<p>Like a good amount of you, I'm trying to decide between UCLA and Berkeley.</p>
<p>I'm a computer science major. Here are my pros and cons</p>
<p>UCLA-
Pros:
Beautiful campus
Beautiful girls
People seem cool and happy
I've loved it there each time I've gone
Great financial aid package ($24,000 in grants)
Overall seems like it offers a great social life</p>
<p>Cons:
Not as highly regarded for my major (top 15 typically)
Not as highly regarded in general?
Not a clear cut GPA requirement for this quarter...is a 3.0 ok or would I be kicked out? It says to "maintain GPA" but...my GPA when I applied was a 3.96. Should I take the risk?
If I choose there, I have to take this crappy hard class over summer because it's one of their requirements
It's within an hour of my house, and I feel like I want to "cut the leash" so to speak
I'd be in the college of engineering there, while I'm not interested in engineering. I wouldn't be able to take a lot of the humanities type courses I'd like to take</p>
<p>Berkeley-
Pros:
Their computer science program is top 3, right up with MIT and Stanford
I like the fact that I'm NOT in the college of engineering over there. It's a B.A. degree, so I'd have more of an opportunity to take the classes I want to
I like the distance, and I think it would be cool to move to a totally new area
Also a beautiful campus
They have a clear cut GPA requirement I need to keep this quarter (3.00 or higher).
I wouldn't have to take a summer class this summer.</p>
<p>Cons:
Not as good financial aid. They're offering me $16,000 at the moment, but I think I'll get an extra $4000 so really like $20,000.
Weather? I like the cold, but people tell me it's always raining there and I don't love that.
Too hard? I'm not looking to study all day every day, as I'm a pretty social guy
When I visited it didn't seem like as obvious a fit as UCLA did. However, I feel maybe I just felt uncomfortable because it's so far. Maybe if I went there I'd start to get used to it and feel more comfortable.
I'm guessing the social scene just isn't as good over there as at UCLA</p>
<p>If Prestige and strength of program are important to you, Berkeley would be the obvious choice. Berkeley’s computer science is literally up there with MIT and Stanford like you said. While UCLA is certainly strong, it’s not MIT. </p>
<p>If beauty of campus, hot girls, and happy students are important to you, I would argue that UCLA would be the obvious choice. Not to say the Berkeley campus is ugly or these student do not exist at Cal, but UCLA imo definitely wins in this area. It really is a stunning campus and it looks like everyone really enjoys their time there. </p>
<p>If money is important to you and you don’t think its worth it to take out loans to attend Berkeley, then UCLA is again your best bet. This is something only you can answer. </p>
<p>If you want the freedom of the B.A. that Cal gives you and are deterred by the restrictions that UCLA’s engineering degree, i think this would be another strong point for Cal. I hate when schools make me take classes that I don’t want to take or keep me from taking classes I would like to take. </p>
<p>Overall, based on your points, I feel like you are leaning towards Cal. It seems like the only BIG pros for UCLA are more financial aid and possibly a more social campus environment. I think you need to give up some of the social environment and campus beauty that UCLA has to offer if you were to attend Berkeley, but you instead would gain worldwide prestige and interactions with world-renown professors. </p>
<p>Hopefully you will make the right choice, and I wouldn’t even worry about difficulty. You clearly are more ready than 95% of CCC computer science majors and they seem to do fine. I also don’t think there is a significant difference in the student body that attends both schools, so if anything, Berkeley will be just a little bit tougher.</p>
<p>You’re going to enter as a Junior. Are hot girls really that important to you in deciding which campus is right?</p>
<p>We’re literally staying for two years and then we’re entering the real world right after. My advice is to make the decision that will be best in the long term.</p>
<p>seriously, when i went to LA a few weeks ago, practically everyone i saw was stunningly beautiful! i couldn’t believe the concentration of glowing-ness haha. compared to where i live…</p>
<p>Dude I am frightened by the rigor of cal too. Ive read the stories about academic “backstabbing” and what not. Is Cal engineering/CS really that rigorous and competitive?</p>
<p>If you read anything posted by actual EECS majors at Cal, on the Cal forums or otherwise, they refute all claims of backstabbing. And EECS is considered more competitive than other majors in the COE. I really wouldn’t be too worried about this kind of competition unless I were doing premed; the majority of those majoring in the COE don’t intend to pursue grad studies, so GPA’s aren’t as important to them (i.e. they are there to learn as much as possible and little else).</p>
<p>I would take your spot in a minute – don’t let the opportunity go to waste. I don’t even know if I can handle the rigor at UCD, but I’d still prefer to have my ass handed to me at Cal.</p>
<p>janethedoe: I’m leaning towards UCLA at the moment. I just got a better vibe there. It seems like a very fun place, it has a beautiful campus, and I liked the surrounding area better. The main difference though is that I like the academic program for my major way more at Berkeley. For me, it’s just “social life/environment vs. academics”. UCLA also gave me more grants.</p>
<p>Yesterday I was leaning towards Berkeley.</p>
<p>mkcman17: I have no intentions of graduate school, so my undergrad matters, haha.</p>
<p>oh, gotcha! yeah i’m only considering grad school. well then good luck on your decision. you can’t really go wrong either way, jsut remember that.</p>
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