<p>What's your pick and why?</p>
<p>I say Caltech any day of the week. Maybe its my genetic inclination towards technology and science and math. But for the purposes of benefiting humanity, Caltech seems like the more logical choice. Scientific discoveries are going to be dominant on the horizon for the next century, so why not go in prepared. Not to say UCLA won't prepare you, I would love to go to UCLA to work in their math department especially, but science and math combined I have to say Caltech>UCLA.</p>
<p>The two schools are completely different.</p>
<p>Size, Social Atmosphere, Academic Environment... </p>
<p>There are people for whom UCLA is a great fit, and there are people for whom Caltech is a great fit. These people are usually totally different. </p>
<p>I would hazard a guess that the type of person who could get into Caltech probably wouldn't find his or her best fit at UCLA (although possibly not at Caltech either) due to the lower challenge level.</p>
<p>Caltech definitely. In addition to what's already been said about the social and academic atmospheres, consider research. It's not an option these days to get into a good PhD program without years of undergrad research. Almost every Caltech undergrad who applies for a SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, 10wks/$6000) gets funded, and most (80%?) students participate in a SURF at least one summer. And it is soooo easy to find a lab to work in during the year. I feel like at UCLA, it would be harder to get work in a good lab: hard to get attention, hard to get paid, hard to get credit for your work...but not here. The professors want to help you get started, it seems. Very friendly place, community atmosphere, yada yada...</p>
<p>Caltech is also great for launching into CS/EE/MechE jobs. Google, Nvidia, and Microsoft duke it out for our students. Math majors can get very lucrative summer work at investment firms, even without any finance/economics background. It's easy to get internships through connections with alums and upperclassmen. I'm sure there are a lot of UCLA grads in high places too, but I'm just saying, I've been very impressed with how many of our students land great jobs.</p>