So I got accepted into UCLA and Cal and am wondering the pros and cons of both. I genuinely do not know which school I prefer. I will be enrolling with a major in Government.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Both excellent schools with highly regarded political programs (Robert McNamara went to Cal-Berkley). I am guessing price is similar, while most government professors are liberal, Berkley is nationally known as being extremely liberal. Cal is also not as urban as UCLA so I would visit both campuses.
I went to Cal, and grew up (literally) across the street from UCLA so I know both well. (My dad went to undergrad and grad school at UCLA, was a champion/NCAA winning athlete there, etc.)
Cal has an international reputation that is on par with other universities at the very top. UCLA does not. I spent my junior year studying in Paris and Munich and when I said I went to Cal, people looked at me in awe, as if I said Harvard or Yale. Cal has more Nobel Prize winning professors than any university in the world – they are phenomenal. I did not have one bad professor when I went there – they were all incredible. I had a small major, but all my classes were reasonable sizes. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t say that if I had been pre-med.)
It is so easy to walk to Bart and spend Saturday nights in San Francisco (my favorite US city), and I did that quite often. Or would go shopping in Union Square to find a dress for an event. Restaurants surrounding Cal (and in nearby Oakland) are top notch, and far superior to the restaurants in Westwood. (Believe me, I live in L.A. now and they are even worse than when I was a kid. Westwood is dead.)
Cal has more departments that are #1 in the nation (or top 3) than UCLA. They recently sent out a U of California alumni newsletter that confirmed this. Cal graduate schools are also higher ranked (law, psychology, business, etc.)
Really, you can’t go wrong with either school. I will admit UCLA’s football team is far better than Cal’s. It’s tough to be a Cal fan. However, I don’t think you would ever regret choosing the Golden Bears!
P.S. I also took a few classes at UCLA while in high school, including an intro to Economics, first level Italian, and photography.
UC Berkley definitely is a little more prestigious- however, it is ultimately your choice. Visit the campus if possible and get a feel for both. Sometimes that will sway your opinion and help make a decision.
If you’re from the Bay Area, pick UCLA. If you’re from southern California, pick Cal. (It’s always good to go to college in a different area than where you live, imo. You get to know another part of the state/country and meet different kinds fo people.) Don’t worry about “prestige.” It’s true that Cal still has more of an international reputation, but everyone in California and the US knows what a powerhouse UCLA is. Congrats on a nice problem to have 