UCLA ranked No. 1 Public University in the nation, 21st in the nation overall (tie)
UC Berkeley ranked No. 1 Public University, 21st overall (tie)
Source: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/top-public
I feel this is less about UCLA doing more amazingly better than it is about more folks choosing it over Cal because of the recent civil unrest. I know multiple people who got into both schools this year and chose UCLA - no one bothered even asking why. If it was 2015, most if not all would have had Cal at the top of their list, no question. Again, I have zero empirical data to back this up - I just think that the violence happening on the Cal campus scares the crap out of some parents. The rest of us with current Cal students just sigh and remind our kids to steer clear of conflict. It’s still a great school, for those who want to actually learn.
Respectfully disagree.
According to: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings , the ranking is based on:
- Graduation and retention rates (22.5 percent)
- Undergraduate academic reputation (22.5 percent)
- Faculty resources (20 percent)
- Student selectivity (12.5 percent)
- Financial resources (10 percent)
- Graduation rate performance (7.5 percent)
- Alumni giving rate (5 percent)
There is nothing about “the violence happening on the Cal campus scares the crap out of some parents.”
Also, the report says, “The data are all for the fall 2016 entering class.” I don’t think the “recent civil unrest” has anything to do with the fall 2016 entering class.
Now, if you don’t trust the ranking model indicators, you may as well not trust the ranking result. Then there is nothing to discuss.
According to my D, who has been at UCB for more than 5 years (3 yrs undergrad, 2+ yrs as a PhD student), the recent events have not had any impact on her and her cohorts one bit.
UCLA ranks high in financial resources. This is because UCLA can count their medical school budget. Cal’s medical school is a separate entity across the Bay.
@Pentaprism I believe I did say I have no data to back up my opinion. No, I don’t trust all of the ranking results because they can be skewed (I give you @UCBChemEGrad 's example). For example, for “Undergraduate academic reputation”, you are asking academics and counselors to rank the school’s academic programs based on stated criteria. Very subjective. Also, I can bet that “Alumni giving rate” is going to be affected.
My sophomore STEM D has also not been affected as far as I can tell, but then, she hasn’t been launched out into the work world yet. Do I worry that Cal being a battleground for political enemies may gave a potential employer pause (or even elicit some uncomfortable questions)? Yeah, a bit.
What was the change year over year? My dd just started her phd - joint w ucsf. Did ucla jump and ucb fall? Not sure any employer would look at #2 askance, but then again she did her undergrad at a uni far lower than #2!
If she is not one of the extremists who is either inciting or actively participating in violence, would a potential employer care?
As a hiring manager, I couldn’t care less.
In one of my previous lives, I worked at a start-up founded by “a bunch of Berkeley kids.” The founder (CEO) himself was as liberal as you can get. Most of the people working there were also liberal. When the company got to a certain size, we needed to bring in a COO, who happened to be a man years ago hiring me out of college. He was as conservative as you can get.
Well, we kept the company growing for 12 years, then it was acquired by a giant in the industry. That made everyone, left, right and middle, happy.
The “leftist” CEO and the “rightist” COO then founded another company (doing something different), I was also there. But this venture didn’t bring as good result as the first one. The third venture, which I’m currently as, is doing extremely well.
@ucbalumnus - no, she isn’t, and I certainly hope not.
UCLA Is now 3/3 - ranked #1 public in U.S. News, Times Higher Ed, and now Wall Street Journal
UCB will pass ucla as long as it keep generate nobel winner & its financial problem over.
The tide has turned. You are now seeing the results of years of good decisions and hard work at UCLA. For a very long time UCLA has actually been under ranked. If you earn an acceptance at UCLA, consider yourself fortunate and GO!
The old thinking was that Cal was #1, Michigan and UVA we’re about tied for 2nd, and then came a bunch of schools – like UNC, UCLA, Wisconsin, GA Tech, Texas, Washington, Illinois, and W&M – at the next tier.
Of those, UCLA has risen in estimation the most, probably in large part to their USNews rank. But they also do quite well these days in various international rankings, which point to grad/PhD output. (While grad rankings are not proxies for undergrad quality, high grad rankings certainly don’t hurt). It’s become a strong contender for Public Tier 1 status/rep, which I still think (for undergraduates) comprises Berkeley, Michigan and UVA. And now probably UCLA too.
In 2017, UCLA had an acceptance rate of 16.1%. It will be interesting to see how these rankings affect 2018’s numbers.
UCLA may come out on top, but to Californians, Berkeley will remain the pinnacle.
That’s pretty subjective. It really depends on who you ask. My parents certainly didn’t want me going here. Personally, I see Cal as the pinnacle school no doubt, but I understand why its estimation has fallen in the eyes of many Californians because of all the stuff thats happened here lately. We have a pretty divided country at the moment and Cal happens to lie at one of the extremes of that divide, which means lots of people won’t respect the school, unfortunately - from California and across the country. Some parents don’t want their kids applying here because of pre conceived notions they have about the school.
“UCLA Is now 3/3 - ranked #1 public in U.S. News, Times Higher Ed, and now Wall Street Journal”
Actually UCLA is TIED for #1 public with UCB in U.S. News - and the Wall Street Journal bases their rankings on data provided by Times Higher Ed.
Speaking of U.S. News - in their ranking of top GLOBAL universities, UCB (#4) places clearly ahead of UCLA (#10).
By the academic preparation of their incoming students, as roughly indexed by standardized scoring, UCB appears to remain a highly appealing school to many academically high-achieving applicants:
I think most are proud of Berkeley’s repuatation and legacy as first responders for first amendment rights. And that those causing problems in the recent past, were mostly non-students using the public university for their own purposes.
Cal–You’re the top, you’re the colliseum, you’re the top, You’re the Louvre Museum…you’ll always be tops, California.