<p>It's currently a battle between UCLA and UCB and i'm really indecisive about which one I should attend.</p>
<p>I'm not planning to go into engineering or pre-med (i am undeclared in both schools). I'm more interested in learning about people and talking to people, yet I'm not sure which university I should attend and nevertheless, what majors I should look into. I was thinking about psychology and sociology, but I'm not sure..?</p>
<p>And foremost, I'm scared I won't be able to survive the rigor in these schools (lets just say, I wasn't the brightest bulb in my high school but I got lucky; about a 4.3(?) weighted GPA and about a 1600 on my SATs.</p>
<p>i think that ucb will give you a lot of opportunity to meet some pretty amazing people. i was between the two also, but i decided on ucla because of pre-med but since that isnt a part of you decision i’d that if you could afford it check out the campus- la is very city scene-preppy[bel air and beverly hills] berkeley is extremely urban and colorful? so really some personal preference comes into play for you, probably psychocolgy?? philosophy??</p>
<p>I’ve visited Berkeley more in depth than UCLA (ive only seen the UCLA campus once and it was without a tour) and I really liked Berkeley’s campus (i guess it’s because I’m quite liberal) but I don’t want to be bias about my decision before understanding UCLA more. I guess this calls for a tour at UCLA…</p>
<p>Philosophy sounds really cool but from what I know, it’s pretty hard to do anything with a major in philosophy once I get out of college. Do you know how sociology/psychology is at UCLA?</p>
<p>Both are great and amazingly good schools. I went to UCLA and Cal, and I had great time at both. I won’t go in depth about comparing these two (we have a lot of threads about UCLA vs. Cal - search them on this or UCLA’s forum), but here’s my review.</p>
<p>For Berkeley … Over the years I been here, I met some extraordinary people, professors, opportunities, and challenges. The history behind Berkeley is what amaze me the most. I learned a lot of things here at Cal that I never thought I would learn before. I learned more things here than I learned anywhere else. But the downside to this is that it requires hard work. Over-impacted classes, icy professors, cut-throat competitiveness, and occasional sense of social confinement are also some of Berkeley’s problems. The courses are very challenging and I never studied harder in my life. Berkeley is one of the toughest and most competitive schools in the country, but if you can get pass that, then I can guarantee you that you will learn a lot from the best there is.</p>
<p>Now UCLA … I had a lot of fun here while still being challenged academically. In a sense, UCLA prepared me for Berkeley. But at UCLA, I had the best experiences I ever had in my life and I would trade it for nothing else. Throughout the years, UCLA helped me to become a stronger person (mentally, physically, and socially). You will never get tired or bored of UCLA or its surrounding areas, LA is so lively - much more than Berkeley or San Francisco. Since going to college I’ve learned what it means to “have fun”. </p>
<p>So to sum it up, I learned more at Cal than at UCLA, but I had better college experiences at UCLA than Cal. Right now I’m already bored at Cal with nothing to do but study, study, and study. At UCLA, I used to study a couple of hours and then go hit the beach or the desert or an amusement park with friends (I even met some celebrities and took pictures with them!). But my advice to you is that don’t pick a school solely on reputation and prestige. A lot of my friends at Berkeley right now are having hard time keeping up, and they basically have no social lives. I managed because UCLA trained me to become so competitive. At UCLA I had a 3.9 GPA, and now at Cal I barely have a 2.8 (and I usually study 90% of the time. FYI - my major in UCLA was CS&E, and my major at Cal is EECS). Choose a place where you can imagine yourself spending your next four years enjoying, a place that not only meet your academic needs but also your overall personal well-being.</p>
<p>Fasttrack, that was extremely helpful. I’m also trying to choose between UCLA & Berkeley, but I think UCLA stomps Berkeley in terms of undergraduate education/experience.</p>
The quarter system at UCLA is what makes it so competitive at times. 11 weeks goes by fast, but it’s still possible to have fun most of the times. What I like about the quarter system is that you get to take more variety of classes. I’m a person that doesn’t like to be stuck with one thing. After 11 weeks, if you are still interested in the class you’re taking, you can take the more advanced version or even honors of the class. If not, you can try something else. Plus, UCLA has Fiat Lux seminars and freshmen clusters (something that Berkeley should try and adopt) that are extremely helpful and interesting.
Berkeley’s semester system is a bit relaxed, but you would still need to study as hard (if not harder) than at UCLA just because of its competitiveness (especially for engineering-related majors). One thing I hate about the semester system is variety of classes. I hate how you are stuck with your classes for a whole semester - it gets boring sometimes.</p>
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Oh yea … way harder. Cal is famous for its engineering programs, it’s on par with CalTech and is the #3 best engineering school in the nation - so yea, it’s very challenging and competitive. UCLA CS&E is still competitive but it is much much easier than Cal’s EECS.</p>
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I don’t know much about premed because I was in CS&E. But I know there are a lot of research institutes here that you can do research in. UCLA has a renowned medical system (one of its hospital is ranked the best in the west, and third in the nation), so you can do research there with professional doctors and experts. Cal is also good, it’s right next to UCSF (one of nation’s leading medical grad schools), but I assume that it’s harder to get in just because at Berkeley is more competitive. But honestly I don’t know since I never took PreMed programs.</p>
<p>Thanks fasttrack! I was accepted to UCLA CS and denied but appealing to UCB EECS (would do option IV, CS). I am totally torn between these two schools for many reasons, but I do understand that I shouldn’t expect an appeal success from UCB. I do love love love UCLA, but I love Cal too. I’m now trying to rationalize by saying that I would’ve died in EECS lol</p>
<p>And, from what I understand, UCLA CS job prospects are still pretty good (right?)</p>
<p>What about people who plan on majoring in social sciences?? Is Cal as hard in those fields as they are in their sciences and engineering programs?</p>