<p>The</a> Top 10 Dream Colleges For Students</p>
<p>thoughts? Kind of surprised Berkeley isn't on the top 10 list..</p>
<p>UCLA does have the highest number of applicants, so it isn’t too surprising to me. Based on that fact alone, I’m surprised we weren’t ranked higher lol</p>
<p>Berkeley’s in a crappy area. Most of the dream schools are either extremely prestigious, in, or next to, big cities, or both.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting that UCLA isn’t just the #1 public university on that list, it’s the ONLY one.</p>
<p>Berkeley is not a crappy area. Yes, it’s gritty and urban with a large homeless population, but it has much to offer students.</p>
<p>Berkeley has a reputation for being academically challenging that I think a lot of kids shy away from.</p>
<p>I agree with UCBChemEGrad. When I visited Cal to decide between there and UCLA I didn’t really get the feeling that it’s in an awful area. Just that it has its own feel. What I didn’t like very much though was Oakland, but then again, some parts of LA are similar to Oakland. I’m not quite sure you can use the reasoning that Cal isn’t on the list because of academic toughness because Harvard, Stanford, etc are on the list as well as MIT. I wonder what the real reason Cal didn’t make it was? It would be interesting to hear input.</p>
<p>I completely agree. I’m in the middle of choosing between UCLA and Berkeley right now and UCLA has so much of a nicer campus/atmosphere. The weather is always sunny, beautiful campus, happy students whereas when I visited Berkeley last week, the campus was run down, old, and the weather gloomy. Even though Berkeley is ranked higher than UCLA, i think the difference is negligible. They’re’ both internationally recognized and very high in rankings, and thus, I don’t think “prestige” should be a factor when deciding between La and Berkeley. Between Riverside and Berkeley, yes, but not LA and Berkeley. I think at that point it should just come down to preference.</p>
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<p>All i’m saying is i met 3 LA kids who went to Berkeley, and they were all complaining about it, and kept saying how much nicer UCLA was than Berkeley.</p>
<p>Perhaps Berkeley isn’t in a crappy area, but it doesn’t scream “Dream School.”</p>
<p>Berkeley has nice areas as well as bad. In the hills it’s pretty exclusive. These same things apply to Oakland: hills, nice; flatlands, not so nice. Generally as things flatten to the bay are pretty gritty. Unfortunately a lot of students have to live in the grittier areas.</p>