<p>Im gonna be a freshman this fall at Cal, but I've been thinking about this since May, and I seriously think i picked the wrong college b/c i'm from NorCal and i wanted to experience Socal so much... i just didn't know it at the time. Does anyone else have the same fears or already thinking about transferring to ucla?</p>
<p>People usually make mistakes of some type one time or another. Don't have much to say because I'm from SoCal and location is one of the many reasons why I preferred Berkeley. I found UCLA to look too clean and generic for my tastes.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on what you want from the college experience and atmosphere. I think in soCal there is a much more emphasis on looks and materialistic things. The weather is warmer and you are more likely to find characters who could have played the role of Daisy in The Great Gatsby. The bay area seems to offer much deeper things from what i can understand of it</p>
<p>dont decide that until you get to cal & try it on for a bit</p>
<p>I felt the same way as you, gobama, except about NYU. I really wanted to go to an east coast school, but I ended up concluding NYU wasn't right for me.</p>
<p>I still want to attend an east coast university, particularly, Brown, and I might transfer.</p>
<p>You can try transfering. Everybody says to try the campus you picked, which is true, but if you really want to go to UCLA, once it's your 2nd year, try transfering.</p>
<p>what year/major are you nhsharvard? and i'm assuming you're at Cal for now? oh wait. your location says berkeley '12. well, are you undeclared too? I'm scared I won't be able to transfer b/c i'm still undeclared and the ucla capped majors all have many requirements</p>
<p>I'm undeclared in letters and science. I think you should fulfill Berkeley's (just in case transfering in unsuccessful) and UCLA's requirements for your possible majors.</p>
<p>I didn't get to choose Brown because I was waitlisted, then rejected. Like you, I wanted to go to a different geographic region, except I want to go to the east coast.</p>
<p>A tip about SoCal, just be aware that it could get up to 85-90 during a heat wave, but regular fall weather is 70-80. It's not as cold as NorCal.</p>
<p>oh man. i feel the same way too. but i want to go to UCLA because its closer to home and ever since i turned in my SIR, i've felt really bummed about leaving everything behind. i didn't really factor in location as much until it was too late.</p>
<p>plus they have a nursing a program that i possibly wanted to do because i dont want to be a doctor anymore =/</p>
<p>flashingDots:
yeah i kinda have a similar frustration b/c i don't want to suffer through berkeley's mcb program so ucla's minor in neurosci is such a nice compromise for me but sadly berkeley doesn't offer any science minors.</p>
<p>location: yeah, socal is pretty awesome. i don't know why i passed it up....
have you made any plans about switching or are you gonna judge things after your first semester at cal?</p>
<p>nhsharvard: I'm from the valley where it's 90s all summer long, so i'm used to it. thanks for you post!</p>
<p>Actually it really hasn't gotten so hot here in the summer. The heatwave that came by a month ago where it was like 110 inland was only like 83 degrees here in UCLA. So it's not that bad at all and right now we're averaging about 74-78 degrees in August!</p>
<p>gobama: yeah. it bummed me out about the limited science major/minors. now im even more uncertain of what i want to do in the future but i guess no one really knows. but at least i had some sort of plan you know? but i got all caught up in the hype about Cal when i attended this overnight senior weekend program they had.</p>
<p>im trying to just accept the decision i made. i'll try it out for a year and if i'm really unhappy ill transfer else where. probably a cal state if i really do decide to do nursing cuz i suppose it'd be a waste to do that at a UC.</p>
<p>you never know though! at least i had enough scholarships so i didn't have to take out too many loans but the fact that tuition&dorming is so expensive anyway puts a lot of pressure on me and makes me more worried about my decision >.< </p>
<p>anyway, im blabbering now. you never know. things change. let's just try to stay positive =)</p>
<p>"The bay area seems to offer much deeper things from what i can understand of it"</p>
<p>As a native of the Yay, that's BS we like to spout about ourselves.</p>
<p>Well I don't know too much about Berkeley, considering that the only times I have been there were during calday & calso.
But I have heard cool things about the bay, and Cal seems to have that activist spirit that would be interesting to experience.</p>
<p>Every college the size of Cal/UCLA has an amount of activist students. Most kids at both schools just want to have fun in college and get ready for a profitable career.</p>
<p>As someone who grew up 1/2 hour away from Berkeley, it's been my experience that being close isn't necessarily a bad thing. There's definitely a ton to explore that you never realized was there, and you pretty much create a whole new world for yourself in the dorms and on campus. It would be good to explore a new place, sure, but Berkeley is truly awesome and I have absolutely no regrets. Give it a shot and see what you think.</p>
<p>gobama: I feel the EXACT same way as you, except for UC San Diego instead of Cal since I was rejected from UCLA. But yeah, I felt compelled to Cal since it is a better school, but after submitting my SIR and letting it sink in for a bit, I feel that SD should have been my choice. Cal feels way too hardcore for me since I come from a school where it's community oriented. It also doesn't help that I won't really be able to experience anything new, since I'm just crossing the bay. The weather in the bay area also sucks, I'd much prefer a warmer climate.
Oh yeah, CalSO was kinda weird... everyone was kinda... quirky to say the least.
The grass is always greener on the other side I guess.</p>
<p>shua: yeah i think i picked it b/c of all the hype about berkeley too. and this has really been a damper on my summer vacation.</p>
<p><em>sigh</em> it's a bit of a comfort to know that there are a few people with the same concerns as me.</p>
<p>WOW. i -never- read every, single post if the thread is longer than 5 posts.</p>
<p>BUT, this one hit somewhere (haha) close to home. i chose berkeley over USC and no one (no one) listens to me when i cry about having 2nd thoughts. it has really been hard NOT to go back and think 'what would it'd've been like if i'd submited my SIR elsewhere.........'</p>
<p>thanks guys for keeping this thread alive long enough for me to see and not feel so alone about these things.</p>
<p>I am a dad who went to a school 2000 miles from home a long time ago and know what you are going through. I can tell you that a lot of what you are feeling is the uneasiness of leaving home for the first time and experiencing something new. My son got accepted to both UCLA and Cal and chose Cal and am so thankful he did. I tried to stay out of his decision, but if he had chosen UCLA I would have done anything to have talked him out of it. Cal has it all, and UCLA to me seems too perfect in a negative way. Life isn't perfect, and yet Cal has so much to offer. So you are a little bit out of your comfort zone, so what. You grow more when things are a little tough. Life would be so boring if you didn't experience change. Give it a shot and I'm sure you'll have a blast. Go to the football games, join clubs and all will be great. GO CAL!</p>
<p>
[quote]
A tip about SoCal, just be aware that it could get up to 85-90 during a heat wave, but regular fall weather is 70-80.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>lol, oh, I would love it if during a heat wave, the temperature would be 85-90 in my so Cal town. Here, when there's a heat wave, it gets upwards of 115. It's not abnormal for each day to be 100+.</p>