<p>I feel like there are a lot of threads along the lines of “BERKELEY OR LA??? OMG IM SO STUCK,” which is definitely an issue worth discussing for students like me who love both schools and are really just stuck in deciding which one to go to, but those threads usually evaporate into endless debate.</p>
<p>Let’s try something a little different. Please, if you chose UCLA over Berkeley, why? Please be as detailed as you can without taking too much of your precious time. Was it for academic reasons? Social reasons? financial? emotional reasons? Please be as specific as possible, thx.</p>
<p>I’m talking current students and grads, please.</p>
<p>How do you view your decision now, year(s) after you’ve made it?</p>
<p>I really appreciate any students/grads’ comments/words of wisdom in response. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I feel like there are a lot of threads along the lines of “BERKELEY OR LA??? OMG IM SO STUCK,” which is definitely an issue worth discussing for students like me who love both schools and are really just stuck in deciding which one to go to, but those threads usually evaporate into endless debate.</p>
<p>Let’s try something a little different. **Please, if you chose UCLA over Berkeley, why? **Please be as detailed as you can without taking too much of your precious time. Was it for academic reasons? Social reasons? financial? emotional reasons? Please be as specific as possible, thx.</p>
<p>I’m talking current students and grads, please.</p>
<p>How do you view your decision now, year(s) after you’ve made it?</p>
<p>I really appreciate any students/grads’ comments/words of wisdom in response. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Both of my kids turned down Berkeley for their respective choices (UCSD and UCLA). Their primary motivation was location of the bay area vs southern California and for one, the location of San Diego. A secondary motivation was the area surrounding the school - i.e. UCLA and UCSD are in very nice upscale areas and UCB…isn’t. At the time UCB offered only 1 year of on-campus housing (I think they might now be up to 2??) and UCSD offered 2 years and UCLA 3 years and both UCSD and UCLA have a large amount of nice safe apartments/condos available for student rentals within walking/shuttle distance. UCLA and UCSD both offer plenty of internship and job opportunities in their major (computer science) as does Cal. Both were quite happy with their choices and both have done quite nicely with their chosen campuses with internship and job offers but they would have done nicely at Cal as well. </p>
<p>It doesn’t come down to what’s the ‘better campus’ by various subjective, nebulous, and irrelavant to the student reasons, it comes down to what the student feels would be best for their personal preferences and situation. The important point is that it truly isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ or ‘one campus is better than another campus’. People should visit the campuses, keep in mind logistical items like preference to one geographical area over another, preference the immediate surrounding area, living options, etc.</p>
<p>Anyone deciding between UCLA and UCB has great choices with a nearly identical academic cohort of incoming students and will likely end up with great opportunities regardless of which campus they attend.</p>
<p>I was accepted to both UCB and UCLA for '10 fall and I am picking UCLA over cal
I liked the environment and campus at ucla better
academics aren’t so different, so the more interesting school was my choice</p>
<p>UCLA over Berkeley/UCSD for BioE. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. For BioE it’s been a great tight knit community with great faculty members. Even though I’m switching fields and not pursuing bio further, I’ve really thought that I learned a lot.</p>
<p>Wanted to go to Columbia but it was too expensive.</p>
<p>Cal too close to home, campus wasn’t as friendly as when I visited UCLA, but definitely not a bad school</p>
<p>UCSD - gloomy the day I visited, campus was empty and not as much to do outside</p>
<p>People asked a ton of these UCLA v Cal v UCSD questions - from my perspective you’re going to get a top notch education anywhere you go. What matters more is how hard you work while you’re there to give yourself opportunities beyond the school. They’re all public, you won’t get pampered and you’ll have to understand how to study, how to be persistent, and you’ll grow a ton at any school. Most things being equal, it really came down to where I thought I could be happiest - I’m all about working hard and playing hard and UCLA gave the combination of sun, fun and urban culture that worked for me. Ask yourself, did a school give you that feeling? On the flip side, where would you not regret choosing another school?</p>
<p>Within my apartment, a lot of my roommates feel like UCLA has done nothing for them. I don’t think they realize the opportunities they had, and most of them didn’t take advantage of student groups or put themselves out there enough as a result of personal choice or financial necessity.</p>
<p>I chose UCLA over Berkeley because I felt I’d be much happier in LA than in northern California. I also grew up around here and a lot of my family went here, so it would have been hard to choose somewhere else. I was also impressed by the variety of opportunities the math department offered. I’m sure there are also opportunities at UC Berkeley, but there’s not much on their website to show it. I also have a small scholarship here, though I had already chosen UCLA before that came through. (I know this is slightly off-topic, but I was also impressed with the Math Department offerings at UCSD, and with the Regents Scholarship I had there I would’ve been tempted to choose it over Berkeley).</p>
<p>"Within my apartment, a lot of my roommates feel like UCLA has done nothing for them. I don’t think they realize the opportunities they had, and most of them didn’t take advantage of student groups or put themselves out there enough as a result of personal choice or financial necessity. "</p>
