<p>I'm sure I'm not the only one!</p>
<p>Please discuss.</p>
<p>Haha! your sure aren’t
personally I’m leaning towards UCLA’s MathEcon V Cal’s Applied Math mainly due to the fact that Most of the recruitments/internships are directed towards HAAS students and the rest are kind of overshadowed by them.</p>
<p>@SH2mathecon: True, but I’m pretty sure if an individual is motivated and savvy, they can build some connections. 
It comes down to Berkeley prestige vs. UCLA’s location (ideal for recruiting)?</p>
<p>They don’t really overlap with each other as far as recruiting as they cater to different locations and have their own market in the industry.
Moreover, Berkeley’s curriculum was another turn off for me as it is filled with Abstract/Proof classes that are not really related to Finance. you can build the same network and connections in LA without the unnecessary competition, plus once you go the Grad school(4 which I’m seriously considering Cal’s MFE) your Undergrad won’t carry a lot of weight in the recruitment process(Not to mention the GPA factor, that I’m assuming to be slightly easier to protect @ LA)</p>
<p>I’m thinking the same thing here. I got into both schools for Econ. I personally prefer LA. Also, if I’m considering MBA, I’m afraid that bad GPA in Cal might affect my chance.</p>
<p>@rosegray </p>
<p>what is your perspective major for both schools?</p>
<p>Thank goodness for this thread! I’m torn between ucla and cal to study English. I’m leaning towards la since it’s always been my dream school, and I feel like I would regret not going there when I had the chance. But the prestige of Berkeley is undeniable. It doesn’t help when someone from Cal called to congratulate me the other day, then proceeded to try to convince me that I need to go there! Lol D: I’m going to visit Berkeley next week so I can check it out at least.</p>
<p>@galam0
GPA doesn’t really matter for MBAs, it depends way more on your job experience.</p>
<p>I haven’t been on this forum in 2 years (and made a new username since my old one had my real name in it) but I just wanted to offer my experience. I transferred to Cal last year and was shocked to find out that I hated it. And this was after wanting to go there my whole life (my dad went there), having friends that went there, and having visited multiple times. The area was just horrible, I was harassed several times walking alone at dusk (even as a girl dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt). I started carrying pepper spray whenever I had to walk back from late classes. I was screamed at once by a homeless guy who hangs out in front of Asian Ghetto and gets in your face and roars at you. He’s a big guy and it’s quite intimidating. The area was very isolated and the buses were not reliable, and of course parking a car is prohibitively expensive. If I wanted to go a grocery store that was not Walgreens or Sam’s on Telegraph (where everything is priced doubly) I would have to bus past downtown Berkeley or below Shattuck, and then walk back up the hill carrying all my food.
My classes were good academically but all of my teachers were too busy with research/other stuff to really interact, and I had terrible luck with GSI’s my first semester. My friends had good GSIs so that’s just a matter of luck. It was also really annoying trying to meet with a counselor and they were generally not wonderfully helpful.
I tried to join Young Democrats but chose not to when I learned that I would have to participate in protest in favor of the affirmative action bill, which (as a minority!) I do not support.
The student body I just found to be not very cohesive or rational. It’s just like a bubble. You get 3 types = greek system people, people who study 24/7, and self-righteous white vegans in co-ops. It was like you had the smartest kid in every high school in the country there, but therefore nobody had any social skills and was used to being the funny one. I have never heard so many people talking about how brilliant they are.
I was really devastated at my experience but this semester has not been better. I had friends and went out quite a lot, but all my friends are those I know from high school or CC who went to Cal. It was the antithesis of everything I expected from my dream school. And it’s not like I came in with a bad attitude - I moved in ready to fall in love with the school and community and was met with a bunch of cliches.
I applied for UCLA (I got in last time too) to transfer last fall, just so I would have the option if I was still disliking Cal as much as I did at the time. Since I’m a double major and have at least a year and a half more, I’ve decided to switch there this fall. It’s cheaper, easier to get classes, just as prestigious, but with a better campus, area, and attitude that I’m familiar with (I used to tutor on campus).
I’m sure Cal is a great fit for many people - but for others it’s not. Just because it’s a good school doesn’t mean it’s where you have to go. College gives back what you put into it, and every school, including Cal, is going to have brilliant students and students who slack off constantly. Most importantly, if you don’t love where you are, you won’t have the motivation needed to earn good grades/get involved with extracurriculars, which are what’s really important for grad school/getting hired.</p>
<p>^Woww thanks for the input, may I ask your major?</p>
<p>I’m in L&S.</p>
<p>@blahblah777 Oh my gosh, THANK YOU for posting your experience! I feel like you and I are pretty similar, because I could totally see myself in your shoes in everything you said! I think I needed to hear an honest, real answer, because all I’ve been getting from everyone is, “oh, Berkeley is so much better than UCLA” etc. etc., but no one could really say why other than, “it’s Berkeley.” I’m not a huge fan of the SF area from the two times I passed through it, but I was thinking that maybe I needed a change from SoCal. However, although I’m liberal, I tend to be more toward the middle, and I’ve been a bit worried that I would feel a bit isolated at Cal. In addition, I only know 2 other people at my CC who got into Cal, whereas I will know tons of people at LA. I’m still going to visit Berkeley next week just so that I can see it, and get a feel for the area. But your insight has been a huge help! :)</p>
<p>Thanks, blahblah! Your insight has been super helpful. I can see myself experiencing exactly what you did. I hope to decide finally between UCLA/Cal next week…hopefully.</p>
<p>Ha…this is so funny.
