each other. Maybe do a bit more research to decide what city sounds of most interest to you. Coming from the UK, spending a year in warm Southern California probably makes UCLA sound very attractive 
but each of those cities has something very special.
Which UK uni are you at?
What are you planning to study? Do you have family in any of the locations?
Each of the 4 has different strengths. Three of them are very strong overall. Boston College is the weakest in STEM but strongest in finance. Toronto is most similar to London culturally.
Four great cities. All good schools. If you haven’t visited before, I would go on You Tube and do some virtual campus tours to get a feel for what kind of environment you might like best.
And the surrounding areas. That might benefit from a tourism site.
There used to be a large ex-pat Britich community (reputed to be the largest, outside the empire,) in Santa Monica, a few miles from UCLA. I don’t know about today.
Looks like it, SF, and Boston are covered here: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2012/09/the-brit-list-the-most-british-towns-in-america/6
We know you aren’t going for the ex-pats, but some like the way Brits and Americans can mingle at some bars, etc. Ime, Americans tend to have a fascination with the English.
Toronto is a great city but COLD. Boston, also a great city. Also cold. Berkeley is a great little city and adjacent to San Francisco. A very vibrant area and mild weather. UCLA is HUGE. In a great area of LA, a very large, sprawling city with warmer weather. My personal preference would be UC Berkeley.
Berkeley and UCLA are virtually identical in size. BC and Toronto are much smaller and larger, respectively.
Berkeley: 30,853 undergrads, 11,666 grad students
UCLA: 31,577 undergrads, 12,960 grad students
Classes with <20 students: 56.7% UCLA, 53.5% Berkeley
Classes with >50 students: 19% UCLA, 18.6% Berkeley
But Berkeley is 1230 acres to UCLA’s 420. (Plenty of space. Boston college is 300+.) And BC and UCLA are adjacent to wealthy residential neighborhoods. That shouldn’t be a factor , of course. But different environments.
All good choices. These 3 near enough a major airport to travel. Pretty good local transportation.
If OP is looking for hip college town-type surroundings rather than wealthy residential neighborhood, Berkeley is good.
Those are all great choices, depending on what OP wants.
Academically you would hard pressed to find much difference in ability or profile of any of the students at Berkeley UCLA or BC. Berkeley May get more super geniuses but it’s more about vibe and location. Berkeley is 40 percent Asian and has the academic intensity rep. UCLA and definately Boston College have a more of preppy and sporty student body. But all are diverse and care about students from all backgrounds. You’ll feel welcome at any of these schools.
Berkeley has a premier global reputation in many things like sciences and math. UCLA is one of the hottest schools in the us for a good reason and has its own global brand. BC is not that type of school but especially in the power centers of the east coast they have a lot of built in connections and alumni support. It’s no joke.
And major and concentrations matter. Berkeley and UCLA are large state schools with off the charts research and science departments. Bc and UCLA have great business schools and MBAs. Pre med is killer at all three with Berkeley considered the toughest. But Boston College has access to the best internships and hospital/medical research. But UCLA medical center and Silicon Valley are the world leaders too. So it’s a preference thing again.
If you are out of state UCLA and Berkeley are a bit harder to get into but all hard.
much has to do with location.
Bc is a Catholic school but not high in terms of religiosity. High on public service and also has a required liberal arts core even for Business, science and pre med types. Which many people like. Some don’t. It’s also smaller and has an idyllic campus and classic college atmosphere.
Boston is the best college town in the us but cal has the beautiful weather. Some people like to ski etc and Boston has a long winter but more like England. Summers in New England are the envy of the world if you get to stay.
I’d never call UCLA preppy. It’s far too diverse, in all ways. And BC does have its brand and incredibly strong college loyalty. I went to UCLA grad school and now live in the greater Boston area.
OP is looking at a college exchange year, not an admit. Summers in New England are close to awful. No one should envy them, unless you’re about sailing or live in the mountains. The humidy is killer. Personally, I feel the “great college town” is more about the presence of Harvard and MIT, other schools. Not necesarily a better lifestyle, for students. Opinions willl vary on that point. Of course.
So, OP, you’re going to get differing opinions but it boils down to 3 great US choices.
I love the summers in New England. And yes being into fishing, days by the water, and water sports is part of it for sure. Cook outs beach days cooler nights etc. and a trips to Vermont. But don’t ask me, ask the thousands of people from around the world who travel there and vote with their wallets.
And people with resources who can travel any where , including international travelers, who spend millions to buy summer homes from old Lyme to Newport to little Compton to the cape to Kennebunkport and bar harbor to be in New England during the summer. And the lakes of nh and hills of the Berkshire’s. It’s not perfect but try Florida or the Midwest in the dead of summer.
And comments are meant directionally not as universal acceptance. My personal experience is the students I’ve known who have been attracted to UCLA or Berkeley from out of state as the OP have fallen broadly into the categories.
But every school is diverse in its own way.
“Summers in New England are the envy of the world if you get to stay.”
Really? I guess humidity is the envy of the world?
Having lived in both Berkeley and Los Angeles, both cities have better weather than Boston in the summer and arguably thoughout the whole year.
If you’re not 21 yet, then you’d need to get used to American hang ups about alcohol. But other than that factor in favor of Canada, I think Berkeley would carry the most academic credibility once you are back in the UK, with UCLA the runner up. Many people in the UK (especially those in their 40s and older) would consider Berkeley as on the same level as Harvard (partly because grad school reputation counts for more in UK/global rankings and partly because most people have heard of Berkeley).
However in terms of lifestyle, UCLA has better food, more of a fun reputation and the weather is better. And other than scenery (it’s hard to match the view of the Golden Gate anywhere in the world), LA probably has more to offer as a city compared to SF (we live near SF, my son chose UCLA over Berkeley).
Regarding diversity, anywhere in the US would be very ethnically mixed compared to the UK. But that would be particularly evident in California.