<p>ok. i live in michigan and have run cross country for the past 2 years, and it is not fun running outside in the middle of the winter. but it would be easier as a sprinter weather wise.</p>
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<p>You’re forgetting that this person is an athlete. We treat them like Gods at UCLA. They’re the first ones to enroll among the priority enrollment students, so when they sign up the classes literally have 0s in the enrollment counts. Besides, he’s getting a 90% scholarship so the fee increases won’t affect him. As someone who attends UCLA, I’m not too concerned about it. Why? Because the students are among the best and the brightest in the world and, frankly, we get a little p***ed when people like yourself count us out. If you thought we were smart and motivated before, wait til you see us with a chip on our shoulder. </p>
<p>UCLA has the most renowned track program among all those schools (think Rafer Johnson, Gail Devers, Jackie Robinson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee…our women’s track coach was the national team coach in Beijing last year), we have more NCAA Championships than any other school in the world (followed by Stanford and then USC), and we’re by most standards a top-20 school (forgetting USNWR, which refuses to rank ANY public in the top-20, despite the fact that Berkeley has discovered 17 periodic elements and UCLA has more Nobel Laureates than 6 schools ranked above it. I also wouldn’t hesitate to put UVA and Michigan above or on-par with Notre Dame, Northwestern and Emory). </p>
<p>If the ONLY reason you don’t like UCLA is because you question the strength of the degree, and EVERYONE on here is telling you not to question it, then it sounds like as long as you trust everyone, your decision is made. As they say, 10,000 Romans can’t be wrong.</p>
<p>Also Alexander, UCLA is located in Westwood, which is very much a college town. If you haven’t visited, you should! It’s a nice place, and it would make you a bit more educated in your posts before you devalue UCLA as a middle-of-the-city school (which it isn’t- it’s directly bordered by Bel Air, Beverly Hils and Brentwood, all suburbs of LA, and about an hour from downtown). Cheers!</p>
<p>“Also Alexander, UCLA is located in Westwood, which is very much a college town. If you haven’t visited, you should! It’s a nice place, and it would make you a bit more educated in your posts before you devalue UCLA as a middle-of-the-city school (which it isn’t- it’s directly bordered by Bel Air, Beverly Hils and Brentwood, all suburbs of LA, and about an hour from downtown). Cheers!”</p>
<p>I cannot speak for Alexandre, but I am very aware where Westwood is. It is NOT anything like a college town. Perhaps you are the one needs to see what a real college town is like before you make comments about UCLA being located in one. UCLA feels like a large suburban campus sitting in a large urban city, nothing more or less. For example, football is king in Ann Arbor and the atmosphere is palpable on a Saturday afternoon. Tell me all about the trek from Westwood to the Rose Bowl. Furthermore, Bel Air and Brentwood are not suburbs of LA, they are districts within the city limits and being an hour from downtown is meaningless in a city where gridlock is all too common.</p>
<p>^^ I agree with the above. Westwood is a district within West Los Angeles. Westwood is NOT a college town. </p>
<p>Heck, none of my friends who attended UCLA call it a college town. It’s an urban campus within a very large city.</p>
<p>Think_Different, how did I devalue UCLA by saying it is in a big city? And where did I say it was in the “middle” of the LA? </p>
<p>At any rate, I have visited UCLA several times and it does not have a college town feel. That does not mean it is located in a bad area. In fact, it is located in a clean, safe and wealthy area. But it does not have a collegetown feel.</p>
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<p>Funny, considering it’s consistently ranked as one of the top-25 college towns in the U.S. </p>
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Let’s see, I’ve visited well over 40 schools in the United States (probably more than any of you, except perhaps Alexandre). Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, Charlottesville, Berkeley, Austin, Madison, Boston (large city, but it has so many colleges it pretty much HAS to qualify as one). You name the ideal college town, I’ve probably been there. So enough with the snipe comments. As for football, I have no idea how that came into the conversation. There is transportation to the RB provided for students. No, the stadium isn’t on-campus, but being able to play in America’s Stadium every home game is a unique privilege and honor that we wouldn’t trade for the Big House or the Home of the 12th Man. We also have our Bball games in Pauley Pavilion (might sound familiar…it’s kindof a big deal), where students (who already have tickets) camp out to get the best student section seats. I don’t expect you to understand that, though- you haven’t had a basketball team worth watching for several decades. Basketball in Pauley, baseball in Jackie Robinson Stadium, football in the Rose Bowl- I’m sorry, were you attempting to criticize our athletic venues? Don’t. Because unless yours have hosted an Olympic Games, you have nothing to boast about in comparison. Then again, ignorance is bliss, I suppose. </p>
<p>OP, I suggest posting your question on a less-biased forum (college search, parents, etc). It’s clear that no one on here, nor on the UCLA, Penn or UVA forums, is going to give you an honest, unbiased answer. Sorry to detract from the original intention of this thread, and best of luck with your decision.</p>
<p>the college town rankings are kind of stupid, at least the princeton review’s, because almost all of them arent in real college towns. it seemed like they basically just choose schools in big cities like nyc, boston, chicago, etc. these arent what i would call college towns. they are big cities so thats why there is a lot to do. to me there is a difference between a college town, and a college thats in a big city.
