<p>I got accepted to UCLA recently. I never really considered going all the way to California for college (I live on the east coast) but I did some research anyway. I was surprised to find that UCLA's acceptance rate is actually LOWER than UC berkeley's? I was always under the impression that UC berkeley was more prestigious/harder to get into than UCLA. Does getting into UCLA mean that I have a pretty good chance at berkeley as well, or am I missing something here? I saw a lot of posts about how UCLA looks more for extracurriculars, and UC berkeley looks more at gpa/sat. Is this true? In my situation, My extracurriculars are FAR superior to my academics (although my academics aren't bad by any means). How will this effect my chances at Berkeley compared to my acceptance at UCLA? </p>
<p>Also, I'm kind of interested in hearing the West-coast side of things. Obviously I've been misinformed about the UC system. Is there anything that Californians know that the east coast misses or misinterprets in some way?</p>
<p>I’d like to know this as well. I was accepted into UCLA and although both my academics and extra curriculars are pretty amazing, I don’t have a very great SAT score. So, do you think I can get into UC Berkeley as well?</p>
<p>Both are great schools. My S is a MechE major at Cal finishing his sophomore year. With that said, I would not pay OOS tuition to send my kid to either school if I did not live in CA.</p>
<p>Actually you are missing something. UCLA’s OOS acceptance rate is significantly higher than the in-state rate. This is in part due to the OOS tuition that those students pay (UCLA offers very poor OOS financial aid) and because a much smaller number of OOS students ultimately enroll at UCLA (likely due to the high tuition.)</p>
<p>Berkeley’s OOS acceptance rate is much lower than UCLA’s.</p>
<p>Actually, you have to look at the Fall Admit rate for Berkeley, versus the Spring Admit rate for Berkeley. UCLA only has Fall Admits. Berkeley has both fall and spring admits, which is why there is an ever so slight difference between UCLA and Berkeley’s overall admit rates. But if you look at the Berkeley fall admission rate, it was 17% last year, much lower than UCLA. If Berkeley only had Fall admission, then it would have a sigificantly lower admission rate that UCLA. Because Berkeley is on a semester system, that have the ability to bring in some kids who they might not otherwise accept but were on the fence with into the spring admission. It is a great opportunity for those kids if they are willing to wait to start. UCLA, however, is on quarters and doesn’t offer this opportunity. Hence the difference. </p>
<p>I have had the honor of having one daughter at UCLA and one at Berkeley. My husband graduated from UCLA. I graduated from Cal. So, in my house, we think both of these schools are the tops. Each has strengths in different areas. Each has a completely different vibe. You really need to spend some time on each campus and decide which you like. Most people don’t like equally each campus. You are a Cal person or a UCLA person. That is my experience. But you CANNOT GO WRONG with either. So, don’t get caught up with admissions stats or rankings. If you get into both (like my youngest did… my oldest only applied to UCLA because she is an actor…) then you are one lucky person…</p>
<p>Question…my son was accepted to UCSB Honors and UCSD…as well as a bunch of private schools in CA and back home…he was rejected at UCLA…we are out of state and can pay full tuition…UCLA was his first rejection (he was on a roll, thought it was too good to be true)…I know each school evaluates differently but does he still have a chance at Berkeley or should we give up?</p>
<p>UCLA looks more for extracurriculars? Man, I would have been rejected, but I didn’t. My extracurriculars weren’t amazing since I didn’t have any officer positions and I didn’t do 500+ hours of community service. As for Berkeley, I got rejected and I had straight A’s throughout high school and I did every AP classes offered, except for AP Government and AP French and AP Spanish (since you know, you can only choose on foreign language in high school). Anyways, in my opinion, UC Berkeley is more prestigious than UCLA.</p>