<p>^ Libraries were never open 24 hours during regular school weeks. If you were a grad student, you may have gotten a special card to give access to certain libraries.</p>
<p>Some majors, like ChemE had card access to study halls and computer labs for 24 hours.</p>
<p>I’m sorry. I find it completely humorous that UCLA is ranked above Michigan. UCLA is a great school but it’s not on the same level as Michigan. Again, it’s close, but not close enough. Berkeley, Michigan, UVA, and UNC (and arguably Texas) are, in my opinion, the true leaders of public education. I know UCLA is considered a co-flagship, mainly because the State of California is unofficially divided in two territories (Nor Cal and So Cal), but it cannot match the quality of education and research of these ‘true’ flagship universities. By definition, there can only be one flagship and California’s flagship university is UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>Again, before bruins attack me, it is MY OPINION and you don’t have to agree.</p>
<p>Haha, BayBoi10, I was going to disagree with you heavily until I saw the last sentence disclaimer. (:</p>
<p>Food at UCLA is freaking AMAZING. Seriously. They are in the top 10 for food for a reason. Especially since they added in Cafe 1919. When you visit, it is a must. And then go to Westwood and go to Diddy Riese.</p>
<p>As for student interaction? I have NEVER heard of it being hard to make friends at UCLA. My sister lived on campus in their plaza (every room has their own bathroom), not even a residencial hall, and she became friends with literally every person on her floor. She has made numerous friends in every one of her classes, as has everyone else I know there. Maybe you came during finals week? That just strikes me as weird.</p>
<p>Michigan is an amazing school (I am considering both schools as well, along with a few others), but so is UCLA. I would also put this question on the UCLA forum to get both opinions, because I strongly disagree with some of these comments.</p>
<p>Oh, and in terms of UCLA having large class sizes: there’s no way around how broke California is. All the UCs are increasing class sizes, especially the “upper” ones (Berkeley, LA, San Diego, Irvine). However, for all lecture classes (when there will be a lot of people), they have discussions as well, with significantly less people. I don’t know the exact details on it, since I have never asked my sister about it and only know what she says in passing, but it’s something to ask about when you visit.</p>
<p>
Great story, 'ruin.</p>
<p>
Uh, no. One proposal is to cut enrollment.</p>
<p>UCLA is where the girls are at. That’s my input. I think the combination of hotter girls and better weather will indeed make it a better experience, or not necessarily better, but more fun. However, if you do not care about the atmosphere, then Michigan is a better engineering school.</p>
<p>Girls and weather do not agreat atmosphere make! I prefer the Michigan/Ann Arbor atmosphere to the UCLA/LA atmosphere…although UCLA definitely has a great atmosphere.</p>
<p>Well Idk whether to go to UC Berkeley or UCLA. It just seems like UCB has that nerdy image, while UCLA has the party image. Is there someone with real knowledge of both schools? </p>
<p>(ik, its asking about mich, but its somewhat related)</p>
<p>Can any current students say how well the campus day reflects what the college is actually like, I’m going to be heading out next week to visit again.</p>
<p>after visiting, Michigan was the clear winner. I hate LA. The traffic is hell, and there is no core to the city. The UCLA food and weather are better, but its not worth being surrounded by people who are so concerned with appearances and cars and celebrities.</p>
<p>GO BLUE!</p>
<p>@Jenovaside, congratulations on coming to the realization that Michigan is a better fit overall and welcome to the “Wolverine Family”. I promise you that you’ll spend your best 4 years here in A2 as an undergrad, because Michigan possesses a plethora of opportunities/activities to engage in that will only increase with each passing day.</p>
<p>Good Luck to you, Dave!</p>
<p>Good decision! We have family that live near the UCLA campus and looked at it closely when going through our own search. U Mich is the classic college experience and I hope you will enjoy as much as my D does!</p>
<p>Quick note from a 395 sophomore: 295-396 usually has some of the best professors too. It’s one of the best math programs in the country, and you’ll be with really smart kids who know what they are doing (that is, after 295, when everyone who shouldn’t be doing it has dropped out).</p>
<p>Edit: Oops. Didn’t notice that this was a post from March. Carry on.</p>
