<p>feuerwerke: aww i cried about all thru may and june. it started to make my mom feel really uneasy about me leaving so i had to put myself together.</p>
<p>but it is comforting to know that i'm not alone on this :)</p>
<p>flashing dots: I was the EXACT SAME! (well actually, july too)
feuerweke: though UCLA is where i really want to be, i sometimes think about usc too, because i wanted to be in SoCal so badly.</p>
<p>volleyball dad: did you end up staying at the school that was far away or did you transfer to a college that was closer?</p>
<p>I stayed there. I did not know one person when I got there and it was really hard moving into the dorm with no help and all the families moving in the other students. It turned out to be the best decision I ever made. You just have to suck it up and TRY to make it work. You will mature much more and be so proud of yourself when you get through it. If you don't stretch yourself to the fullest you won't grow to the fullest. I personally wanted my son to go back east to NYU, but he chose Cal. I am so happy with the decision and it is 500 miles away so that's great. He has to make it work since he just can't drop in when times get tough. He is so ready and excited to go so I doubt he'll have any problem. Just give it time.</p>
<p>I'm from SoCal
I got into UCLA and CAL
My father was hellbent on me going to UCLA, until I took him up north and he understood why CAL was a better choice.
But I will tell you something my history professor at CC told me that I found to be excellent advice.
During our college years it is important to break out of the shell and atmosphere we have grown up in and experience a change of pace in a new location.
I was debating between UCLA and CAL. My professor told me to go to CAL (he had done his undergrad at CAL and got his PhD at UCLA) and this wasn't because he preferred it over UCLA. He told me that if someone from NorCal was asking him this same question he would tell them to go to UCLA.</p>
<p>BowToTheSerge: I AM from Norcal. volleyball dad: i think you also assumed i was from SoCal. oh well</p>
<p>By the way, it's Cal, not CAL...</p>
<p>THE YAY?! I have never figured out why people call it that.</p>
<p>Anyways, I grew up in Santa Cruz, which is pretty close to Berkeley, but I still chose Berkeley (I'm a freshman- 3 weeks left!). I would say try it for a year, because Berkeley is a really intense city and is very fun (if you're a city person, if not you might get burned out). Living elsewhere in NorCal doesn't really compare. And I've spoken to people who have lived in SoCal, and even a few different people who went to UCLA, and they said that the stereotypes (superficial, materialistic people) are basically true. I think Berkeley attracts more interesting students than UCLA, and is a more diverse and interesting place in the long run.</p>
<p>The weather won't be as good though, I'm willing to admit that.</p>
<p>Berkeley is the first university in California
so it is called the University of California
people are lazy so they call it California
eventually it got turned into Cal</p>
<p>Correct me if I am wrong experienced bears</p>
<p>You are all going to love Cal AND the Bay Area. Trust me.</p>
<p>And by good I meant good in the "traditional" sense of not as much sun, but some people (like me) like rain and fog sometimes.</p>
<p>Shah:</p>
<p>It's not really so much the laziness that led to it being called "Cal," it's more just the athletic tradition. In athletics, the teams are ALWAYS referred to as "California" or "Cal;" in academia, the school is ALWAYS referred to as "The University of California, Berkeley" or "UC Berkeley." Since the athletics programs came before the establishment of the other UC's, "Cal" has just always stuck.</p>
<p>bump......</p>
<p>right now I am kind of wishing I did summer school at Mt. SAC. I have recently been very homesick.</p>
<p>bump......</p>
<p>..................</p>
<p>BUMP gosh darn it</p>
<p>aww. its okay. im sure a lot of other people are feeling this way but its just nerves and the idea of having to grow up that's probably freakin us all out.</p>
<p>there really isn't much you can do my friend but wait, to see if you like Cal or to see if transfering is a better option. It's innate to think about the "what ifs", in fact If you had chosen UCLA, you may be in the fear of homesickness and you may realize that Cal has a lot of history and world renown that you want to be a part of, who knows?? But hopefully you will realize that both top notch universities will transform you into an educated person and that both require hard work.</p>
