UPenn vs. UCLA. Need help ASAP!

Hey guys I’m really stuck and am in some need of guidance.

So I was admitted for undergrad to both penn and ucla and can’t decide. I have grown up 20 mins from penn and am not only familiar with the campus but have grown up there. For college I was really looking foreword to exploring a new place with new opportunities since I have lived next to Philly my whole life.

I am going to major in Psychology and would also like to do a pre-med track.

My only issue is I have worked my ass off in high school and was really looking foreword to college as a place to discover myself, and not want to die because of the work load/competitiveness/stress.

Please give me your opinions and factor academics, social life, cultures, etc into why you feel that way.
Thanks so much!

At the moment I am leaning towards penn bc it is Ivy League, but UCLA was always my dream school and I feel like the social life (which is very important to me) is so much more fun.

bing678, My son studied at Penn. I have also got reasonably good knowledge about UCLA through the children of my friends living in the West coast. Have visited the campus too! In my opinion, going to Penn will be a better option in all respects.

Have you visited both schools? Also, if you don’t go through premed, what else are you thinking of in terms of career?

As a Penn grad who has spent significant time on the west coast I would say that you cant go wrong with either option. If you have spent time on both campuses you will understand the differences in the schools. Go where you feel you will be happiest.

I’d pick Penn.

Hi! First off, congrats for admission into both schools! They’re both amazing! I was in exactly the same situation as you: choosing between UCLA and Penn. At first, I was also leaning more towards UCLA because of the social life, school spirit etc. and I found Penn’s community quite intimidating. But after doing more research on academics (I’m also planning to do pre-med) as well as social life at both schools, I found that Penn will probably be the better choice for me. Not just because it’s an Ivy, but other reasons like average class sizes are smaller than UCLA’s (I heard lots of students are good friends with their profs and go out to lunch and stuff), better research opportunities (since Penn is well known as a research institution, which is good for pre-meds!), a supportive community (not as cutthroat as other Ivys although still competitive) etc. But keep in mind this is all from my perspective! As for social life/community, if you haven’t already, I would highly recommend joining the facebook page for the class of 2022 for both universities! I joined Penn’s page two days ago and have already met some awesome people with the same interests and hobbies as me! The students are not nearly as intimidating as I had initially imagined. Most of them are pretty funny and encouraging! This would be a great way to see if you can fit in the community before/if you go to Quaker/Bruin day. I hope this helped! Good luck and remember that at the end of the day you’ll end up where you belong!