Anonymous wrote:UCLA alum here.
Berkeley has the historically higher position, just like Harvard does even if Stanford or Yale scores better on something.
If you search The LA Times archives from 6 months ago or less, there was a big article on how UCLA is the hardest CA college to get into right now, harder than Berkeley.
UCLA has great resources--it's a big school, has lots of alums, lots of $.
Personally, although both schools are pretty left-wing, I think Berkeley is so left (and historically so left) it would be hard for me to send my kids there. I'm not anti-left; I just think it's long-gone to the place where there is no room for discussion/debate/differing views. It's more of the place to nail down and hone those views.
Does post-school geography matter? If you want to be in Southern California, UCLA will give you the networks, and in Northern California, UCB will be the better school.
UCLA also has strong ties to Asia (I don't know re Berkeley but assume so--maybe someone on here knows) I *think* UCLA has greater presence world-wide, probably due to the football team and the marketing with the cartoon Bruin.
Now, just saying, not comparing to UCB here: OMG I loved going to school at UCLA. It was super-hard, but what an incredible experience.
I agree but you can't take away the power house minds and discoveries that came/come out of Cal. Two great choices if someone is fortunate to be accepted to both!