UCLA Regents vs Berkeley

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
1

<p>Hey everybody! Right now I am deciding between Berkeley and UCLA. Honestly, this choice would be easy for me and I would choose Berkeley if I didn't get LA regents. But now, I don’t know if regents is something worth giving up.
Here are the pros and cons of the schools:</p>

<p>UCLA con:
Location is too close to home
I don’t really like the environment (not sure how to classify it)
Pros
Regents - past students told me that only about 200 out of the whole class get it, and with regents I get a bunch of perks like priority enrollment, money, etc.
I don’t have to pay for anything since I get about 30000 in grants and scholarships</p>

<p>Berkeley con:
I didn’t get regents so I would have to pay about 8000 a year, which I can take in loans<br>
Pros
the liberal environment of Berkeley
I like how it is farther from home
School is more competitive; I really wanted to go to UPenn but I was rejected by that school =(</p>

<p>I originally wanted to go to a school on the east coast, but I was not able to make it to any of them. That is why I want to go to Berkeley; I like how it is farther from home (I live in So Cal) and I like how the University feels like an east coast college. Also, I am a physiology major but I’m not really sure which school is better in that field.</p>

<p>Thank you for any input!! =)</p>

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<p>It sounds like you don’t like UCLA. I definitely would not suggest going to a college you didn’t like, unless the cost difference was huge. There certainly are huge perks of regents at UCLA (priority registration, financial). However, if you can afford Berkeley, then I’d go there since it seems like you’d prefer to go there by far. I’m assuming you’ve visited?</p>

3

<p>Easy. Go to Berkeley. You clearly want to go there more and in spite of the loans, you’d be so much happier there. Don’t go to UCLA and be miserable, even if you do have Regents.</p>

4

<p>If you’re pre-med go to UCLA IMO, you’ll need all the class perks you can get and it is easier to keep a higher GPA for med school at UCLA. That’s why I chose it over Berkeley (even though it IS too close to home…) If you’re not a pre-med, go where you’ll be the happiest, and it sounds to me like that’s Berkeley.</p>

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<p>No offense overachiever, but I really don’t feel like that’s good advice. The fact that it’s “easier to keep a higher GPA at UCLA” is not supported by anything. In fact, the data on “gradeinflation.com” has the average GPA at Berkeley higher than the average GPA at UCLA ([UC-Berkeley[/url</a>] [url=&lt;a href=“http://gradeinflation.com/Ucla.html]UCLA[/url]”&gt;UCLA]UCLA](<a href=“http://gradeinflation.com/Ucberkeley.html]UC-Berkeley[/url”>UC-Berkeley)</a>). Considering the students that attend each school had just about equal stats coming in, I see no reason to believe it’s easier to get a high GPA at UCLA.</p>

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<p>FWIW, UCLA’s a pretty liberal environment. It sounds like the biggest difference here is the distance from home, but is that worth spending $30k?</p>

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<p>@Arcadefire</p>

<p>It’s supported by countless college counselors across the nation and that is the general consensus. It might be “easier” by only 0.1-0.3 points but that’s all it takes to get rejected from a top med school. Did gradeinflation.com take into account how ridiculous O-chem at Berkeley is? (…)</p>

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<p>I’d go to Berkeley, since that’s where you want to go. $32,000 isn’t that big of a cost difference and you can work off some of that with a part-time job.</p>

<p>If you really dislike UCLA, don’t be afraid to pass up on the university for some other UC that may have offered you a Regent’s if finances is a huge concern.</p>

9

<p>@overachiever</p>

<p>What do college counselors opinions have anything to do with this? Further…what does general public consensus have anything to do with it?</p>

<p>I seriously doubt UCLA is “easier” by .1-.3 GPA points, considering that the average undergraduate GPA at Berkeley is higher while the average admitted student is the same. I have no reason to believe what you’re saying. Encouraging this student to make his decision based on this superstition seems like a bad idea. College counselors’ opinions do not count as evidence.</p>

<p>s3nior93: Making your college decision based on this would be very silly. I think you should go to Berkeley.</p>

10

<p>

The average enrolled UCLA student is a bit weaker, though, so there may be validity to the claim.</p>

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<p>regents at UCLA offers killer perks, but if you don’t like the school…bottom line, go to where your happy. although even if you’re close to home, you can just choose not to go back on the weekends…I only went back during break my freshman year and my home is sorta close. </p>

<p>on the GPA, both schools are tough. I don’t think gradeinflation.com’s source is valid for UCLA gpa, but I highly doubt one school has an significantly average higher gpa than the other + there’s way more factors such as major that need to be accounted (so its null point)</p>

<p>anyway, go to where your happy. good luck!</p>

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<p>Regents is nice, but if you don’t like the environment, it’s just not worth it. I would go to Berkeley, if only for your sanity.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Agreed. In fact, it’s almost a half-standard deviation lower all around. The high end is just as high, but the low end is lower.</p>

13

<p>Thank you guys so much for the input. It’s not that I dislike UCLA, it’s just that i’m looking forward to a new start after high school. I have visited UCLA several times and I’ve visited Berkeley once; both seem like amazing schools. I really think the main problem for LA is the location, but I’m not sure if 32,000 is worth it (honestly, If I lived in nor cal, I would probably choose LA hands down). Did any of you guys have the same dilemma? What ultimately made you guys choose one school over the other?
Thank you so much!!</p>

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<p>sentiment: Is it? Interesting. Well, I transferred from UCR to UCLA, and I’m not even sure there’s a .3 GPA difference in difficulty between those two schools from my experience. I find it near impossible to believe that there’s a bigger gap between the difficulties of UCLA and Berkeley than of UCR and UCLA. I think making a decision based on this belief about GPA would be a bad idea.</p>