<p>To the person who claims making friends at UCLA will be more different than at UMich, this is completely untrue. I’m positive that you’ll have an amazing college experience at either school. In no way is the social scene at UCLA more bland than UMich, regardless of its size. </p>
<p>The weather and girls in LA are amazing. </p>
<p>Personally, I think UMich’s academics may be a little above UCLA; however, being a californian, i’m not sure if michigan’s prestige can compensate for the difference in costs (OOS tuition is killer…) I haven’t really researched much about how exactly california’s crappy budget is affecting our schools, but its something that should be taken into account…</p>
<p>^^^The person who started this thread, which was last March btw, was OOS to both schools. The cost difference for him was immaterial.</p>
<p>I realize this thread is almost a year old, but I figured I would give my input anyway, since people will (probably) be looking at it in the future, as to which school I liked better.</p>
<p>So first off, I’m from southern California. I live about 5 minutes from the beach, and right now it is 70 degrees and sunny where I live. And right now in Michigan, there’s a couple inches of snow on the ground, the weather is still pretty mild for a mid-west winter, and the highest the temperature has been since December 1st is 39 degrees. On Monday, the high is 19 degrees. Hands down, southern California has some of the BEST weather in the country, but even then I wouldn’t choose UCLA over Michigan. So I’ll start explaining my choice.</p>
<p>UCLA has a beautiful campus. Beautiful weather, and LA is filled with young, attractive people and is really fun in some areas. A lot of fun places to visit. The girls are really attractive, and the academics are phenomenal as well. However, one of the reasons why I didn’t choose UCLA (even with the $8000 they gave me in merit aid, plus being in-state totaling around 20k a year) is because it’s about 45 minutes from my house. One of the complaints I’ve heard from my friends who go there is that a LOT of people commute home on the weekends. And that is not what I wanted out of college. I wanted to go to a place where the weekends were vibrant (not to say they aren’t at UCLA, but if everyone’s going home…) and there’s a lot of stuff to do. UCLA isn’t a college town, in the least, and upon going there it seems like it’s predominantly Asian (disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing against Asian people, and two of my best friends are Japanese and half Japanese/Chinese, but then again Michigan isn’t really known for its diversity either). </p>
<p>My friends that I do know at UCLA (this is purely speaking from the kids I know well, ~15-20 kids from my graduating class) were for the most part nerdy. They were fun but not the kinds of people I would like to hang out with. None of them partied (and obviously this isn’t what college is COMPLETELY about, but for me it’s big) and I feel like in high school they were the kids that studied all the time. I loved the kids, just not who I would hang out with on the weekends lol. And obviously this is just an anecdote and can’t be applied to the general population at UCLA, but this is just my experience.</p>
<p>UCLA does have excellent food, but that was probably the least of my concerns for choosing a college.</p>
<p>In terms of social life, I feel like Michigan has a STRONG upper hand over UCLA. And to the people saying UCLA has hotter girls or whatever, I disagree completely. Maybe I have low standards (which I really don’t think i do haha but whatever) but I think there are a ton of really attractive girls at Michigan. And contrary to popular belief, they’re not isolated to Greek Life. There are a lot of really attractive girls (and guys too probably if a girl wants to comment? haha) at both schools and to the people who say stuff like 'oh the girls are wearing so much clothing because it’s so cold - that’s ■■■■■■■■.</p>
<p>And the school spirit at UCLA seemed to be SEVERELY lacking, comparatively speaking. In general, it seems like Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 schools to an extent have the best school spirit, and Football Saturdays are literally the most amazing days of the year. At UCLA, the Rose Bowl isn’t even near the campus. That blows. It seems like everyone here is a die-hard Michigan fan, and I have season tickets to hockey/basketball/football and I think it is absolutely amazing. The hockey games at Yost are un-****ing-real. I love it so much. You can’t beat Michigan’s school spirit, I’d say.</p>
<p>There’s a lot more, but I’m about to go out so I’ll comment later if I get a chance.</p>
<p>But hands down I absolutely love Michigan, wish all of my friends were having as good a time as I am, and I could not see myself anywhere else, despite the frigid weather coming from so cal haha.</p>