<p>Like I said before about @collegedropout1 I won’t believe there’s a decision until he is moved into his dorm/ apt, and had taken the first class. </p>
<p>As a matter of fact, I’m gonna need you to post a pic of you in front of the school you chose holding your registration statement with the daily newspaper in the other hand. Cover your face with the paper, and black out any identifying info. I want to see that posted during the first week of class. :)) </p>
<p>@Cayton YOU’RE MEAN! hahaha, just kidding. I can’t second guess my decision after Monday. I have to retract one of my SIRs by that date. The UC system told me ! Anyway, I’m pretty good at convincing myself I made a good choice, so I know I won’t regret/second guess anything. I’m just bad at making choices when I am given many, after that, it is all good. I know I will breathe a sigh of relief after this is over. </p>
<p><a href=“Dan Gilbert: The surprising science of happiness | TED Talk”>http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy</a></p>
<p>@2016Candles Trust me, after Monday, there is no way of going back. The UC system gave me a hard deadline which I must meet. By the way, I’ve only changed my mind a couple of times. You guys make it seem like it is every 5 minutes. Now I know how anthroflow felt.</p>
<p>@Luckie1367 I have had that TED talk in my mind since I got pulled off the San Diego waitlist. I think about it almost everyday. </p>
<p>I think about Berkeley everyday and think I made the wrong decision, but it would’ve been the same if I picked Berkeley over UCLA. That’s life. You are never going to be satisfied. </p>
<p>@csb111 I think about UCSD everyday! Berkeley would have been nice but since I never counted on it happening I am pretty happy just to have gotten in. However every time I get sick of LA traffic and “the ghetto” all I can think about is UCSD and get sad. But like you said thats life, and we have to move on and just enjoy our choice, and remember there was a reason we chose UCLA over another school. </p>
<p>@CSB111 </p>
<p>I too think about Berkeley every day, and though I love the thought of being a UCLA Bruin, I do wonder if I’d benefit more from going to Berkeley as opposed to UCLA. But, as you’ve said, if I decided to go to Berkeley, there’d be a very good chance that I’d wonder if I made the right decision. Although, to be honest, the only reason Berkeley is attractive to me is the prestige, and it doesn’t even have that much more prestige than UCLA. Everything else about the school and the area isn’t as exciting as UCLA and Westwood. And then there’s the strong possibility that the prestige gap between the two schools will narrow considerably as time goes on. </p>
<p>Oh well. No turning back now!</p>
<p>What is this eFAN thing that you guys just got? Isn’t that the provisional offer that they gave you when they admitted you back in April? </p>
<p>@k4201505 </p>
<p>No. That’s different.</p>
<p>In MyUCLA, under the Finances and Jobs tab, click the “Awards and Notices.” There, you may find your eFAN, your official financial aid letter. Or not. Check to find out.</p>
<p>@Cayton. </p>
<p>Well…I actually think the prestige gap will remain the same through out the years, but I like that you’ve been thinking about Berkeley 
</p>
<p>Wow, it seems like everyone is having their doubts. It looks like I am not the only one. I guess everyone else has just been better at hiding their’s.</p>
<p>I don’t think I made the wrong decision and it’s only been reinforced with time. </p>
<p>EDIT: I want to say that I had to think about it hard though. I made a number of pros and cons lists and made sure to check out the psych departments at both campuses before I made the final call. </p>
<p>@ocnative </p>
<p>Really? Why do you say that?</p>
<p>Personally, I’ve observed that in numerous academic disciplines, Berkeley outranks LA, but the gap keeps narrowing. UCLA used to be in the mid-20s in the field of biology, but is now about 19. LA used to be #9 or #10 in math, but is now #7. It’s tied with Berkeley in psychology, at #2. Before, it was #3 or something and slightly behind Berkeley. It’s also catching up in computer science and physics. The rankings I mention here come from USNWR. </p>
<p>Also, UCLA outranks Berkeley in philosophy, according to the Philosophical Gourmet Report(Pretty much the only reputable rank system for philosophy. USNWR doesn’t rank schools in this discipline), and according to NRC rankings, UCLA beats Berkeley in linguistics by a somewhat significant margin. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m just delusional and biased. I freely admit that this is a possibility. But from these observations, it’s hard for me to say that Berkeley will forever be indisputably more prestigious than UCLA. I don’t think UCLA will surpass Berkeley, but it can certainly match it 20 or 30 years if it keeps up its progress. This is all the more impressive considering that UCLA is younger than Berkeley by half a century AND that UCLA isn’t even 100 years old. Not even 100 years old(Also, also, UCLA couldn’t even grant PH. D’s until the late 1930s or so, so its doctoral programs are even younger than the university in general)! UCLA also wouldn’t be the first UC to match/surpass older sister schools; UCSD is somewhat younger than UCSB, for example, but is considered the more prestigious campus.</p>
<p>Finally, it’s worth noting that it’s about equally difficult to get into either school if you’re applying straight out of high school. Same average admitted GPAs, about the same admission rates(UCLA’s more selective!), and about the same average admitted SAT scores(Berkeley’s are higher).</p>
