UC Berkeley vs UCLA Applied Math

[parent365]

To the original poster, you might also find the thread linked below relevant, albeit in general sense.

I don’t think you could wrong with either UCLA or UC Berkeley; better to go where you think you’d be happiest.

Perceptions of UC Berkeley and UCLA in the "public eye"

In looking at the recent 2022-23 Common Data Set submissions for UC Berkeley and UCLA, the average unweighted GPAs for freshman admits at the two schools are virtually the same (3.90 Cal vs. 3.93 UCLA, respectively). And although UCs no longer consider standardized test scores, looking back at the 2020-21 CDS submissions, Berkeley’s middle-50% interquartile range for SAT scores was 1300-1520 compared to UCLA’s mid-50% range of 1290-1510. Again, virtually identical. By all accounts, the academic profile of the student bodies at the 2 schools are practically inseparable. And yet, when I hear high schoolers (and even college graduate friends) describe the two schools, it’s clear that the perception of these institutions are starkly different. UC Berkeley is most often described as an academic powerhouse with highly regarded programs across the board, ranging from engineering to the hard sciences, and from business to the humanities/social sciences. But it is also described as a plac…