UCLA vs UC Berkeley for Political Science

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
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Hi,

Thank you for dropping by my post. I have already applied to universities (as you can see above, UCLA and Berkeley being my top contenders). I am a 4.0 student at at California community college, I have many extra curricular activities that I was able to add to my application, as well as having done the honors program at my university, which my counselor stated historically has helped a great number of students get into these top tier schools.

My question is one that is specific yet vague. I know that UCLA has recently gone up in the rankings quite considerably, last year ranking as the top public school in America, but those are overall rankings. I am quite interested specifically in my major, political science, which I know is a Berkeley strength but UCLA has been catching up in recent years. I wanted to know what the input was from everyone here and see if they could give me their two cents. If you have any sources that you can throw at me so I can read material first hand that would also be great and highly appreciated.

My second question is more of a personal one. I have had countless people from UCLA tell me that I should go there, and I have had countless people from UC Berkeley telling me that I could go to UCLA!!! I asked them why and they said that Berkeley is quite old, the city has poor infrastructure, bad weather, a massive homeless problem, and that they do not really feel safe on the campus. I have been to UCLA and it is completely gorgeous, but I have not had the chance to check out UC Berkeley (I hopefully will be able to check it out soon). So I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me on their personal experience in the each area and what they think. (I am a SoCal resident in OC if that helps any in your verdict).

Thank you all very much

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Weather is relative. Compared to SoCal, sure Berkeley has more rain and cold. But it’s hardly terrible weather.
My high school daughter and her friends often hang out in Berkeley (near the college district) after school or on the weekends, as do many parents. A lot of local kids go to Cal after high school as well (and a lot of parents are alumni) so there is a lot of familiarity with the college itself in our town (not Berkeley but not far away). Yes you will come across the occasional homeless person, but its nothing at all like say Venice beach, and it’s not unsafe. It does certainly have a very different vibe to UCLA though, so a visit is something you should do to see what you think. Politics is definitely higher rated at UCB, but probably not enough of a difference to make it your choice if you don’t like the campus. Good luck with the transfer applications!