Deciding Between UCLA and UC Berkeley
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
There is always a small, but significent number of high school graduates every year that are fortunate enough to come to this question: "Should I go to UCLA or Berkeley?"
I had to make this decision, along with three of my closest friends. Two of us chose UCLA, and two of us chose Berkeley. I was one of the ones who chose Berkeley.
The two colleges are basically the same: they both have good reputations, they're both enormously huge with about 150 people per class, and they even have the same colors (for what it's worth). After taking tours of both campuses, after asking different people about the two colleges, and after thinking about it a lot, I came to the following disappointing conclusion: it comes down to the weather and the buildings.
I asked this UCLA guy why he chose LA over Berkeley, and he sort of scratched his head and said, "Well, I kind of liked the buildings here, because they're made out of bricks... and it's not so rainy." I asked a Berkeley alum on a plane why he chose UCB, and he said he "liked the weather."
So really it's about whether you see yourself as a Southern Californian or a Northern Californian. Just rest assured that about 90% of the time people are happy where they are after the first week, because, as I said before, the two colleges are just about the same.
And if you really don't like it, which won't happen, you could always transfer, even though you won't need to.
I had to make this decision, along with three of my closest friends. Two of us chose UCLA, and two of us chose Berkeley. I was one of the ones who chose Berkeley.
The two colleges are basically the same: they both have good reputations, they're both enormously huge with about 150 people per class, and they even have the same colors (for what it's worth). After taking tours of both campuses, after asking different people about the two colleges, and after thinking about it a lot, I came to the following disappointing conclusion: it comes down to the weather and the buildings.
I asked this UCLA guy why he chose LA over Berkeley, and he sort of scratched his head and said, "Well, I kind of liked the buildings here, because they're made out of bricks... and it's not so rainy." I asked a Berkeley alum on a plane why he chose UCB, and he said he "liked the weather."
So really it's about whether you see yourself as a Southern Californian or a Northern Californian. Just rest assured that about 90% of the time people are happy where they are after the first week, because, as I said before, the two colleges are just about the same.
And if you really don't like it, which won't happen, you could always transfer, even though you won't need to.
