<p>The acceptance rates at both schools are comparable. Berkeley's acceptance rate is 21.6%, while UCLA's is 21.9%. So I don't understand why Berkeley is considered to be much more "competitive."</p>
<p>Does anyone have an explanation or any insight?</p>
<p>Could people who applied to both schools in the past tell me if they were accepted into one, both, or neither?</p>
<p>My sister (graduating UCLA this year) was only accepted to UCLA and not Cal. She had a 33 ACT and and 4.something GPA, so it was a surprise when she wasn’t accepted to both</p>
<p>UCB applicant pool is more competitive.</p>
<p>I got into both and chose UCLA based on location/save money.</p>
<p>This is an interesting question. A very informal survey of many who previously applied in my community showed that most were accepted to one of the other, not both. This has led current applcants to speculate whether UCLA and Berkeley may coordinate their admissions decisions somewhat, in addition to leaving applicants wondering they should actually be hoping for a rejection from UCLA if Bekeley is their first choice. I know it all sounds crazy and it probabaly is. Speculation is rampant right now with applicants losing it over the stress of waiting.</p>
<p>Actually it’s 25.82% for Berkeley and 22.69% for UCLA in 2010. So, UCLA is actually more competitive than Berkeley.</p>
<p>I got accepted to both. I don’t think there’s much to the rumor that they coordinate admissions decisions. Most of the people I know who were accepted to one but not the other were borderline to begin with.</p>
<p>I got into both.</p>
<p>It’s good to hear that kwwboarder. Of course, then the question becomes what is “borderline”? It’s a gimme that anyone expecting to have a shot at either UCB or UCLA needs the numbers in terms of GPA and SAT but there’s a lot of gray area relative to essays and ECs. Plus, it seems inconsistent that one coule be borerline for one school and not the other. Count me in with the crazies. This month is killing me.</p>
<p>i was accepted into harvard, yale, princeton, dartmouth, stanford, brown, MIT, upenn…but was rejected by UCLA and Berkeley; im instate…go figure</p>
<p>jtanton, which school did you choose ???</p>
<p>I applied to both, I just want UCLA, not Berkeley, all my folks are in southern california …</p>
<p>Berkeley is more “competitive” because, while the two UCs are roughly equal in terms of difficulty to get into, there is a more notable gap in accepted students that actually choose to attend the two schools. Also, the vibe of the two schools is just different.</p>
<p>People who get into UCLA don’t necessarily get into Berkeley. Vice versa was true many years ago but it isn’t now. Borderline Berkeley students frequently don’t get into UCLA. Many non-borderline students do get into both, however.</p>
<p>heh, brother got into berkeley, and rejected from UCLA. I heard from a counselor at UCLA though that if you got into UCLA, you probably also got into berkeley. i got rejected from berkeley, but into LA.</p>
<p>I got into both, but I chose UCLA because it’s closer to home.</p>
<p>My s got into Cal not UCLA. My theory for him (and lots of his classmates) was that he was an IB student. Cal likes IB while UCLA like AP. It actually says on UCLA’s website that they weight AP more strongly. In his senior IB class last year, 15 kids got into Cal while only 5 got into UCLA.</p>
<p>I got in UCLA but was borderline for Cal! I was asked by Cal to write a supplemental essay and to submit a recommendation letter ( the latter one was optional). But I was rejected at the end, which was fine with me since UCLA was my first choice.</p>
<p>Boyzrule, That’s an interesting post of yours. My S is also IB. I’m wondering if the disparity was due to the fact that not all IB candidates were full certificate?</p>
<p>Son got into both. Chose Cal for engineering. Many in his class applied to both. Over 20 got accepted to UCLA. Only 7 got into Cal.</p>
<p>My son got into both (although for CAL he was admitted for Spring). Last year the kids in his class who applied to both either got into both or were denied by both. Although there was a girl a couple years before who was denied at UCLA but got into CAL (as a Spring admit).</p>
<p>Those are comparable schools in many ways and one would naturally see heavy overlaps in their admissions, randomness included. Outside ca, though, ucb is significantly more impressive and may attract a more competitive pool of applicants.</p>