<p>I have been admitted for Materials Science and Engineering at both UCLA and UC Berkeley. I know there are many, many threads about the whole "UCLA versus Berkeley wars" but I feel that my situation is more unique, considering I really don't see that many threads regarding MSE.</p>
<p>Main concern: I want to be able to get into grad school after I graduate with a BS. I want to be challenged enough to push my boundaries and get a great understanding of MSE (i love the subject!), but not enough for me to crack under the pressure.</p>
<p>Berkeley Pros: one of the top MSE schools in the country, love the vibe (and the hobos!) of the school (it has a character that most other schools don't have), love the campus, prestigious for engineering in general</p>
<p>UCLA Pros: love the campus, great social life to the school, large sports programs, great and safe area, perfect distance from home (I live in San Diego), reputable engineering program</p>
<p>Biggest worries: I plan on applying and attending grad school in the future. For this reason, it is important that I get good grades at whatever school I attend. Berkeley has a reputation for being a very, very competitive school, and though I know UCLA is also a tough school, I am worried that my grades at Berkeley would be worse than my grades at UCLA.
Also, according to many "rankings" Berkeley is consistently ranked in the top few (2-6) for MSE, while UCLA is ranked somewhere between 15 and 25. Normally, rankings wouldn't matter too much to me, but I feel that, say, 3 and 22 are quite a distance from each other. For this reason would it be tougher to get into grad school from UCLA?</p>
<p>Finally, with the type of person I am, I feel that socially it is very possible for me to fit in at both schools. Though, in all honesty, if UCLA was ranked better for MSE, UCLA would probably be my school of choice. Also, if anybody has any info or things they think I should know about being an MSE major, please feel free to share!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>