I’m a city college transfer student that has been admitted to UC Berkeley and UCLA for Fall 2019. I am planning to go straight to a master’s after I graduate in two years. I need some advice as to which school to attend.
For UC Berkeley:
- #2 for Statistics programs (this may just be for their grad program, but I don't believe their undergrad will be too different)
- I am not declared in the major yet, so I will have to one of the harder classes at Berkeley (and get a B-) before I can declare my major.
- I feel like my GPA would suffer at Berkeley more, which I am worried about because I am planning on attending grad school
For UCLA:
- #27 for Statistics programs
- Some people I have spoken to have found the Statistics program quite underwhelming (They don't really teach Python, and you would need to take more math and CS classes to supplement some topics BUT idk if it would be the same at Berkeley)
- While UCLA is competitive, I feel like I have a better chance of reaching out the professors and asking for research opportunities
- I may have a little higher GPA and a better chance at research here, so I was thinking it would be better for grad school admissions
I understand that the rankings for the programs won’t really matter, but I am not sure if there is a big difference in the quality of their undergrad programs. If anyone has any perspective on both of these programs, please let me know. Thank you!
I’m a big fan of UCLA’s IDRE website and some of the faculty like the owner’s of Mplus, so I can’t imagine the program being anything less than stellar. Tbh, UCB doesn’t have the same presence.
Just as an FYI, Professor Ani Adhikari, who is a department chair of the Statistics department at Berkeley, was voted Professor of the Year for 2019 by the school newspaper. My kid will be lucky to take one of her Probability classes in the Fall, STAT 140, which always fills up in the first 2 weeks of registration.
This may or may not be comforting, but if you cannot pull B-s in your UG stats classes, you will likely not be admitted to competitive grad programs anyway - so you can take that out of consideration when comparing UCB vs. UCLA.
the way you setup your analysis, your answer is a foregone conclusion: UCLA.
That being said, your analysis is wrong. Both schools are interchangeable for grading. Both have great faculty, most of which will support you for jobs or grad school. But, tbf, both will have a few jerks who only care about their research. (On what basis do you believe that UCLA profs are more approachable?)
UCLA won’t be any ‘easier’ or less competitive. Moreover, if you can’t earn a B- in a major course…
Have you visited? Which campus do you enjoy more?
“city college” of SF? If so, would you prefer to stay in the Bay Area? Or, would you prefer to get outta town and go to Westwood?
@bluebayou, disagree, I thought his feelings were heavily tilted towards Cal’s program being much better. UCLA’s program is certainly less established and is a fairly new major. Your second paragraph was definitely wonderfully stated; not much needed to be added except for that UCLA is on a very accelerated quarter (trimester) system. I feel a bit less willingness to respond, though, because of the City College of SF information you provided. Perhaps, he or she should definitely stay in the Bay and try to save money for grad school. Nevertheless…
@corgibyun . . .
You’ve undoubtedly gone over the coursework at both universities and formulated your own feelings about each of their Statistics majors, but for the sake of edification for others who might be interested, here are some of the links to the this major at both:
Cal
[Berkeley Academic Guide, Statistics]( http://guide.berkeley.edu/undergraduate/degree-programs/statistics/)
[Department of Statistics](Statistics Major | Department of Statistics) Page
[Application & Worksheet](http://statistics.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pages/docs/statmajorapplicationonlyspring2019_0.pdf) for Statistics Major
UCLA
[UCLA Catalog, BS Statistics]( https://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/ucla-catalog18-19-1352.html) Note that it’s a [Capstone Major]( https://catalog.registrar.ucla.edu/ucla-catalog18-19-74.html), with information under heading of “The Major.”
