<p>Here's the scoop: my daughter will be a transfer student w/a 3.92 GPA from a CC in the Bay Area, interested in a music ed/performance major. We're looking at SFSU, UCLA, and Oxy - all have excellent flute profs. UCB is too close to home (whereas SF is not?)...</p>
<p>SF is probably a shoo-in, so the big choice will be between UCLA & Oxy, i.e., small & expensive v. large & ...exciting?</p>
<p>Supposing you had limitless amounts of cash (which we do not) and wanted to stay in CA, what would you choose? Obviously UCLA??</p>
<p>I think that Occidental is great as a school, and the idea of a liberal arts college is always appealing for undergrad.</p>
<p>However, given that you mentioned that your daughter is a music ed/performance major, I would say UCLA hands down. I know a lot of music majors and they have a very tight-knit environment within the school of music. I'm not even a music major and I know half the people I see walking around in Schoenberg Hall (the music building). Your daughter will receive just as much personal attention at UCLA as she will with Occidental given the fact that she is at a small school within a large university. And given the fact that UCLA is so large, there are so many opportunities beyond just the music school. Occidental's location is slightly more isolated I think (in a less-appealing neighborhood), and although I'm sure there is plenty to do, you have to understand that we're a school of 30,000+ in West Los Angeles. There will be unlimited opportunities for her here. And UCLA has quite good name recognition as well, which is nice. </p>
<p>I would recommend posting the same question over on the Occidental board so you don't just get the UCLA side of the argument, but I think that, given her situation, UCLA is a good choice, if not the better choice.</p>
<p>jhype17 - thanks so much for the thoughtful reply & excellent suggestions...</p>
<p>Harking back to my days at UCB, I remember being cemented in the idea of being a Bio major, only to find myself deciding on a completely different major later on - in a very small dept with LOTS of attention. UCB, like UCLA can be daunting with an enrollment of 30,000+ but I suppose one can find a niche.</p>
<p>I had friends at UCLA - how's the housing these days?</p>
<p>The housing is great, at least I have had a great experience. Actually housing was one of the main reasons I came to UCLA after narrowing my choice down to Cal and UCLA (which was such a hard decision itself). This year alone they opened up 2 new 9-story high rises, and next year they are opening a final one. This is in addition to De Neve plaza which is about 5 years old. There is a huge variety in housing, from the shared floor bathrooms (although not co-ed like Berkeley, which is either a good thing or a bad thing :P) to the "plazas" which either have their own bathroom or share with one other room (such as the new high rises), to suites, which are just shy of being apartments. One advantage that UCLA has over many other schools in the housing department is that all the dorms are clustered in 1 area, within about 3-4 minutes walking distance from one another, colloquially known as "the Hill." Overall, I have been thoroughly satisfied with the housing situation these past 2 years. Unfortunately all my friends are moving off campus next year so I will be living in an apartment, but I have friends still in the dorms so I'll probably visit a lot :). Overall I feel like housing is one of UCLA's strong points and will be in the future moreso as they are renovating the older high rises starting next year. </p>
<p>Much like your situation at Cal, I ended up changing my major here as well. Another factor of me choosing UCLA was the school having an Atmospheric Science major, which I was very interested in at the time and which very few schools offered (only UCLA and UCB in California). This year I decided to double major in Geography solely because I felt bad dropping a major I had made my school decision based upon, but I will be going to grad school for Geography. At larger schools it is nice to have the option of pursuing different... and highly regarded... majors. Geography here is one of the top departments in the nation and I was lucky that I had that to fall back on, which is something many times the smaller schools can't offer. Just something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>Again, thanks jhype17 for the info...exactly what we were after!
It is sounding more & more like the best choice is UCLA...we'll take a closer look this summer.</p>
<p>Even though you guys demonize Berkeley, there are many single-sex bathrooms in the housing (and all the ones on campus are), as well as the single sex buildings.</p>
<p>Hey, I have nothing against Berkeley... I love the school. It was just kind of weird peeing in a stall next to my mom, that's all. Other than that, I think coed bathrooms are kind of cool :)</p>