also UCLA is not in princeton review’s best college towns: <a href=“Best College Cities | The Princeton Review”>Best College Cities | The Princeton Review;
<p>Think_Different, UCLA is not in a college town. Most people will never say NYU, Columbia, UChicago, and USC are located in college towns. They are urban schools within a large city. I think we need to define for you what is a college town. This is from Wikipedia:</p>
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<p>The city of Ann Arbor has 115,000 residents. U-M has rouglly 41,000 students. The university dominates the city. That sounds like a college town to me. </p>
<p>UCLA is located in Westwood, a neighborhood within western LA. The university has roughly 39,000 students. The city of Los Angeles has around 4 million people. LA is NOT a college town.</p>
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<p>That’s because those are located IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY. Seriously people! If you HAVE NOT been to UCLA, DO NOT PRETEND TO KNOW WHERE IT IS!! It’s an hour from downtown (on a Saturday morning in a car, from personal experience, not some obscure website), and 18 miles from USC. LA is 3 times as large as Boston, so the sprawl is much larger. But to suggest that it is surrounded by skyscrapers and smog is to clearly have absolutely NO IDEA what you’re talking about. Anyone who attends UCLA who is reading this is laughing at your ignorance. The average home price w/in 4 miles of UCLA is $2 million. Do you seriously think those residents pay that much to sit in the middle of cement buildings? </p>
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Wait, not in downtown LA?? Sigh. I guess since you’ve never visited you know way more than a student who actually attends. "As of the census of 2000, it is estimated that there were 47,844 people residing in the Westwood neighborhood. " There are 40,000 students at UCLA. The university dominates that town/neighborhood/city (significantly more so than Michigan and Ann Arbor, now that you so generously provided exact numbers). </p>
<p>Restaurants in Westwood offer discounts for UCLA students, pizza delivery is discounted for UCLA students, movies produced by our alumni premier at the famous Fox Theatre so they can be close to students, countless shops sell UCLA gear, and the only people you see walking around are UCLA students. I’m not sure what other measure you’re looking for. I love Ann Arbor, I really do. Think it’s one of the best college towns in America. But setting aside your superiority complex, Westwood is also a pretty nice college town. Which is what we, UCLA students, call it. If you don’t like it, good thing you weren’t admitted.</p>
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<p>You are the one who is clueless. The last time I checked, Westwood is not an autonomous municipality. It’s a neighborhood district within Los Angeles. Ann Arbor is a city with its own form of government and services. </p>
<p>It’s not about a superiority complex. It’s about getting the facts straight. Until Westwood becomes legally independent from LA, it is not a college town.</p>
<p>“There are 40,000 students at UCLA. The university dominates that town/neighborhood/city (significantly more so than Michigan and Ann Arbor, now that you so generously provided exact numbers).”</p>
<p>This remark sums it up for me. What a ridiculous statement!</p>
<p>“There is transportation to the RB provided for students. No, the stadium isn’t on-campus, but being able to play in America’s Stadium every home game is a unique privilege and honor that we wouldn’t trade for the Big House or the Home of the 12th Man.”</p>
<p>Translation. We aren’t good enough to support our own football stadium.</p>
<p>“Because unless yours have hosted an Olympic Games, you have nothing to boast about in comparison.”</p>
<p>I do recall the last time LA hosted the Olympics. The opening and closing ceremonies were held right by USC. Another college town I take it?</p>
<p>By the way, Westwood to UCLA is the same as saying Hyde Park to UChicago or Morningside Heights to Columbia. You don’t see people on the UChicago and Columbia boards calling Hyde Park or Morningside Heights a “college town”. ::shakes my head::</p>
<p>“That’s because those are located IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY. Seriously people! If you HAVE NOT been to UCLA, DO NOT PRETEND TO KNOW WHERE IT IS!! It’s an hour from downtown (on a Saturday morning in a car, from personal experience, not some obscure website), and 18 miles from USC”</p>
<p>18 miles from USC to UCLA? Try about 12. Are you sure you live in the Los Angeles area? I think I might know it better than you do.</p>
<p>u know the thread stops being useful when people start arguing semantics.</p>
<p>Think_Different, I think it is important to define Westwood and Ann Arbor. Westwood is a district in Western Los Angeles. Ann Arbor is a city in Southeastern Michigan and the seat of Washtenaw County. </p>
<p>As I have said above, UCLA is part of a large city that cannot be described as a college town, no more than NYC or Chicago are college towns. And Westwood is not a college town either since it is not a town to start with. Westwood is a district or neighbourhood, no different than Greenwich in NYC or Georgetown in DC. Those are all AWESOME campus environments, and nobody has denied that, but they are not self-standing college towns.</p>
<p>I still do not understand why you are taking offense. Nobody here said that UCLA is weaker academically than Michigan. In fact, we have all said that UCLA is excellent academically. And nobody said that Westwood or the UCLA campus aren’t great. But you somehow assumed that saying that UCLA is in a large city or that Westwood isn’t a college town is some sort of insult. I guess people who live in cities like Ann Arbor, Athens, Boulder, Charlottesville, Madison etc… have a different standard when it comes to college towns…one of them being that it must be a town or city to start with.</p>
<p>hey eoliver~ have u reached a decision yet?! those are all pretty amazing schools.</p>
<p>I committed. I can’t tell you which school yet for confidentiality reasons just in case coaches look on here etc., but I will say in a couple of weeks. Everyone’s comments were more than helpful.</p>
<p>Wherever you attend eoliver, best wishes to you. :-)</p>