<p>Sam Lee, I’m just reporting the numbers as USNWR has em…I agree that Stanford is much more selective and Cal is on par with UCLA for selectivity.</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, selectivity in California is something like…</p>
<p>Caltech > Stanford >>> Cal = UCLA = USC >> UCSD</p>
<p>Give or take. But the difference between even Cal and UCLA and UCSD is quickly growing smaller. It’s crowded at the top.</p>
<p>Personally, I can see the only reason for choosing UCSB over Cal is if you’re from the Bay Area and want to get away…students have different priorities.</p>
<p>I’m sure you can find a few people who have chosen going to a community college over UCLA, because they were originally rejected by Cal and only want to go to Cal…likey you can find some that only wanted to go to UCLA.</p>
<p>Hell, I knew someone who went to a CC over Cal to get into UCLA!</p>
<p>It’s really an odd thing, college. People care so much about specific schools when the differences are really quite minimal to individuals.</p>
<p>USC has rapidly gotten more difficult for admittance. I remember when I was applying to colleges in the mid-1990s, you could get into USC with a B+ average…it was more of a matter if you could afford it.</p>
<p>Last year, if I remember correctly, USC was actually admitting a cohort with slightly higher SAT scores than UCLA AND Cal.</p>
<p>It’s a good time for the Trojans.</p>
<p>I just got one simple question: does a more selective school make a dumb person smarter???</p>
<p>No, but it makes them seem smarter as far as the job market is concerned.</p>
<p>ultracali,</p>
<p>Do you have detailed stats for OOS admission to prove it’s somehow at an entirely different level than in-state admission. I know that it’s tough to get in as internationals (I am international). But I am not all that convinced for OOS. The admit rate is 21% or so, not much lower than in-state. Cal doesn’t take a lot of OOS but there aren’t all that many OOS applicants either. Anyway, if the admit rate isn’t all that different from in-state, it follows that you were suggesting the OOS applicant pool is somehow at the level of HYPSM. But I don’t think Cal is viewed any better than schools like JHU, Chicago, Cornell, NU..etc for people in other parts of the states (again, not international). The low yield among the OOS (<25% whereas for in-state and internationals, it’s over 40%) seems to confirm this.</p>
<p>ultra cali,</p>
<p>Have you… actually seen the current admission statistics for Cal and UCLA?</p>
<p>UCLA’s average GPA is higher, and the average SAT is almost exactly the same. There is no way that reality is such that admission to UCLA < Cal. It’s just not true anymore.</p>
<p>To jump back to original question: U of Oregon is a great campus and has incredible Pac-10 spirit, but Eugene is different that Westwood. It is a total college town, rainy lots of the year, friendly, mildly granola-ish.
Boston U is also great, more urban, Boston is a terrific college town, not so big on the sports, and if you are a native Californian you will have to adjust to SNOW.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>I think Wisconsin would be great for you. It has good academics and athletics program. Other big 10 schools like Illinois, Penn State, and Ohio State are pretty solid too.</p>
<p>You nailed it UCBChemEGrad. The ones who choose UCSB wanted to leave the Bay Area.</p>