When I tried to post about my experience about UCSB I got criticism, backlash, and counterarguments that seemed to suggest that I was the minority so my opinion didn’t matter.</p>
<p>But everyone is all “omg thank you blahblah for your insight”.</p>
<p>Teehee. Hilarious.</p>
<p>Haha don’t worry AllFieldsAreReq, I didn’t post in your thread, but I thought your reasons for going to UCSB were justified. I think seeing everyone react negatively to you is the reason why I haven’t posted my own thread for advice on choosing UCLA over Cal!</p>
<p>Edit: Hah I just realized that I was confusing you with the person who started the thread about turning down Cal to go to UCSB. I’m not sure I saw your thread. Anywho, I think we’re all grateful because we’ve all had a hard time finding people who were totally genuine about their experiences at Cal, or no one was posting feedback at all. With most of the responses on any of the threads where it was Cal vs. any other school, the responses are always pretty generic in favoring Cal without really saying why.</p>
<p>Is this really a discussion? Haha, joking. As a life long LA native, I grew up with USC and hate UCLA but it’s still a good school. Academically I’d still choose Cal in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>And seriously blahblah? You’re copy and pasting that post to every thread where someone is debating between Berkeley and <em>insert school here</em>. I understand you’re not liking it but there has to be some good points of this past year for you. Plus I don’t know how Berkeley is isolated when probably the best public transit system in California goes through downtown.</p>
<p>@Silenthillnight You’re a current student at Cal, right? Can you tell us about your experiences? Did you transfer from CC, also? </p>
<p>My only point was that whenever someone says they like Cal, they never give any reasons why. I know that I like UCLA because I like Westwood, I like the vibe of the campus, I know a lot of people there, etc. but I don’t know anything that’s so great about Cal except for its prestige. But that’s also because I don’t know much about it, period, other than what I’ve seen on the web site.</p>
<p>@silenthill - I didn’t copy and paste it in EVERY thread. I did so in two. There are many UCLA v Cal threads and I contributed to the two where I thought my experience would be relevant. I’ve been on CC for a while and I think it’s annoying when people say “see my response in xx thread”. Copying and pasting in moderation with a disclaimer, which is what I did, is just fine when the information is still pertinent and especially when it’s a long response.</p>
<p>I would highly encourage everyone to visit the campuses before making their decisions. I have many friends who love Cal and many who love UCLA. It’s a very individual decision which should be based on the advantages each school offers your respective field of study and your personal choice, not on which is a better “brand” or ranked slightly higher. I am biased against Cal and have been open about and explained my reasons for that bias.</p>
<p>This NYTimes poll about hiring practices of CEOs was very interesting. In the sum of all rankings I’ve seen, the two universities really do seem to come out about even.
[Education</a> - Image - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Education - Image - NYTimes.com”>Education - Image - NYTimes.com)</p>
<p>Anyone who is still making their decision is free to PM me and I’d be more than happy to answer any questions I can. Good luck!</p>
<p>@SH2mathecon: I was accepted into L&S at Berkeley and Communications at UCLA. I’m planning to double major in media studies and something else or pick up a minor in comp sci if possible.</p>
<p>@blahblah777: Thank you for your input. I feel as if I may have the same problem as you if I choose Cal, however, it’s just difficult to turn down the “Top” UC when you’ve worked so hard. I’m not planning on going to graduate school, so I’m afraid that if I choose UCLA, the value and ‘name’ of UCLA will not carry as much weight as Cal. On the other hand, UCLA may provide more exposure to recruiters and internships. What are your thoughts on this?</p>
<p>@Allfieldsarereq: I’ve read some of your previous posts on another thread about UCSB, and I thought your points were very valid. I don’t understand why you were attacked for it because it’s helpful to gauge other’s experiences so that you can get an idea of what a school will be like. While I agree that it is very individual, I like to read first-hand accounts and compare myself to the person (to see if we are alike) as I may have the same problems when attending the school.</p>
<p>I’d love any additional perspectives regarding UCLA vs Berkeley. I haven’t seen a bad account of UCLA as of yet, and this is the first time I’ve read about Berkeley’s shortcomings (other than the cutthroat academic environment).</p>
<p>Everyone, please post your experiences (whether past or present student), if you’ve toured any of the campuses, and/or your pros/cons!</p>
<p>Communications at UCLA is incredibly impacted and a top, top program. Just for the major (I’m not speaking to your personal preferences on campuses, etc), the fact that you got into that program is going to be exactly the kind of distinction that recruiters will look for.</p>