<p>I'm sure you get the 'UCLA vs Berkeley' thread all the time on this site, but i'm really not sure what else to do! I'm a British guy coming to (hopefully) either UCB or UCLA for a year next year. I've been doing quite a bit of my own research, but thought it would be useful to hear it from some students in the US. </p>
<p>My general impression is that Berkeley has the edge in terms of academics, and UCLA in the social scene. As i'm only here for a year and want to have the best time possible, girls and the social scene are a big consideration. In my ignorance, i've kind of come to the conclusion that i'd have a better time at UCLA but a year at Berkeley be better academically and in terms of stacking my CV. I'd hate to look back in 5 years thinking i turned down Berkeley to live it up in Southern Cali.</p>
<p>My questions are very general, if anyone could provide any insight into the following that'd be a real help! Basically:</p>
<p>-Academics
-Party Scene
-Girls
-Location and living prices (bear in mind i study in London so am used to extortionate living costs anyway!)</p>
<p>I think you have your situation spot-on, so you have to decide whether academics or social scene is more important to you. In terms of location, UCLA has more sunshine and moderate temperatures than does Cal, where you will have to bundle up in more clothing when it gets cold. Both locations aren’t cheap to live in, but I don’t have any price comparison.</p>
<p>I would say that things aren’t as set in stone as you might think from an outside perspective. At each school, it depends on what you do with your time. UCLA is slightly more social than Berkeley and I would say that the people here are physically more attractive (physical fitness is big at UCLA.) But, Berkeley has its own attractive population and I have heard great things about their co-op system of living (they party a lot in the co-ops and its decently priced.) Wherever you go, make sure to get involved in activities you like, right away, and talk to as many people as possible in your classes.</p>
<p>Berkeley has an International House.<br>
(Crappy) football is played on campus at Berkeley…not 20 miles away like it is for UCLA.
Bay Area has much better public transportation…access to two major airports, Berkeley, City of San Francisco and Oakland all via the BART system.
Berkeley is a college city that is a bit gritty whereas the big problem with Westwood is westside L.A. traffic…you’ll need a car or a friend with a car to do pretty much anything.</p>
<p>Can you visit both before you decide?
They are quite different.</p>
<p>One other big difference: Cal is on the semester system and UCLA is on the quarter system.</p>
<p>Everyone here is accurate. Both are great schools. The only thing you can do now is visit after your acceptance and see which school gives you the better vibes.</p>
<p>I actually prefer to have a good football team that takes hours of commute to watch than the one under Sonny Dykes right now.</p>
<p>Academics - Berkeley has the edge in most majors, especially undergraduate business and engineering.
Party - UCLA students do a better job. Berkeley parties can be fun but are harder to find.
Girls - Berkeley is doing much better now, but UCLA still beats it out of the water.
Location - Berkeley has the more eclectic environs.</p>
<p>You’ll only be there for a year. That’s not enough time to really get anything done, and I’d be a bit surprised if that had much of an impact on your resume. Now, attending Berkeley for undergrad might (it’s reputation is really strong overseas) but just spending a year abroad I imagine would be mostly negligible.</p>
<p>They both have their advantages and disadvantages. For what it’s worth, people I knew from Berkeley were really impressed by how nice UCLA was in comparison to Berkeley. Also realize that although UCLA has a reputation for being more social, parties may be significantly less frequent on the quarter system since students will largely be busy with midterms / papers. LA is a nice area though, and you can explore a fair amount of it on public transportation.</p>
<p>You’ll only be spending a year at the institution so this won’t have much of an impact on your career. UCLA academics isn’t actually much different from Berkeley’s. An auditorium is an auditorium and UCLA professors are still nothing to scoff at. (Berkeley is better mostly by name but most UCs are on par. Maybe the student body may motivate you to study harder but between UCI and UCLA they’re not that different.) </p>
<p>Plus, how much will you really be learning abroad, anyway? I always regard these exchange programs to be for fun rather than an actual learning experience. If you were concerned with academics, you would stay at your institution and strictly follow its curriculum rather than go to an outside institution and learn some patchy stuff that may or may not fit into your school’s big picture.</p>
<p>If you think you will have more fun at UCLA, pick UCLA. If you think you will have more fun at Berkeley, pick Berkeley. If you want to party hard at San Diego State, it’s all the same.</p>
<p>There are differences in rigor between UC’s, but there shouldn’t be any difference between comparable campuses. Some posters in other threads have talked about a large difference in academic difficulty between Irvine and LA. Maybe oceanpartier can chime in if he sees this.</p>
<p>I think the biggest difference between Cal and LA is the semester vs. quarter system. Otherwise, I wouldn’t over-analyze other factors.</p>
<p>Academics:
Academically, they won’t be a significant difference. The only thing to note is that Berkeley obviously has a better reputation globally
Since you’re British, according Times Higher Education World University Rankings, UC Berkeley is 8th in the world, and UCLA is 12th.
Their separate “World Reputation” rankings place Berkeley at 5th and UCLA at 8th globally.</p>
<p>So while Berkeley has a better reputation, UCLA is not far behind.</p>
<p>Girls/Social Scene
UCLA beats Berkeley hands down. Berkeley girls are mostly horrendous, and people in Berkeley tend to care less about appearance. The city of Berkeley is grungy, and has a large homeless population, while Westwood is cleaner and wealthier. </p>
<p>But this kind of depends on your personality: many people like Berkeley because its more “real” and less superficial.</p>
<p>Personally I would choose UCLA if I was only going for a year.</p>