<p>So I now have the full picture of both. UCLA is a slightly better fit for me, although I don't like the concentration on sports and the huge number of ripped guys walking around making me look bad haha. I like Berkeley's campus as well but just not as much as the resort-like UCLA. My major is Engineering Physics right now but will try to transfer to EECS... is it easy to do that?
The deciding factor now is graduate school. I want to get an MBA at Harvard, Stanford, or MIT. But before that, I might want to go for something in Engineering. How easy is it to get in from either school? I don't know if Berkeley will kill my GPA that much to not be able to get in. I am 99% sure I will do extremely well at UCLA academically but am not sure at Berkeley although my scores are still above the 75th percentile.
I only have like a day to make my decision, and am leaning slightly Berkeley right now.
Any comments appreciated.</p>
<p>Both schools are great and most grad schools/employers don’t care where you go, they care about what and how you do.
Having being to both UCLA (undergrad) and Cal (grad), I can tell you that it is a nightmare to transfer majors … I transfered from Chemical Engineering to EECS at Cal and it’s not that pleasant.
For UCLA, the concentration is not always on sports. You can if you want it to be, but surprisingly the majority of students don’t participate in any sports program. So don’t worry about this.
If you think you can go to UCLA and get a better GPA and be in the top of class, then go for it! Grad schools weigh this more than prestige or rankings (simply because the gap between prestige of UCLA and Cal isn’t that noticeable).
I would honestly suggest you to go to the school you fit better, the school that you like and enjoy. If you can be happy and have great experiences in the next four years at a college that you like, you would do better much academically as well.</p>
<p>Transferring to the school of engineering isn’t difficult at all. I requested to switch, they waited for my fall grades, and accepted me in the middle of winter quarter. But what screwed me over was that you can’t take CS classes unless you’re in the school of engineering, and as a CSE major, I’m taking CS31 (the first class) this quarter. Plus, CS32 is not offered in the fall, so I have to wait until next winter to take it, putting me a year behind all the other CS majors. ■■■.</p>