UCLA Bizecon or UCB Haas (early w/ regents potential)

[trivialgradient]

Hi everyone! I need help deciding between UCLA and UC Berkeley. I was accepted to UCLA as a Business Economics major and UC Berkeley early to the Haas School of Business (I interviewed for the Regents scholarship and I’m not sure if I got it yet). I also want to double major in cognitive science at both of these schools and I’m not sure which school is better for me to do that. My career interests lie in finance (private equity, asset management, IB), management consulting, product management, and potentially other tech or AI-oriented jobs.

For some context, I was born and raised in SoCal, and I don’t want to leave my family. However, I’m not sure how much more worth it Berkeley is. Finances are also not an issue since the cost would be approximately the same (no aid). Here is a list of pros and cons I have each for some additional info.

UCLA

Pros:close to home (~45 minutes), better weather & location, better dining hall

cons: good amount of people from school (I want a fresh start), no real undergraduate business program, not a fan of the party culture/environment, quarter system

UC Berkeley

Pros: potential regents scholar, has a top undergraduate business school, better environment for me (more academically driven & less “party”), semester system

cons: far from home (6-7 hour drive), worse weather/location, worse dining hall food, bad mental health crisis, hard to get into clubs

Please let me know which one you think is the better option! Additionally, does UCLA or UCB have a better CogSci program? Thank you

[worriedmomucb]

I will say that Regents at Cal is pretty nice. You will get some aid (I think $2500 is the floor, but after that is need-based, so if you have no need, then that will be it). But the guaranteed housing is very nice to have (and they say you don’t get housing priority, but regents do tend to get their first choice in dorms), and the priority registration is great (although it only kicks in the second semester). There are some other perks, too - like mentorship opportunities and committees. They are what you make of them. But guaranteed housing and early registration are major perks at a large public university.

@trivialgradient

less “party”

Not sure that’s true, though. There is plenty of party…

@trivialgradient

hard to get into clubs

Depends on the clubs. Business clubs, yes, probably very competitive. But if you’re more open, you’ll find plenty to do. My daughter is non-stop with clubs and activities. So it really depends. And you will probably face the same/similar challenges at UCLA.

[ucbalumnus]

Economics for Investment Banking? - #6 by triplectz is from more than a decade ago, but describes the IB recruiting scene at UCB at the time.