<p>I picked LA(Biochem) over Cal(BMB major) as a transfer student. Although the Cal BMB ranks very high(#2 or #3 I guess), I feel happier at UCLA. The academics between the two don’t very much and are pretty much on par at the undergraduate level. I feel I have made the right decision after my two quarters here.</p>
<p>I feel like there are a lot of threads along the lines of “BERKELEY OR LA??? OMG IM SO STUCK,” which is definitely an issue worth discussing for students like me who love both schools and are really just stuck in deciding which one to go to, but those threads usually evaporate into endless debate.</p>
<p>Let’s try something a little different. Please, if you chose UCLA over Berkeley, why? Please be as detailed as you can without taking too much of your precious time. Was it for academic reasons? Social reasons? financial? emotional reasons? Please be as specific as possible, thx.</p>
<p>I’m talking current students and grads, please.</p>
<p>How do you view your decision now, year(s) after you’ve made it?</p>
<p>I really appreciate any students/grads’ comments/words of wisdom in response. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>^That’s disregarding the student demographics of the two universities. CSULB could have a lower GPA than Berkeley and there’s no way anyone would believe it’s more difficult. The conventional line of thought was that UCLA was “easier” than Berkeley because we accepted most of the Cal reject students. Of course, this has been less true these past 1 or 2 years… Still, some question the work ethic of UCLA students.</p>
<p>LA is better in some areas, Berkeley is better in others…if they’re both about the same, then it’s apples and oranges, really. Some people like the So.Cal. area more, and some people like the Bay Area better…And some people THINK that UCLA is easy to get by? Or significantly easier than Berkeley? I LOL at their ignorance.</p>
<p>Both my sons chose UCLA over Berkeley. My youngest who will be entering this Fall 2010 was admitted to engineering in both schools. He said he chose UCLA because it was a better fit for him even if Berkeley has a better engineering school. I tried to change his mind to go to Berkeley because of it’s engineering program. He told me that “it’s not always what school you go because it’s up to you to succeed.”</p>
<p>i actually did a LOT of research … university websites, forums, reviews, videos, etcetc.</p>
<p>i finally chose ucla over cal.
some of my reasons are probably inapplicable to most people but i’ll state them anyways.</p>
<ol>
<li>i want to major in japanese and double major in comm/ minor in tv&film so that after graduation i can move to tokyo and work as a translator and in the entertainment industry. although berkeley supposedly has the better japanese program and is supposedly more famous in asia, cal’s media studies program (from what i gathered) is more theory whereas ucla’s comm program is more production and hands on (what i want). also cal’s film major is the study of film but ucla is the production (again what i want). ucla is a big entertainment capital, good for internships probably.</li>
<li>i hate rain.</li>
<li>after having attended a super asian high school for 4 years where i have crashed countless times after having had to stay up all night by means of caffeine pills and energy drinks, have had to deal with intense competition, and have barely enjoyed my high school years because i’m always too busy doing work, i wanted to make sure to go somewhere where i could get good academics that weren’t going to take up 99% of my time and where i could also have time to actually experience a good social life.</li>
<li>my favorite movie is raise your voice and one of my favorite shows is angel. they both take place in LA. i have always been fond of and somewhat in love with LA, and feel obligated to fulfill my “dream” of being there</li>
<li>most people agree that the undergrad education bw the 2 isn’t that much diff anyways</li>
<li>UCLA has better campus food, better looking/ more social people, and i like the hills housing situation</li>
<li>apparently ucla campus is safer; i’ve heard about cal crimes</li>
</ol>
<p>HOWEVER
my main problem was that i deep down wanted to go to ucla, but just couldn’t quite give up the opportunity to go to a school with prestige like that of cal’s. also i’m really worried about getting around ucla without a car, and cal’s bart system and public transportation really attracted me. and north cal’s climate range is actually, tempwise, more fitting for me (65 is my ideal, i guess i’ll have to adjust, which shouldn’t be too hard). however, berkeley in general never truly appealed to me, but i think that was probably because i never visited. a cal alumni told me that had i visited, i probably wouldn’t even have been debating bw the two schools bc i wouldve fell in love at first sight w cal. i guess i’ll never know.</p>
<p>my advice? VISIT BOTH. research. don’t choose cal just bc it’s cal. but if it’s something like engineering, cal is probably the more obvious choice. with a major as obscure (word choice?) as japanese, both schools are probably equal for it.</p>
<p>and either way you will always have a pang of regret for not choosing the other school, just because we’re human and always want what we don’t have.</p>
<p>also this might sound dumb but i’ll just put it out there anyways. quite honestly, had cal not accepted more oos students this year bc of their bankruptcy, i’m pretty convinced i wouldn’t have been accepted. not to say i’m not well rounded and a good student, but i’m not AMAZING. and i was kind of scared that i’d get lost among all the “geniuses” at cal and i’d fall behind in academics. at the moment, i am feeling totally lost in my calc bc class as we’re learning about sequences and series, and feeling inferior bc the juniors in my class understand the material and i don’t. they’re not pleasant feelings and it’s more than enough to feel that way for 43 minutes each day, let alone 24/7.</p>