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I agree with the above poster. It really depends on you and you should consider whether or not the school is a good fit for you.

Both schools are similarly diverse. The stereotype is that people tend to choose Berkeley over UCLA if they have the choice, thus there are more competitive people there. I have heard that undergraduate coursework is more competitive at Berkeley than at UCLA, to a very unpleasant degree. However, both schools offer great research opportunities for undergraduates. If you want to continue research after college, however, I don't think Berkeley often accepts its own undergraduates as graduate students, whereas UCLA often does.

In terms of location - it helps if you have lived in California before, in which case you'll probably have a good idea of one place or the other. There's lots of fun to be had in both places, since the city, night life and cultural sites are all nearby in both cases. However, keep in mind that at Berkeley you don't necessarily need a car to get around. There's a great transportation system called BART that you can use to get around the bay area, and a decent bus system. In LA, there is a bus system to get to the beach or to downtown, but having a car or being willing to pay for taxis or rentals is almost necessary to go anywhere else (Hollywood clubs, other cities, San Diego what have you). Things are a lot more spread out in LA. Also, scenic and outdoorsy activities are easier to come by at Berkeley.

LA and Berkeley are very different places. You really should try to take a campus tour or ask around to get a full impression. These are some of my observations that might give you an idea of what the places are known for. In Berkeley, there were people who lived in a patch of trees and refused to come down for anything for (maybe a year? months?) to prevent them being cut down to build the school stadium. The school was also the origin of the free speech movement in the 1960's or whenever. UCLA, on the other hand, is flanked by Bel Air and Beverly Hills - which includes designer boutique-only Rodeo Drive (price tags in the hundreds to thousands $$$). People sell star maps on the road bordering UCLA on the north, and people flock to movie premieres in Westwood to get a glimpse of a Hollywood star. Of course, these are both very limited observations. Both have many other things going on (lively music scenes in both places for example) and are surrounded by other cities / neighborhoods with different cultures of their own.

In my opinion, the people / students tend to reflect the environment after being there for a while.

the main important professional is they're 2 of the main suitable public universities interior the US. From my factor of vire, the main important con is they're in California -- however some human beings think of it quite is a expert. Berkeley regarded fairly secure to me. The competetiveness of the scholars relies upon on your significant. Undergraduate business enterprise is amazingly competetive, to illustrate. Graduate business enterprise pupils have been greater attracted to cooperating. i got here across maximum pupils and school to be fairly friendly. The campus is superb -- and that i enjoyed the college. the city is somewhat unusual. there is an exceptionally undesirable homeless situation in Berkeley -- besides the incontrovertible fact that it quite is greater of an off-campus situation.

It depends on what your field of study is, and what you are like. It also would be helpful to know how comfortable you aare with meeting and working with people who are from different races and cultures.

Class ranking is an arbitrary measure. What matters is whether you will feel comfortable living there for four or more years.