So I’m entering JC and planning to transfer after 2 years to UCLA if I keep my grades up. I had above a 4 gpa in high school and got into most desired UC’s but did not have the ability to pay the tuition price for all four years. I went the route of JC and part time job to build up some savings before attending a UC. Anyways, I was reading a lot of other forums where people were turning down Berkeley to attend Davis because of how difficult Berkeley is, and the odds of maintaining lets say a 3.8 GPA is “astronomically” harder. One thread even had a bunch of people confirming “a 3.8 in Davis is a 3.3 in Berkeley.” REALLY?!?! My GOAL is to get into a great law school. UCLA, Berkeley, BU, NYU, even Cornell and UPENN are surprisingly not far off from this caliber (like yale harvard are) I was wondering how accurate I would be in saying it is fair to consider in my instance being in SoCal, going to UCI to finish undergrad (I’m a history major btw) rather than UCLA. I know my major isn’t Biomed or engineering but Im a bit nervous reading forums about how people are wishing they’d have gone to Davis. I know UCLA isn’t known to have that “insane grade deflation” Berkeley does but it is pretty close academically and in terms of rigor I’d say. As is UCI with UCD. Would I have to work SIGNIFICANTLY harder in UCLA than UCI? A side note, I prefer Irvine’s quaint relaxing reserved-suburb atmosphere. (Im from a suburb in Connecticut called Newington so it fits right) 
How will you afford the UCs as an OOS student? $55k minimum per year as an OOS with no financial aid.
BTW, all of the UCs can be extremely tough. Berkeley and LA will be even tougher,given the competitive level and caliber of the student population.
I have reasonable financial aid, and I’m endured residency for my junior senior based on my dad living here for a while, in the “condit bill” I believe it’s called, I registered and asked with the department of registrar at UCLA and UCSD for good measure, it’s just my first year would be out of state. Even if it was in state tuition, for foUr years? Too much for me! Thanks for the tips too man, cheers
@ilovejazz41 Someone is feeding you a line of hooey. Certainly Berkeley is harder to get into, but I’m not sure I’d pit Berkeley and Davis transfers at 3.8 to 3.3. If you got into the UCs out of high school, you should have no trouble getting in again. UCLA and UCI would equally get you set up for law school. Choose the campus that makes you happiest.
I don’t think you’d have to work much harder at UCLA over UCI.
Well said, thanks
Well, speaking from first-hand experience, UCLA’s not that hard to do well in, and I doubt Berkeley’s as hard as people say it is. Study every day/almost every day and you should be able to get a 3.7+. What’s your major?
History, so not too cut throat competitive lol
@ILoveJazz41
You should talk to @Sonic23. He was admitted to UCLA’s history program last year. He knows everything about that stuff.
It depends on the major of course, but one of my coworkers had a son at UCB premed, and because of the competition, he got into a depression. He finally dropped out. The dad told me he would never thought his son would got into a depression. It’s unexpected base on his Korean culture.