<p>Now that college acceptance announcements have arrived, I can?t decide whether I should go to UC Berkeley or UC Santa Cruz next year. One of my main concerns is that I know I want to go to a highly competitive grad school but I don?t know what looks better, having a high GPA from UCSC with good professor recommendations or having an average GPA from Cal. I would greatly appreciate any input!</p>
<p>From what I've understood, graduate schools like high GPA, test scores, and good recommendations. They don't really care about the school you attended.</p>
<p>Well, it depends, from what I read, Santa Cruz will be easier to get a higher GPA, but it definitely does not have the reputation that Cal does.</p>
<p>Also, since the atmosphere is so chill, do you think you'll stay motivated? At Cal its more of an academic focused atmosphere, even sitting on random benches when I visit, I always head people talking about some intellectual topic or other.</p>
<p>But both UC's are good. Basically you're paying for the same thing in different settings, chillaxed or grade driven. Which do you think you'll get the better education at? Because it's going to show in graduate school.</p>
<p>all grad schools look at are your gpa and test scores ( like mcats for med school) If you are applying out of state for out of state grad schools, it doesn't matter which uc you come from, as long as its a uc. I mean of course the committee knows about ucla and ucb status but uci vs. ucd vs. ucsc is kind of the same to them. So really, go to a school where you think you will perform the best in. If you will thrive in ucb, go there. If you want less competition and want a good chance to top people, go to ucsc. Pick a school that you are comfortable with. Also, make sure your school has a good major and other programs or counseling to help you get into your grad school.</p>
<p>Graduate schools definitely consider where you graduated from; if you have top grades at Cal your chance of getting into the graduate school of your choice would be enhanced. But a top student at UCSC would also have a good chance of admission.</p>
<p>True.. but from personal experience I am not a strong believer in prestigious schools getting me into med school. The school isnt getting me into med school, its how i do in that school. My aunt went to CSU Fresno and got into a good med school whereas my cousin got into UCLA and got into an okay med school.</p>
<p>I do however agree that a high gpa from UCLA is weighed higher than a high gpa from UCR or something like that.</p>
<p>"True.. but from personal experience I am not a strong believer in prestigious schools getting me into med school."</p>
<p>Junorita, I completely agree with you on this. I went to a "prestigious" high school (one of the top ranked in the country on based on both academics and art/theater. And I only got into the "lower tier" UCs. School rep only holds so much weight in things.</p>
<p>Yeah i go to an all girls college prep high school. It is a small school with supposedly good preparation for college. It supposedly has good standing amongst other schools but honestly I think a public school offers more attention to students than my school does. In my 4 years, i have had an assigned "meeting" with my counselor 3 times. If i go to her with a question, all i get is " I will research that and get back to you on it"</p>
<p>I have a friend who got into UC Berkeley but is going to UCSC. I think she chose UCSC because she loves the campus & the town, and also because of the smaller classes and not completely unreachable faculty, etc. I mean, at Berekeley, some classes are so big they have to display the lecturer on a screen in other rooms for everyone to see. I guess it just depends how you could adapt to that kind of learning environment. Both are awesome schools - good luck!</p>
<p>I am so glad you asked this question because I've been wondering too. I got accepted to both and I'm going back up to UCSC tomorrow for a whole weekend, then next weekend to Cal. I have anxiety issues so I get the feeling that UCSC might be the better match for me, but when I visited Cal, I loved the feeling I had just being there. I'm worried that being around lots of super smart people will make me even more anxious and insecure, and how can I perform well? Then I wonder if by being around super smart people will have a positive effect and make me feel good having some challenge.</p>
<p>It depends on your personality, but it's a no brainer. Berkeley. You might decide graduate school isn't as important to you at that time and it'd be much better to have a undergrad degree from berkeley than santa cruz.</p>
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It depends on your personality, but it's a no brainer. Berkeley
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<p>Didn't you read some of what was written above?? It's not all about prestige for some people. As stated, some people look for other factors in a school such as class sizes, location, environment etc. and the prestige level of a school doesn't factor in as much. People should choose a school that is the best "fit" for them.</p>