<p>Is one really harder to get into than the other?</p>
<p>I mean on rankings, etc Berkeley is slightly higher always than UCLA. But is it that much harder to get into?</p>
<p>Does anyone have information/stats on this?</p>
<p>I'm an oos and I was accepted to UCLA last night. I'm just really nervous that the schools might be communicating and not wanting to accept oos students to both schools.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>the schools don't communicate, it is an unsubstantiated myth</p>
<p>In recent years, UCLA has actually become more selective statistically than Berkeley. I think that you'll get into Cal ^_^, good luck next week!</p>
<p>Aphrodite99, Cal has always been more difficult to get into than UCLA. Never was it the reversed despite that Cal's admissions are holistic. You can review the stats of both schools. Cal students have higher GPA and SATs scores.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Cal students have higher GPA and SATs scores.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>"Selectivity" does not necessarily correspond to higher GPA + SAT scores. Several comparably selective schools have, for instance, much lower average GPA and SAT scores than Caltech does. It's a mixture of what they're looking for + what kinds of applicants they get which gives us a relative view of how selective they are.</p>
<p>Yeah, they just look at different stuff</p>
<p>thanks aphrodite99!</p>
<p>is it true that cal really favors rigorous course loads? that's what I've always heard...</p>
<p>for example if i've taken 11 ap's during my junior and senior year and maintained an unweighted gpa of 3.98--is that expected by cal? at least for oos?</p>
<p>what does cal look at different than ucla?</p>
<p>like what do each tend to favor?</p>
<p>Every school in the nation favors a rigorous course load...</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Selectivity" does not necessarily correspond to higher GPA + SAT scores. Several comparably selective schools have, for instance, much lower average GPA and SAT scores than Caltech does.
[/quote]
But isn't Caltech one of the most if not the most selective school in the nation?
I've never met anyone at Caltech who has not been accepted at one of the top schools. I mean, if you're strong enough to get into Caltech, you're most likely strong enough to get into any of the top 10 school of the nation.</p>
<p>I was accepted to UCLA too and am waiting on Berkeley... I hope I get in :D</p>
<p>
[quote]
I've never met anyone at Caltech who has not been accepted at one of the top schools. I mean, if you're strong enough to get into Caltech, you're most likely strong enough to get into any of the top 10 school of the nation.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Oh yeah? :) Some students have outstanding academic strengths, but don't get accepted to schools like Princeton, MIT, etc. I know enough examples of this. Caltech admits students almost solely based on technical + academic achievement, and that's not how most schools do it. Sure, someone accepted to Caltech is qualified to get into other top schools, but that doesn't mean in reality that he/she will get into the other top schools applied to.</p>
<p>So "selectivity" is not solely a function of grades. If it were, the classes of most schools would look a lot, lot different. The fact that several schools foster different kinds of outstanding achievement is enough to guarantee that a Caltech student, though outstanding, isn't guaranteed a free ticket to other top schools at all.</p>
<p>How Berkeley says it selects applicants:
<a href="http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp?id=56&navid=N%5B/url%5D">http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/freshmen.asp?id=56&navid=N</a></p>
<p>How UCLA says it selects applicants:
UCLA</a> Undergrad Admissions: Freshman Selection</p>
<p>You can read between the tea leaves for differences (if any).</p>
<p>mathboy, Cal applicants are smarter to begin with. (The stats are on the UC website.) But I must admit that I am talking in generality.</p>
<p>^ not true, berkeley accepts a lot of UCLA rejects</p>
<p>^ I know; and so are a lot of elite private schools. But the question here is: Is UCLA harder to get into than Cal? I would argue that, in general, Berkeley is harder to get into than UCLA. The stats would even support my assertion. And, although I don't have stats to back it up, I would say that there are more Cal rejects matriculating at UCLA than there are UCLA rejects enrolled at Cal.</p>
<p>RML, instead of making a general statement "Cal is harder to get into," why not look at what specific kinds of students find it easier to get into it? When people ask here about how tough it will be for them to make it in, I weigh that LA tends to have somewhat different criteria, even if they're in the end similar. </p>
<p>I try to advise worried students based on their individual situations. As for which is generally tougher, I am not sure, but I believe that even if one is tougher on average than another, a CC-er may not be exactly your average applicant. There are SO many applicants, some likely heavily substandard, some great, some on CC, some not. I figure that I might as well not advise someone based on general statistics when they're asking, given I could probably say more valid things if I looked at their backgrounds. </p>
<p>Perhaps in general, Cal is harder to get into, I am not sure. I've been hearing tons of things about UCLA being comparable these days.</p>
<p>NOt sure its so cut and dried bcos the campuses can and do look for different things. One year, for example, it seemed that UCLA used the Writing score as a significant tie breaker. Other years, they may be looking for low income kids.</p>
<p>In years past there were students who got into UCLA but not Berkerly and the opposite was also true. They are both selective schools but not necessary one is harder to get into than the other. You can get very good education from either of them.</p>
<p>The latest data reported in UC stat finder
Cal</p>
<h1>applicants #admits #enrolled #acceptance rate #yield</h1>
<p>44,149 10,252 4,225 23.2 41.2 </p>
<p>UCLA
50,746 11,960 4,563 23.6 38.2 </p>
<p>So if acceptance rate is lower and stats are higher don't translate to harder admissions, I don't know what does.</p>