Anonymous wrote:Absolutely apply to both. I got into both, toured both - thought UCLA was going to be the end all-be all for me, but I ended up going to Cal. LOVED my experience.
But to answer your actual question - if your child wants to stay in California over the long run, UCLA would be a great choice. If s/he wants to move back to the East Coast or move internationally, I would choose Cal. It just has a better, longer-seeded reputation outside of California. People in DC seem extremely impressed when I tell them I went to Cal; surprised me a lot when I moved here - being from California, it was just a good school that a lot of my friends also went to.
And more - your child needs to think *really* hard about whether s/he is a southern California person or a northern California person. Because they are VERY different places, and his/her college experience will be influenced by that.
people in DC care way too much about where someone went to college. Grow up people.