Both are extremely overcrowded and scarce everything even after you get in. |
What does this mean? |
I work with students applying to colleges, UCLA is more popular than Berkeley due to nicer weather and being more laid back. Berkeley can be very grindy, and housing is tough. I have known students to transfer out as they found it too intense.
UC schools are a great value but tough to navigate at times with budget cuts and huge classes. |
Agreed. Little mamma tantrum stamped her feet. Rounded up her banshees. Deleted viable posts. Typical DCUM |
SoCal HS parent here. DC will likely apply to both, both have pros and cons but ultimately are fantastic schools and the in state tuition for their rank/quality of education is hard to beat. |
If you are serious about academics - Berkeley.
If social scene and the relative attractiveness of the student body is important - UCLA. However, OOS admission rate in the last few years is around 5% (about 8-9% for in state students) for both and even lower for popular majors. |
Seems insane to say this, but which do you like better, ACC basketball or Big 10 football? |
Also SoCal HS parent here. My kids will be applying to both. I don't know anyone whose kids wouldn't apply to both, as a matter of course. Some might not want to apply to UC Merced because the acceptance rate is almost 90% or due to accommodation issues at UC Santa Cruz, but otherwise there's 7-8 very viable colleges. Students sometimes transfer from one to another, or start at one say UC Riverside for undergrad and finish their PhD at UCLA. |
Not really a contest, since B1G hoops is stronger, too. |
Both great schools |
Both schools offer Fine Arts degrees. UCLA has a superior fine art program by far. They admit the best artists and take them even further. Whereas Berkeley doesn’t even screen for artistic talent via reviewing portfolios. Any respectable art program (Yale, UCLA, RISD, CalArts) in America vets for artistic talent during the admission process. Programs that don’t like review art portfolios (UC Berkeley, Sacramento State, CSUEastBay) are like taking art classes at the local community college in which critique days might involve crayon scribbled drawings in the mix. |
Westwood = badass
Berkeley = cesspool |
UCLA offers 4 years of guaranteed housing on a safer campus with better food. Berkeley offers 1 year of housing so kids have to find off campus housing in an unsafe and expensive area. |
UCLA is the better experience for undergrads. Berkley's prestige stems from its graduate programs.
UCLA for undergrad, Berkeley for grad. |
Agree, and I lived in Westwood Village. Surprisingly large number of homeless. Also Covid hit Westwood village hard, there are lots of empty storefronts. |