@katliamom - That’s the same wording I’ve heard my Bruin kids use (and to the other poster - they don’t mean it negatively! It is what it is and they accept it). Absolutely love the university, but UCLA’s South Campus doesn’t exactly have a warm and fuzzy vibe. It is seriously intense, and with the lack of sleep for many students due to the quarter system and course demands, it can get even more stressful as the weeks go by.
UCLA has many happy students, but their counseling services are also incredibly overwhelmed with the demands on their resources. The wait times for appointments can be up to a month or more. So much so that a private counseling company has recently opened in Westwood to try to help with the huge student demand for long-term care.
To the original poster - one of my kids chose UCLA over SCU. Both are quality schools. The only reason she chose one over the other was because she had to maintain a 3.5 GPA to keep her scholarship at SCU and only had to have a 3.0 at UCLA to keep both her scholarships. You need to pick (outside of finances) the one that is the best overall fit for you. For this particular kid of mine, she’s learned that she is a big city/large public university kid, so UCLA was ultimately a much better choice for her.