<p>I'm an international student trying to decide whether I should go to UCLA for communications or Berkeley as a psych major. Right now I live in LA about 10 min away from UCLA. </p>
<p>Even though getting accepted to UCLA as a comm studies major is super competitive, I'm leaning towards wanting to major in Psychology as I feel more passionate about the subject. In the future I could see myself going into marketing or advertising. I don't think I want to take the research route within psychology.
However, the cheapest alternative for me would be to just stay here in LA and do comm. I have enough units so that I could finish up my studies in less time at UCLA than at Berkeley and that could save me almost 10K (oos tuition!) Money is an issue for me as I'm taking out part student loans to be able to finance my studies. Also, if I moved up north, I would HAVE TO commute from SF to Berkeley. I don't know how difficult that would be in the long run. </p>
<p>To sum up, one part of me tells me that I should go to Berkeley because of the prestige factor, and because I would love to study psychology. Another part of me thinks that I should stay in LA where I'm already comfortable, do communication studies, and just work my butt off to land an interesting internship and not care about the fact that Berkeley has a slight edge over UCLA when it comes to prestige. </p>
<p>What would be the better choice in the long run: a psychology degree from Berkeley, or a communication studies degree from UCLA? I feel like many don't know how competitive it is to get accepted to comm at UCLA anyway. </p>
<p>If you plan on going to Cal, why do you have to live in SF and not within Berkeley?</p>
<p>I think you should also factor in your post undergrad education goals as well. Will you be attending graduate school? If so, Berkeley can offer an edge in terms of prestige and overall preparedness (hence why I chose to attend Cal).</p>
<p>Could you explain how you could graduate earlier from LA than Cal? Does LA Comm have a lower total unit requirement for graduating?</p>
<p>In SF I would be able to stay with someone for much cheaper than if I rent a room in Berkeley.
If I don’t take the last quarter during my 2nd year at UCLA it would be cheaper than taking all semesters at Berkeley? </p>
<p>As of right now I don’t have any plans to attend grad school in the nearby future.</p>
<p>@ Sofie: Your situation is pretty interesting. Honestly, UCB and UCLA’s environments are so different. In this situation, where you’re generally split between finances and major preference, you should probably factor in the different environments. I mean would you enjoy Berkeley?</p>
<p>I’d just like to say one thing though. I’ll note that I am biased lol and will be a psych major at UCB. The psych department/professors/student psych groups/internship opportunities, research/lab work and everything else is fantastic at Cal. I’m already a part of the Association for Psych Undergrads (APU) at UCB. They produce their own published research annually in their psych journal! It’s amazing. </p>
<p>I’m not trying to sway you, but if you want to know anything about UCB psych, definitely hit me up. The kids and professors in the department are so supportive and incredibly helpful. I’m an incoming student too, but I know this because I correspond with them (on and off campus). </p>
<p>"What would be the better choice in the long run: a psychology degree from Berkeley, or a communication studies degree from UCLA? I feel like many don’t know how competitive it is to get accepted to comm at UCLA anyway. "</p>
<p>what do u mean by “long run?” if ur talking about eventually going to grad school, UCB’s psychology is prestigious but very challenging and it’ll be hard to maintain a high gpa. but if ur gonna get an MBA, ucla’s comm studies is perfect bc u will be able to easily land internships in LA as a comm major. also, the coursework is practically a joke and it shouldnt be too hard to boost ur GPA. the only hard part about UCLA’s comm major is getting in. i was accepted to ucla’s comm major this fall but i won’t be attending since i got into berkeley. if u don’t have a 3.9 and all the prereqs done, don’t bother applying.</p>
<p>I guess what I meant when I wrote “in the long run” was the opportunities the different degrees would lead to in the future after we have graduated. Some think psychology as a major seems to have a more “solid” reputation than communication, but I don’t know. Before I was accepted to UCLA comm I was kind of set on going there (provided that I got in), but yeeeaah now I’m giving it second thoughts. </p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who responded! I still haven’t decided what to do. IF I move up to Berkeley I’m sure I would enjoy myself just as much as I have in LA so far.</p>