Cal: "hipster/artist/progressive" UCLA: "conservative/all-American/traditional"

Dudemanguy · 05-06-2010, 01:25 AM

Someone told me that this was basically the difference as far as "atmosphere" goes between Cal and LA. How true is this?

bagelsbagels · 05-06-2010, 01:26 AM

i wouldnt call ucla conservative

these are dumb generalizations anyway

ciaokarol · 05-06-2010, 01:27 AM

I really doubt UCLA is generally conservative. And about Cal, that sounds so stereotypical.

sunnyseas · 05-06-2010, 01:27 AM

Now that you think about it......

hahaha jk.

0rganicGreenTea · 05-06-2010, 01:30 AM

Honestly, the two schools have very similar student bodies, basically the kids who tried the hardest in high school.

A girl from my high school went to Berkeley, and when she came back and I saw her at a party, she was all hippied out(in regards to her hair/clothing). However, as a self proclaimed modern hippie myself, I know hippie culture/philosophy enough to see that she was totally fake, just posing as a hippie for fashion because I guess that's whats cool in berkeley... so cliche.

borntogrow · 05-06-2010, 01:33 AM

Yes, I often hear Berkeley being dubbed the "hippie" school, but if you want to go the generalization route UCSC is the hippie school.
Not that I agree anyway. Just sayin'.

Cali Trumpet · 05-06-2010, 01:37 AM

Santa Cruz is the ultimate hippie school because, since the the admissions standards are relatively low, all hippies are able to attend. Berkeley, on the other hand, filters out the stupid hippies.

So, Santa Cruz would appear to have the lower tier of hippies, while Berkeley dominates the upper tier.

Trasferuc · 05-06-2010, 01:42 AM

School is what you make it. I cannot stress this enough, even at a community college level. There are those who never made friend, but on the other hand there are those who made a few really good ones (I am going to be dorming with someone from my CC at Berkeley!) Don't get caught up in what people tell you, you define your own experience and no one should take that away from you.

mkcman17 · 05-06-2010, 01:56 AM

i think conservative/all american is reserved for a school more like vandy, not a SoCal school. i'd say both are pretty 'liberal,' but between the two, cal is much more so i think.

Darkstorn · 05-06-2010, 02:11 AM

Cal is much less liberal than it was when my parents went there in the 70s. Berkeley has attracted a large number of more conservative economics majors in recent years, for example.
And UCLA is far from conservative. Probably the most conservative UC schools are San Diego and Irvine (and perhaps Merced and Riverside).

DCSPORTSFAN · 05-06-2010, 02:30 AM

hipsters FTW

abutler5 · 05-06-2010, 11:31 AM

People saying that Berkeley is full of hippies have clearly never stepped foot on the campus.

cooldude6 · 05-06-2010, 12:06 PM

Yeah Berkeley is basically a bunch of the smartest people of every skin color imaginable.

smartyskirt01 · 05-06-2010, 01:14 PM

Good to hear. I was a little worried that I'd have to wear flower headresses and start smoking pot to fit in lol!

mikei · 05-06-2010, 01:35 PM

From what I've witnessed anecdotally, pot doesn't seem to be an issue at Berkeley (relative to other schools.)

There's really no pressure to smoke pot because you have more future-focused and serious students at Berkeley than at most other schools (in general.) One of my friends got really into smoking but her friends all pressured her to stop.

I should be careful, though... Pot is commonplace in Berkeley as a city. It is almost never enforced unless a person is selling the drug. You will see bums smoking out of bongs in front of Peet's coffee on Telegraph and cops will drive/walk right by them without a problem.