<p>Hi, I am a high school female from San Diego County who was recently accepted to bother Berkeley (Psychology major) and UCLA (pre-psychology major). Problem is, I am having THE hardest time deciding where to go, and I need to decide by this Saturday. There are definite pros and cons to both schools. As far as Berkeley, I love the Bay Area and the overall prestige that the University offers, but the homelessness in Berkeley is very sad. Plus, I feel somewhat unsafe when walking around Berkeley. And as far as UCLA, I like the quality of Westwood as a neighborhood, plus I hear the Psychology program at UCLA is very strong. However, Berkeley has always been my dream school, so I feel kind of obligated to go there. And also, it seems as though Berkeley is much more lively for a college student,.</p>
<p>Anyone have any adivce???? I am pretty set on the major of psychology, so does anyone know how the two programs compare? Opinions on the social life at either college? Anything would really help, thanks so much!</p>
<p>I would go to UCLA because Psychology is cited as the easiest major on campus. (I’ve never heard anyone actually praising the program but it is really popular around here.) You will get a higher GPA and this is essential for you to go to Grad School. Berkeley is competitive and you don’t want to end up with nothing but a Psych BS. Grad schools will 99% of the time view the universities in the same way and UCLA really comes up top this time relative to the work you have to put in and the prestige of the school.</p>
<p>In this instance, I believe UCLA is the university that will most likely help you succeed.</p>
<p>How is the social scene there? Is there a lot to do for a college student in Westwood? I probably won’t have a car so is the public transportation pretty good? And on-campus living as a freshman, what do you recommend? Sorry for bombarding you with so many questions, haha.</p>
<p>I would not trust sentimentGX4. UCLA also actually has a lower average GPA than Cal does, and sentimentGX4 already knows this (yet continues to spread false information). When people makes those claims that UCLA is so much less difficult don’t buy their crap. All the claims that Cal is so much more competitive than UCLA are just unsubstantiated rumors.
Here are the average GPAs at Cal and UCLA through time
[url=<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/Ucberkeley.html]UC-Berkeley[/url”>UC-Berkeley]UC-Berkeley[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/Ucla.html]UCLA[/url”>UCLA]UCLA[/url</a>]
Note that in the recent, Cal’s average GPA is higher than UCLA’s.</p>
<p>Psychology is know for being a hella easy major at Cal too. The average GPA of Psychology department here is around 3.5 or so. Psychology is an easy major pretty much everywhere, so I doubt that it is any easier at UCLA than it is everywhere else.</p>
The difference between GPAs is negligent and, when factoring in student bodies, UCLA would be easier. You know this yet you continually choose to spread false information that Berkeley is easier.</p>
<p>Psychology is a far more popular major at UCLA than Berkeley as the person on the Berkeley board noted. If anything, this is an indicator of the relative ease of the program which has been strongly supported by student accounts. (Even if the universities may be around the same overall, it could be possible that a certain program may be easier at one of the universities than the others. Overall != same for individual departments.) </p>
<p>@SoConfused
I would like you to note that anon5524485 is a Berkeley student that takes joy in ■■■■■■■■ the UCLA forums. Both of our accounts suffer from bias but just realize that he is not a UCLA student against your attending UCLA.</p>
<p>The student bodies between Cal and UCLA are roughly similar, there is no evidence to show otherwise. Comparing the 2006 data between UCLA and Cal, you will notice that the difference between the universities is .09, almost a tenth of a grade point! The OP will be putting in roughly the same amount of effort into their coursework regardless, which UC they choose, and the fact of the matter is that at Cal they will have a higher average GPA at Cal.</p>
<p>The person who posted on the Cal forum was wrong, I’ve looked at the numbers from the Cal career center before, English and Psychology are roughly tied at the 5 or 6th most popular major at Cal. Cal’s career center records the number of majors there are in total for each department, so one can look and see, which majors are actually the most popular. Psychology is very popular at Cal; that is why it is capped. Why don’t you actually look at facts instead of relying on hearsay.</p>
<p>Also, popularity has nothing to do with ease. The most popular major at Cal is Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB), and grade data from CampusBuddy puts MCB at 2.93 making one of the hardest majors on campus. There is no link between popularity and ease.</p>
<p>Psychology is the 3rd most popular major at UCLA with 11%. It is not listed in the Cal rankings. Rank 5 is Economics, neither English nor Psychology.</p>
Majors are popular for different reasons. As a student at the UCLA campus, I believe I am more qualified to make a judgment on why Psychology is popular at UCLA just as you would be for why MCB is popular at Berkeley. </p>
<p>From first-hand accounts on campus, I know people are majoring in Psychology because of the relative ease and laid back nature of the program. Some UCLA student back me up here; but this subforum is so slow…</p>
<p>That may be true for one department at one place, but it is not a universal rule</p>
<p>Also you are looking at the wrong source for your Berkeley data. That is the data for applicants to Cal, not for people actually come here and declare a major.</p>
<p>From the 2008 data, it goes:
1 MCB
2 Political Science
3 Economics
4 Psychology
5 English
Psychology is extremely popular at Cal. It may not be AS popular as at UCLA, but it is still extremely popular.</p>