Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would pick:

Cal
UVA
UCLA

Then the others depending on major.

I would pick Cal over most other schools, public or private. It’s an exceptional experience.

+1 unless student is focused on government or politics. Then UVA. Or film obviously, then UCLA

Berkeley has a better government or politics program than UVA.

This.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would pick:

Cal
UVA
UCLA

Then the others depending on major.

I would pick Cal over most other schools, public or private. It’s an exceptional experience.

+1 unless student is focused on government or politics. Then UVA. Or film obviously, then UCLA

Berkeley has a better government or politics program than UVA.

Anonymous wrote:The UC schools are all huge, with 43-48 thousand students. The UC system is intended to prioritize research and graduate programs. At this, they are far ahead of the Virginia schools (although UVA has great Law and Graduate Business programs). Berkeley is in the top 10 (per USNWR) in more graduate disciplines than any private school, including Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. UCLA is also close to the top. They are ahead in global rankings, which are heavily weighted on research productivity.

But undergraduate education is a different thing. The UC schools don't have great faculty to undergraduate student ratios, don't rate that high for teaching, ease of getting classes, etc. Depending on what you want, I think you could make a good case for the Virginia schools at the undergraduate level.

Agree with this .

The UC schools are all huge, with 43-48 thousand students. The UC system is intended to prioritize research and graduate programs. At this, they are far ahead of the Virginia schools (although UVA has great Law and Graduate Business programs). Berkeley is in the top 10 (per USNWR) in more graduate disciplines than any private school, including Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. UCLA is also close to the top. They are ahead in global rankings, which are heavily weighted on research productivity.

But undergraduate education is a different thing. The UC schools don't have great faculty to undergraduate student ratios, don't rate that high for teaching, ease of getting classes, etc. Depending on what you want, I think you could make a good case for the Virginia schools at the undergraduate level.

We live in California but we used to live in Bethesda. We'd have considered moving during HS to VA to be in state for W&M and possibly Vtech, but not UVA. Now we live in CA and our kids are doing well in their local HS we are looking at the UC's as priority (not every college). We would never consider sending them back to VA now, for any of those colleges. This is entirely down to cost.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA schools unless given a free ride and generous additional stipend to attend on of the CA schools.

Uc schools don’t offer merit to oos students.

They don't offer merit

The Regents and Chancellor Scholarships are merit-based and offered to OOS and international students.

My DD was offered a Regent and she was OOS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you pick Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD over UVA, W&M and VT?

Yes. My DD will be going to UCLA. Wouldn’t even tour W & M. Awful tour at UVA and LA more exciting and dynamic than Charlottesville. We are OOS for all.

My DD will be going to UCLA and we are OOS. Got accepted to UVA, VT, and W&M (Monroe Scholar). Tours at those schools were okay and she knows they are good school. She just wasn't excited about them. She looooved the tour of UCLA and is excited for the change of scenery. She is majoring in Biology (plans to go to medical school), and is impressed with the classes and research opportunities UCLA will offer.

We didn’t tour any California schools for that reason. What kid wouldn’t love California ?

It is a nice looking campus and the dining halls are pretty impressive She chose UCLA over Northwestern, U of Chicago, NYU, and Cornell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you pick Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD over UVA, W&M and VT?

Yes. My DD will be going to UCLA. Wouldn’t even tour W & M. Awful tour at UVA and LA more exciting and dynamic than Charlottesville. We are OOS for all.

My DD will be going to UCLA and we are OOS. Got accepted to UVA, VT, and W&M (Monroe Scholar). Tours at those schools were okay and she knows they are good school. She just wasn't excited about them. She looooved the tour of UCLA and is excited for the change of scenery. She is majoring in Biology (plans to go to medical school), and is impressed with the classes and research opportunities UCLA will offer.

We didn’t tour any California schools for that reason. What kid wouldn’t love California ?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one knows of W&M outside of DMV. UVa is also a 'golden child' only regionally

I certainly knew of W&M (and UVA) and grew up in CA.

UVA is ranked from #21 to 24 nationally. Don’t be an idiot. And the ncaa basketball win.

W&M is 2nd oldest college in the country and been known as a public Ivy even when I went to school in the late 80s.

Oops! Not you pp—the poster u were responding to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one knows of W&M outside of DMV. UVa is also a 'golden child' only regionally

I certainly knew of W&M (and UVA) and grew up in CA.

UVA is ranked from #21 to 24 nationally. Don’t be an idiot. And the ncaa basketball win.

W&M is 2nd oldest college in the country and been known as a public Ivy even when I went to school in the late 80s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are in-state in California and your kid can get in, I would say California.

Sorry, I should have said from VA. We are in state VA, not California.

No. We aren’t paying for west coast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you pick Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD over UVA, W&M and VT?

Yes. My DD will be going to UCLA. Wouldn’t even tour W & M. Awful tour at UVA and LA more exciting and dynamic than Charlottesville. We are OOS for all.

My DD will be going to UCLA and we are OOS. Got accepted to UVA, VT, and W&M (Monroe Scholar). Tours at those schools were okay and she knows they are good school. She just wasn't excited about them. She looooved the tour of UCLA and is excited for the change of scenery. She is majoring in Biology (plans to go to medical school), and is impressed with the classes and research opportunities UCLA will offer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would pick:

Cal
UVA
UCLA

Then the others depending on major.

I would pick Cal over most other schools, public or private. It’s an exceptional experience.

Except for overcrowded classes, horrific housing issues, and dealing with the homeless population. I went to Cal 25 years ago and it was very bad then.

And yet, at least at UCLA, student satisfaction, retention rates, and graduation rates are very high despite having a much higher percentage of FGLI and Pell students than the rest of the T20. In short, students at UCLA tend to enjoy it. The people who lament crowded classes, housing issues, or the homeless are usually concerned online parents and not the students themselves.

That said, I'd still take UVA in-state over UCLA out-of-state purely on cost. UVA is a fine school and generally a peer to UCLA and Cal.

Because they have nothing to compare it to. Someone who's only experienced Domino's doesn't realize that pizza from Napoli, Palermo, or Verona are all unique and have different flavors. If you've only eaten Domino's than that's heaven.

+1. Most people will not have experience with more than one of these schools. I've lived very near three of them at different points in time (UVA, W&M, and UCLA), but I still don't consider myself knowledgeable enough to comment on the core experience. I know the obvious differences like size, surroundings, weather, cost of living, etc., but not a current understanding of the quality of the experience or education.

My kid chose UCLA over VA in-state. For us, money is not an issue, if it were, DC would be in VA.

UCLA is lovely, but it does have plenty of warts as mentioned upthread. Kid who are successful there have to be resilient, are able to roll with the punches/disappointments, and resourceful. They treat them as full adults before they step on campus. There is little to no handholding in DC’s experience. And unsurprisingly, the school is mostly people from CA.

I am familiar with the homeless person being in a classroom. Every public school is at risk of homeless people being on campus. We saw who I would assume were unhoused people on more than one public campus we toured last year. If that is a significant concern, choose a private school. Publics are limited in what they can do to force anyone off campus.

Anonymous wrote:There is a thread on Reddit right now about a student’s experience this week at UCLA when a homeless person came and sat in class and the professor did nothing. Just a reminder that most east coasters totally unaware of how bad rhe homeless situation is in CA cities.

I've seen that movie. It was called With Honors.