<p>Based on the chance threads I have seen, is it like this:</p>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Los Angeles</li>
<li>San Diego</li>
<li>Three-way tie: Davis, Santa Barbara, Irvine</li>
<li>Santa Cruz</li>
<li>Riverside</li>
<li>Merced</li>
</ol>
<p>There are two others that I found on Wikipedia, but I don’t know where they stand. They are San Francisco, and Hastings.</p>
<p>Also, where would Stanford, USC, and Caltech fall into this?</p>
<p>That's pretty much right.</p>
<p>UCSF is a med school (one of the best in the country) and UC Hastings is a law school. Neither offer undergraduate education.</p>
<p>Stanford and CalTech would be at least equal to or above Berkeley (they're both some of the country's top schools). Problem is, they're twice the cost.</p>
<p>USC's standing largely varies depending on who you ask. Its popularity has skyrocketed within the past several years, so most people on CC would equate it to the top-tier UCs (this is true as far as admissions go). However, if you walk up to any random person and ask them about this it's likely that they'll say it's not that great of a school academically (its name recognition is mostly due to its football team). The thing that most everyone would agree on though is that it's not worth twice the cost of a UC (unless you get a scholarship or something).</p>
<p>USC is probably equal to UCLA or a little bit below it, but still above UCSD</p>
<p>(Stanford)
1. Berkeley
(Caltech)
2. UCLA
(USC)
3. San Diego
4. Davis
5. Santa Barbara
6. Irvine
7. Santa Cruz
8. Riverside
9. Merced</p>
<p>Something like that, although all these lists are always variable.</p>
<p>nah u guys have it all wrong...
1. UCLA
2. Stanford
3. Caltech
4. Berkeley
5. UCSD
6. UCD
7. UCI
8. UCR
9. UCM
10. USC Trojans</p>
<p>^ lol you forgot UCSB and UCSC. But yeah, USC is overrated...</p>
<p>The question is how GOOD the UCs are -- and I guess my question would be, uh, good at what?! Good at trying to be more like UCLA, then USC (if we're trying to compare here!) Good at having the best rally committee? Then Cal, for sure! (IMO). Having the best football team? OK, I'll (grudgingly) give U$C that.</p>
<p>Different schools have different programs that exceed. Trying to put the schools as a whole into a rating system is kind of arbitrary.</p>
<p>I was accepted to UCSD last year and went down there an hated it. Now I'm going to UCI because they have a far superior Musical Theater program. But UCI is tecnically listed under UCSD. That's just one example.</p>
<p>What's the criteria?</p>
<p>UC Hastings, interesting..</p>
<p>UC Hastings, the lost child of the UCs :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I drive past Hastings about once a week, didn't even know it was a UC</p>
<p>My rankings
Stanford
Caltech
UCB
UCLA
USC
UCSD
UCSB
UCI UCD (tie)
UCSC
UCR
UCM</p>
<p>Yeah Hastings is a UC, but it's administered separately from the other UCs.</p>
<p>UCM
UCR
UCSC
UCI
UCSB/UCD
UCB
UCLA
Stanford
Caltech.</p>
<p>Based on strictly numbers from this year (acceptance rates) and my personal knowledge about these schools, I'd say:</p>
<ol>
<li>Stanford (9.5%)</li>
<li>Caltech (???, around 10 I believe)</li>
<li>Berkeley (22.2%)</li>
<li>UCLA (22.1%)</li>
<li>USC (20%)</li>
<li>UCSD (40.2%)</li>
<li>UCD (52.4%) / UCI (49.0%)</li>
<li>UCSB (49.7%)</li>
<li>UCSC (74.3%)</li>
<li>UCR (76.9%)</li>
<li>UCM (76.7%)</li>
</ol>
<p>This might sound a little biased considering the fact that I'm going to UCI next year, but I think that UCI is climbing up the ranks being such a young institution and whatnot.</p>
<p>USNews.com:</a> America's Best Colleges 2008: National Universities: Top Schools</p>
<p>Don't JUST go by those rankings when choosing colleges though, because it has to do with what your majoring in, what you want the demographics to be, how your college visits are, and where you want to go to (location of the college). But of course, prestige trumps all (especially with Asian parents). Factors still matter, right? :3</p>
<p>People always seem to look at rankings and acceptance rates when determining how good schools are. It's true that they help to some extent, yet both are superficial without other information. I'd also consider other statistics (such as average GPA/SAT and of course how good it is for your major, which you mentioned). Plus, it's important to consider that USNWR's formula favors some schools over others (basically private schools). Then again, other ranking systems aren't really any better...</p>
<p>Based on strength of academic programs and the numbers of such programs....</p>
<p>Berkeley <--> Stanford
CalTech
UCLA
UCSD
UC Davis
USC
UC Irvine, Santa Barbara
UCSC
UCR
UCM</p>
<p>I agree with others, though, on the difficulty of answering the question because the premise isn't clear. For example, CalTech is more of a niche & would have fewer total number of outstanding academic programs, which I used as the overall criterion. Arts programs I did not account for, and that would through the whole arbitary ranking off.</p>
<p>Whoops ^^ (dummy): "throw" not "through." Asleep at the screen.
:)</p>
<p>^you would rank Davis and SD over USC?</p>