<p>yay, I'm glad my thread is serving it's purpose! Well, I don't think there's really a race correlation to passing up Cal for UCLA, but there probably is a slight race correlation to the reactions you are receiving when you tell others around about your decision. Namely, if you are Asian, you probably had to deal with more stares and "what...why?!"s than the average white american. I was just talking to a girl who just came from China today, and she was so shocked when she heard I chose UCLA over the revered "Bo-ke-lai".</p>
<p>My decision was definately an environment vs. academics/prestige one too. Especially since I'm going into humanities/social science, and Cal has the top notch undergrad program for those fields in the country. But yeah, finally, I just made a pro/con list, and except for the slight academic edge, Cal didn't really have much going for it, whereas UCLA appealed to so many more aspects. Like food. :-)</p>
<p>ya.. and iuno for me. im prolly doing grad skool so it shouldnt matter much. i figure i should go where im most comfortable the most. not where its most "prestigious." anyways u live to impress urself, not others.</p>
<p>aiming for the absolute best undergrad school regardless of cost or personal preference should only be done if one is not aiming for grad school. if i wasnt aiming for an mba, i would've done absolutely anything to get into wharton undergrad or harvard ug econ.</p>
<p>sorry to crash the party,
but i was one of many who chose cal over la
but thats irrelavent
please stop stroking your egos, both are superior universities (even if cal is moreso :))</p>
<p>haha im so gald im nto the only one to pick ucla over cal~! prestige is not THAT big of a deal....ucla the same academically as cal and MUCH better in everythign else and is juss a tad bit behind in the prestige...thus making it an overall much better school..besides the prestige is jus mostly braggin rights...u go to college for youself not to impress others</p>
<p>I don't see that Cal has any more prestige than UCLA. The schools are of the same caliber and reputation...each has its strong points and are extremely similar in many regards.</p>
<p>Anyone that thinks Cal is the more prestigious school is deluding themselves.</p>
<p>ucla was my first choice until a couple of months ago, when i realized that going to berkeley would be a better choice for me financially. as an asian int'l student, choosing berkeley over ucla was unavoidable, as berkeley has much better name value overseas. both ucla and berkeley had been my dream schools since high school, but now i'm very happy to go to berkeley. </p>
<p>and for those of you who are choosing ucla over berkeley, i totally understand your viewpoints. i agree that you should follow your dreams, and don't let anyone else make life decisions for you.</p>
<p>I don't think it's necessarily stroking our egos... I think it just affirms the fact that realistically, a lot of people choose UCLA over Berkeley, and that usually isn't brought up very often.</p>
<p>i read the whole thread
and i think ucla is a great school but im just glad that i got rejected there so it was an easy choice to go to berk
go bears!</p>
<p>I chose UCLA over Berkeley last year, and my parents are still not over it. Everytime anybody asks me in the presence of my mom where I go, she has to tack on, "but she got into Berkeley too". </p>
<p>BTW, Westow, I live about an hour away from Berkeley too, and that's one of the reasons I DIDN'T want to go there...I LOVE being five hours away from home</p>
<p>So for those of you whose parents are still recovering...it's going to take time.</p>
<p>I chose UCLA Regents over Cal Regents. UCLA had a better atmosphere and more benefits. Cal offered "Prestige" as a benifit (as far as I'm concerned, thats a pretty lame benefit). I chose UCLA over Cal in an instant. It was a no brainer.</p>
<p>Berkeley is the more prestigious school, exilio. I tried not to think of it that way, and I always defended UCLA, but pretty much everyone around me shakes their head when I say that they're both at the same level. Maybe in 4 years time they'll be closer together.</p>
<p>But better college life at UCLA? I don't think so. There's a tremendous amount of life around Berkeley.</p>
<p>"But better college life at UCLA? I don't think so. There's a tremendous amount of life around Berkeley."</p>
<p>yeah but i think what people are looking for is the difference between "atmosphere" or "environment." both offer good college life. </p>
<p>it's also the stereotype that ucla students balance academics and social life, while berkeley students spend more time studying. i can't confirm the berkeley part, but the ucla part is for the most part true.</p>
<p>One of my friends chose UC Davis over Cal...she was having trouble deciding until my college counselor made her realize that she shouldn't just go to a school for the name if she liked everything better at Davis anyway.</p>
<p>she asked "if the school UC Berkeley had the name Cal State Tustin, would you still go?" </p>