[Undergrad Statistics](http://statistics.ucla.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/) Page
[Application & Worksheet](http://statistics.ucla.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/statistics-major-worksheets/) for Statistics Major
[Program In Computing](PIC Course Information | UCLA Department of Mathematics) Courses for Non-CS Majors
Good luck…
Sorry, looking back on this I don’t believe I was very fair in my analysis. The feeling that UCB will be more competitive/less approachable is due to all the rumors and comments I’ve seen about life at Berkeley. I haven’t really been able to talk to anyone about Berkeley’s program, so I am probably misinformed and having a case of imposter syndrome (which probably caused my worry about passing a major class).
That being said, do you think there are any differences in both of the programs? What should I consider most when I decide?
@corgibyun. . . I know your reply was directed to bluebayou, but I’ll provide some input nonetheless. I think you might be better served to stay put and save money by living at home and taking BART across the Bay to Berk, assuming you live in the SF or the Peninsula. Doesn’t this make sense?
@firmament2x Commuting to UCB everyday is not an option for me, so I will have to live on-campus at either school. I don’t believe the housing rates will be too different if I stay at UCB or UCLA, so the amount of money spent/saved will be pretty similar.
So would you say that the quality of both programs are likely to be similar academically and opportunity-wise?
@corgibyun I agree with whoever said the grading will be similarly tough at both places; I don’t think the two UCs are that different in that regard. If your rankings of Stat departments are as different as you say for grad school, given that if you apply for grad schools the weight of that program will carry over a bit even for undergrad so would seem UCB would be your target unless you want to get away farther from home or prefer LA weather…
@corgibyun . . .
That’s a function of how well you do at one vis-à-vis the other. If Berk motivates you to do better because you’re more situated there (closer to home, etc.) and you graduate, say, magna cum laude, but UCLA does not and you graduate with a 3.2 and hated every moment there, then Berk will have provided you with greater opportunity. None of us can answer this question, because we don’t know your situation; whatever makes you happy where you can flourish; etc.
I was looking at the xfers into both Berk and UCLA for Statistics in 2018:
School…25th/75th Percentile Grades
Berk…3.68/4.00
UCLA…3.88/3.96
Davis…3.24/3.66
I added Davis *bcos/i of ur reference to competition. If you were also accepted into Davis, it’d be a great option as it’s a great school.
The point is that you’ve withstood much and undoubtedly have excellent grades. Feel better about yourself; you’re not an imposter as you might say.
@corgibyun . . . I just wanted to clean some things up from my yesterday’s prior posts and add another comment or two.
In my post #6, I state that the PIC courses are for non-CS majors. They are actually for all non-engineering majors, as the other E’s would take programming courses through the CS offerings because CS is housed in Samueli. And specific E majors are required to take three upper-division courses in the other E’s besides their own, and many opt for CS to fill their schedules.
Additionally, @nw2this made a great point about UCLA involving computational things in other disciplines besides science. This is partly where PIC comes in as a humanities major can take PIC if his or her confidence would allow. We kind of sloughed over his or her comment when it should have been heeded, if not for the part about Berk’s non-relevance, or the way he or she put it.
And I linked UCLA’s PIC courses obviously to show you that UCLA does indeed teach Python.
Best of luck, and I do think you’re more about Berkeley…
The two schools are comparable for math and statistics. Do you have any interest in economics, I like UCLA’s approach. What other classes do you plan to take beyond math and stats? Getting a research project at UCLA and Cal is the same, you need to be a squeaky wheel, have very top grades and bug professors nicely. You need show up to their office hours, having read a paper and talked to their grad students. Its not automatic and its NOT easier at UCLA by any means, its exactly the same process at either school.
Doing undergrad math research is a BIG challenge. A lot of professors in math will not want to deal with you at all, as an undergrad and may have a policy not to hire undergrads but a few will hire you.
Also, start to figure out your summer plans now, if your goal is a PhD. Look now at Math REUs. Math REUs are very oversubscribed across the USA, they are summer math research programs, and they are so tough to get into, you will need a top Putnam score to get into a few ! Some Statistics REUs will be much easier to get admitted to though.
What you do each summer matters a LOT. Whether you go to Berkeley or UCLA does not matter. FLIP A COIN!