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<p>@s3nior93: I had the opposite situation…regents at cal and alumni scholarship at LA. I turned down regents and I am still 100% happy with my decision. I was also worried about being close to home so I did what I mentioned earlier my freshman year (from so cal): I only went home during breaks. I never felt like I was too close to my home environment and had a great time in the dorms. If you’re worried about wanting a new start, I had 3 people from my HS go to cal and about 10 people go to LA…and I barely run into the people from my HS here since college is so big. Whichever school you go to, you’ll meet TONS of new people and won’t have to worry about only hanging with your old friends…thats the beauty of going to a big school. </p>

<p>It sounds cliche, but I choose LA for the overall environment. I liked the active lifestyle, the friendly people, the location (beach, movies, hollywood, getty…all feasible by bus) the GREAT dorm food, etc. I know I could have been happy at cal, but something about LA “felt” right. </p>

<p>What I’m trying to say is you can get a “new start” at both schools, despite LA’s proximity to your home. As long as you don’t cling to your old friends or drive home every weekend, both are great schools that can give you the “real” college experience. Whichever environment you feel more comfortable at is where you should go: the regents is nice, but not worth sacrificing your happiness.</p>

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<p>It’s ultimately your decision, but I was in the exact same boat as you. I was born in Hollywood and lived in LA all my life, decided to go to Cal even when I got Regents for UCLA, but eventually decided to stick with UCLA.</p>

<p>I know exactly what you mean when you talk about the environment of the two schools. As a Los Angeleno, I sensed something so charming and unique about Berkeley when I visited, and I still do. UCLA was never a school I reallyreallyreally wanted to go to, but I eventually listed down what it was that I didn’t like about UCLA-- “Too close to home,” “too sunny,” “there isn’t enough school spirit,” “too conservative,” “those kids aren’t friendly,” “these kids are all too sheltered”-- which, to me, still ring true sometimes (don’t lapidate me for that, Bruins!). However, being as pragmatic as I could about it all, those reasons seemed… dumb and superficial. I knew UCLA would give me as many academic opportunities as Cal, and a degree from UCLA versus Cal… well, some people have differing opinions about this, but I think they’d be worth about the same depending on your major.</p>

<p>That said, I’m quite content with my ultimate decision. Do I still long for NorCal? Absolutely. But, I can always go visit my friends whenever I get the time. I do have feelings that I missed some kind of chance to have some awesome fun up there, but I look at the things I’ve been able to do here at UCLA and realize I’ve been able to find great opportunities, take great classes, meet some good friends and learn A LOT. And, I get to see some old pals from time to time and hang out with them fairly easily.</p>

<p>That’s just my story, and you’ll make your own choice pretty soon. Either way, if you’re motivated enough and work hard and you’re able to make friends relatively easily, you’ll have a good time. </p>

<p>Financially, Regents is a godsend for me. My family is very much in the low-income bracket and I don’t know how I would have managed otherwise. I’m not extremely involved in RSS, but UCLA’s Regents Scholarship is tougher to get than that of Cal’s (in terms of GPA, stats, etc.) and it actually gives you priority enrollment. I have a friend who got Regents for Berkeley, and it honestly doesn’t seem like that big of a deal over there. Don’t just take my word for it, though.</p>

<p>That said, I really dislike talking about schools in terms of average student GPA. To me, it’s rather an unimportant and trifling detail I’d rather not squabble about… I chose UCLA for its financial aid (BIG plus) and its recognition in the sciences.</p>

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<p>I have to echo what others have said in regards to definitely definitely going where you think you’ll be happiest.</p>

<p>I chose UCLA for practical reasons mostly (closer to home [which to me is a good thing], better major for me [film], better location for what I want to do [film])…but Cal suited my personality much more, and now I do regret choosing UCLA. I don’t like the environment much there either, and I think I should have chosen the school I would have been happiest at rather than the most practical choice. </p>

<p>But on a different note, I think you should reconsider the proximity to home as a factor. Why is it such a negative factor for you? I obviously don’t know your home situation per se, but if your only reason is that you want to get a new start/the real college experience, I’d highly advise you to reconsider. Being even fairly close to home has been a great benefit to me so far. You don’t have to go home all the time, but you have the freedom and option of going home if you want or need to. And you never know what’s going to happen…I became really ill several times at UCLA so far, and it was great to have my family be able to take me home to see my usual doctor and such. Just something to think over. You can definitely be independent and get your new start even if your college is close to home.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

18

<p>Thanks everybody for the advice!
@ jukebox - I definitely do think that the location is the main factor as to why I like Berkeley, and after thinking about it, I’m not sure if 32,000 is worth it. It’s not that I don’t like home (in fact, I’m really close to my family); it’s just that whenever I pictured college in the past, I always pictured myself studying hundreds of miles away from home and living an independent life. You brought up really good points; I haven’t been away from home for more than a month, so homesickness can definitely be a possibility. Like you too, I think Cal fits my personality better(but again, is 32,000 worth it?). I’m going to visit both schools again and hopefully I can decide upon which school is best for me.
Thanks everybody!!</p>

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<p>I live about 100 miles away from UCLA and it feels like way more.</p>

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<p>@oyster, I had the same impression of the campus when I visited UCLA. The students that I encountered seemed stuck up (but I am POSITIVE I just had bad luck and I know there are amazing students there). I think that’s probably what’s making me a little hesitant on going to LA. It sounds like you like it there though, and I hope that when I visit again, my opinion will change. Thanks!</p>