<p>Like katalin said, being close to home isn't necessarily a bad thing. I have friends from socal who go to Berkeley and complain about not having easier access to home and stuff like that. If you live close to Berkeley and you need something from home, you could get your item and have a visit from your parents all in one nice package. Having to fly all the time sucks.</p>
<p>I'm a NorCal native; my house is about an hour away from Berkeley. I've been down here at UCLA for the past three months doing research. And everything I say from this point forth will be with as little bias as possible.</p>
<p>The culture down here is noticeably different. There aren't 50 billion Priuses roaming the streets. The roads are much wider, and as a result, everything is more sprawled out, which means without a car, getting around becomes much more difficult. Public transportation exists, but is definitely inferior to that of the Bay Area. Drivers are more aggressive/impatient (or just better drivers, depending on who you ask). And those LA stereotypes that you see on TV and in movies? It definitely exists, though of course, it's exaggerated in the movies.</p>
<p>There are several major differences I feel regarding campus atmospheres. Social activism just doesn't seem to be as prevalent around UCLA. I was talking to my roommate, a norcal native and third year undergrad at UCLA, about this when I first came down, and he said that he totally agreed: whereas Berkeley encourages you to stand out, the somewhat more superficial atmosphere here encourages you to fit in. Linked to that is repression of expression of individualism - again, fit in instead of stand out.</p>
<p>The around-campus areas are also distinct between the two schools. Berkeley's a little more ghetto but I feel like it's a better college town. Westwood is much cleaner and much more corporate - lots of chain restaurants, lots of slightly upscale places (by which I mean stuff like California Pizza Kitchen, BJ's, stuff like that - so "upscale" in terms of what college students can afford). No real feeling of individuality like Berkeley has, with all its small mom-and-pop stores, but again, depends on what you like - my friend at Cal, an Irvine native, says he LOVES the corporate, clean feel that he's used to at Irvine, and so he kinda dislikes the city of Berkeley.</p>
<p>Having said that, I don't think UCLA is a bad place to go to school. It has its own unique atmosphere and if you're into the arts and film industries, the job opportunities here are MUCH greater than up north. And there are lots of fun things to do down here, but only if you have a car. Koreatown (mid-Wilshire) is HUGE and there are lots of clubs and excellent restaurants (really, there's like a Korean BBQ buffet place every few blocks). Of course, there are the beaches, which seriously, NorCal beaches can't compare. Santa Monica, Venice, Manhattan, Redondo, Hermosa, Malibu - all excellent beach choices to hang out at with your friends. If you like red carpet premieres and seeing some of your favorite stars, the Mann Village has red carpet premieres ALL THE TIME. Just in the past three months I've come across four of them (...can't remember..., Get Smart, Meet Dave, Pineapple Express). I'm not usually into this sort of thing, but since I am a huge fan of Judd Apatow films, I went to the Pineapple Express premiere with my friend and it was a fun time. If you're into museums, LACMA and the Getty are really, really amazing museums to check out, and they always have good rotating exhibits, guaranteed. Hollywood is, of course, Hollywood; Disneyland is an hour away; Universal Studios is about half an hour away. Lots of places to go and have fun with friends, but again, a car is necessary.</p>
<p>But keep in mind that just as Berkeley isn't for everybody, neither is UCLA. College is not a prize to be won; it is a match to be made. So here's what I think: try out Berkeley and if you really, really find yourself hating it, then please, transfer. You owe it to yourself to make college the best experience it can be; don't become one of those people who realize that they hate the school they go to but then decide not to switch out because "I'm already here, I might as well finish it off." Yes, there are certain obstacles (uproot, new area, have to make new friends, losing the OLD friends, new school system, new requirements, etc), but if you really don't feel like the school is for you, then those obstacles shouldn't stop you from finding where you fit in.</p>
<p>Hopefully that's enough information to calm you down, at least for a while. I'm getting kind of tired of seeing you bump this thread.</p>
<p>As a SoCal native who has embraced the use of 'hella' I place firm support in what tastyb33f wrote.</p>