<p>Both schools have the same ranking on newsweek.
Which school do you feel is better for science/pre-med?
Which school do you think is the overall better school?</p>
<p>I think UCSB is fairly good at sciences/pre-med. Contrary to its image, there seems to be 2 halves of the school; one that studies like no other and does well, and the other that parties to give it the crazy reputation. As long as you hang out with the right kids, you're good. Also, its the oddest thing, but a surprising number of renowned professors teach at UCSB, supposedly attracted to the nice weather.
UT Austin seems like a good choice too, however people really don't hear that much about its academics and way more about its crazy partying. If given the choice for pre-med, I would assume that UCSB would be a better choice not only for its rising academics, but also that graduating from UCSB basically entitles you to very good public med schools (UCSF, UCLA, UCSD, UCI) for in state tuition prices (because who wants to carry more than 100k in debt for med school).</p>