<p>"I live in Irvine and had a chance to go to UCI but picked UCLA....Irvine is NOT a college town...Westwood is. Go to UCLA you will enjoy it more. Good Luck."
If I decide to go to UCLA, its not because its more fun. I'm just looking for the school that I will feel comfortable in.</p>
<p>"UCLA Mathematics is ranked in the top 20. UCI Mathematics is unranked."
But that applies to their grad program. How much does that say about their undergrad department? The UCI math major students I've heard from say the quality of instruction should be the same for each school's department. But since I'm unsure, I'm trying to get opinions from math majors at UCLA.</p>
<p>"UCI classes are much easier than UCLA's, in my opinion"
Then it will be easier for me to better grades if I go to UCI! right? I can just self-study if my professors don't cover much material.</p>
<p>Good grades don't necessarily get you into a top grad program. The quality of your letters of rec, your undergrad research, and a variety of other factors do. Good grades (3.5+) are just a yes or no, and aren't weighted much.</p>
<p>And yes, graduate rank matters. These are the same people you'll be getting your letters and research opportunities from.</p>
You can but it won't necessarily reflect what you know/learned when taking the general and Physics subject GREs for graduate/professional school. Standardized exams is one of the great equalizers when it comes to applying for grad/professional school. Programs long ago realized that many variables affect gpa, such as academic rigor, grade inflation, quality of teaching/education etc. I'll take a "C" average Physics undergrad from Caltech over an "A" Physics student from UCI any day.</p>