<p>I hope I’ve made a case that’s at least somewhat convincing for why UCLA may come to match or very, very, very closely match Berkeley in terms of prestige and academic strength at the graduate level in the future. Do you now at least concede that this is possible?</p>
<p>Really, though, we as Californians are blessed to have the UC system, with UCLA and Berkeley at the top as its flagship campuses. Most states in the country don’t even have one flagship public school that’s half as good as ours are. Even our less prestigious UCs are miles ahead of most public schools.</p>
<p>@Cayton </p>
<p>You’ve made some highly excellent points and I do think that UCLA does have strong factors such as their medical school, biological sciences, school of film and television, as well as other things. However, I do believe that it will take a while until it could catch up with Cal. I don’t mean to sound arrogant at all but the prestige of Cal’s academics tops most of UCLA’s list, even if it’s by a slim margin. It’s actually not far behind though (<a href=“The World's Most Reputable Universities In 2014”>http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/03/05/the-worlds-most-reputable-universities-in-2014/</a>) but will UCLA ever beat Cal in academics? Probably not. They most likely though could end up as equally reputable in the near future. </p>
<p>Anyways, I want to know why couldn’t Cal win you over UCLA? You can’t go wrong with either but I recall you already submitted your SIR before decisions for Berkeley were released. Did you not like Cal that much? Oh well, everyone’s different. A small part of me just wanted you to go to Cal at the end, lol 
</p>
<p>Well, throughout recent years, Berkeley UG rankings have dropped and UCLA keeps rising. The prestige gap seems more evident in the mind of boomers and older people. Anyways, who really cares?! Both schools are fantastic for UG! Employers seriously aren’t going to care as much as ya’ll likely think they do. </p>
<p>And SMDH at those doubting their choice! </p>
<p>Im honestly just coming on this thread every now and then just to see this kid make of his mind. I don’t think I have ever met anyone in my life that second guesses himself that much and can’t make a decision. In the end though, I really hope you are satisfied with your decision. </p>
<p>Good points, @ocnative. And I like that UCLA is in good company, being at #10 while Cal is #6. Yale, Caltech, and Princeton are in between the two UCs!</p>
<p>Why didn’t I SIR with Cal? Well, there’s a few reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Berkeley has some pretty strange required classes for my major that most community colleges don’t offer. Not officially, anyway. I probably could’ve petitioned for credit for one or two of the requirements successfully, but I’d probably still have some lower division requirements to deal with. This wasn’t a problem with UCLA; their requirements are pretty standard and my community college had the necessary classes to satisfy them. </p></li>
<li><p>I didn’t do the American Cultures requirement, lol. I guess you could always do that at Cal, but that’s time and money spent on that class that could be used on philosophy classes. 
My school had some classes that met the requirement, but I didn’t think to take them at the time because I didn’t consider applying to Berkeley then.</p></li>
<li><p>I wanted to stay close to family, something I couldn’t do at Berkeley. I also feared the possibility of homesickness if I went to Berkeley.</p></li>
<li><p>UCLA’s philosophy classes have way more variety and are more interesting than Berkeley’s classes. UCLA > Berkeley when it comes to philosophy. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>5.This is the least important reason, but I set my sights on UCLA right after I completed high school. I got ■■■■■■ grades then and decided to aim for the top(Well, what I thought was the top. I didn’t know about Berkeley’s prestige then). I did everything I could to get accepted to UCLA. After 2 years, my efforts have succeeded. :D</p>
<p>I wouldn’t turn down Berkeley for just one or two of the reasons listed above, but for all of these reasons, I feel I had to. You’re correct, I SIR’d before Berkeley even released their decisions for these reasons.</p>
<p>Also, UCLA seems like a more pretty campus lol. I think Cal students would agree. 
:P</p>
<p>When we’re talking about prestige, it will be incredibly difficult for UCLA to ever really get an upper hand on Berkeley. Cal is the momma bear of the UC system. There would be no UCLA without Berkeley. (Same thing for “University Farm” UC Davis.) UCLA wasn’t formally elevated as Berkeley’s equal until 1951, which was around the time that Cal was discovering elements like californium and berklium. Berkeley has more Nobel laureates, Turing laureates, MacArthur Fellows, and Pulitzer Prize winners than UCLA, which only adds to the gap. Then you factor things like the Berkeley Lab, Haas, and Free Speech Movement and yeah…it’s a significant gap. </p>
<p>Academically, UCLA will catch up to UC Berkeley one day. Especially when we talk about the undergraduate level. On that note, UC San Diego is another school that will catch up to UCLA and UC Berkeley. People will always perceive Berkeley as more prestigious though…</p>
<p>@Cayton
All good points. Though a majority of us didn’t complete the American Cultures requirement and I actually think it’s a great way to explore other departments course offerings, especially those that are upper-division. Anyways, it sounds like you’ll really enjoy UCLA. You probably have the most spirit for UCLA that I’ve seen on this forum, lol. </p>
<p>Also, both Cal and UCLA are pretty campuses in their own way 
totally different atmospheres for both also. </p>
<p>@calbro </p>
<p>Yup, couldn’t agree more :)>- </p>