<p>Berkeley is more academically superior, but it doesn’t really make a difference for undergrads, and LA ranks pretty high, too. Wherever you go, you are bound to meet people who are idiots and people who are super intelligent. U.S. high schools, especially public high schools, are basically a joke. People who get 4.7 GPA and loads of EC activities are usually ‘Streber (a German word, don’t really know the English equivalent)’. 
I would suggest you to give more weights to the non-academic factors.</p>
<p>I turned down Berkeley and came to LA, and I don’t regret. I’m happy here. Berkeley is too close to home (my parents work in the bay area), so I’ve got more freedom in LA, which is cool.</p>
<p>However, if I were picking a graduate school I would go to Berkeley.</p>