UCLA Class of 2029 Official Thread

Colleges & Universities University of California - Los Angeles
740

I can confirm from S24’s experience last year:
An equal number of spots in each cluster is reserved for each NSO class registration date. (e.g. if there are 12 NSO events, then only 8.3% of the seats in the cluster will be filled at each event) This is fair for international students like yours who usually come to the last NSO dates and stay through.

My S24 attended an earlier NSO date and wanted the Sixties Cluster but didn’t get a spot in part because he went for a Math32A spot first. He had prepared a list of other GEs after talking to advisor the night before and scrambled to enroll in a couple of those that had also reserved some seats for First Year students. He ended up really enjoying one of those GEs.

For 2nd quarter and beyond, new students move into the First-Pass process you saw referenced on MyUCLA.

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741

Went to both. Loved Bruin Day, hated Cal Day. Parents are pressuring me to take Cal because companies tend to target Berkeley over UCLA.

742

Valid dilemma :blush:

743

I don’t think that’s true of most jobs. A top student at UCLA will have great opportunities. My S’s co-workers (economic consulting) are almost all from top 20 privates and UCLA was just as much a target for recruitment as those schools. He was very happy he chose UCLA over Cal.

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744

Could you share more about your experience: Cal day vs Bruin day? What you liked/loved/disliked about each place?

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745

That’s not true. Two of my kids chose UCLA over Berkeley. The only major I would pick over UCLA is if you are in Spieker or MET since there are no equivalents at UCLA. Potentially CS. For everything else, they are equal.

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746

It pains me to say this as a UCLA alum with a son at UCLA but I do think there are a small handful of companies that still view Berkeley as more of a target than UCLA. For the most part opportunities are on par, but in certain fields like consulting, certain firms will target Michigan and Berkeley over UCLA. It could be because they have true undergraduate business programs or many more alums. I’ve had 2 recruiters tell me the same - they attribute it more to age of some who have hiring influence. Older directors/partners don’t think of UCLA as on par because when they went to school it wasn’t.

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747

STEM majors are largely meritocratic and there will not be much difference between the schools. There are lot more tech incubators and vc investments in silicon valley which might be an advantage to berkeley. But this does not apply across the board to all majors. All said, fit still should be the primary deciding factor.

Luckily, most people are not admitted to both and don’t have to make this decision!

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748

If you look at individual program rankings UCB has more programs ranked in top five than any other public school: engineering, Econ, environmental science, UG business, just to name a few.
Even the so called lower ivies, Duke, North Western, JHU, UChicago, do not have so many individual programs consistently in the top 10.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/economics-overall?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/psychology-rankings

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749

This is very true. Hiring manager’s perceptions of a school is from when they graduated. It’s of late that UCLA has caught up and passed UCB in overall US college rankings. It still trails in individual program rankings. Having said that, jobs and internships depend on the individual’s merits. The school name probably helps to get the first look.

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750

Hi!
For a bit of context, I live 40 mins from Berkeley so I spent the full day, while my UCLA was cut short as I flew in ~4AM and left UCLA around 1:30PM.

UCLA:
Pros: Weather, “cozy” campus vibes, libraries, passion of professors, food, access to DSP (BSMA program for math), Quarter System. Also a bit controversial, but I do prefer the hilly nature of the campus. study abroad there is also amazing.
Cons: Really far, not a target school for companies (which is apparently not as big as I thought it was), a bit harder to get internships (once again apparently the delta isn’t that bad), travel (and COI in general) is really expensive there.

Berkeley:
Pros: Close to home, access to Haas/Berkeley Engineering classes, easier to double major, access to consulting clubs (at least, much more than UCLA, apparently), more people who go there who can guide me (albeit none in my major), professors seemed generally nice. A big thing for me was wanting to teach my own class,

Cons: There were a lot of weird people on campus, and many of the students made you think, “how did they get into Berkeley??.” The math building (where many of my classes will be) is slated for demolition, because its really old. Food is really bad and housing isn’t guaranteed. Semester system makes exploration hard, and I will need several miracles if I want to take any CS class. Atmosphere felt gloomy even though it was bright outside.

Its Desicion paralysis. I want UCLA but my parents (and their colleagues, who I would consider to be in pretty good financial and social standing) have continued to prefer Berkeley. If I choose Cal, I will hate it there. If I choose UCLA, my parents will be dejected and I will lose a part of our relationship.

If I actually got Regents at Berkley, it would be an obvious choice for me as it negates many of the cons. But without Regents and not being MET they are both very similar.

Please help!

751

This is the big issue. Currently, UCLA is probably better for quite a few programs, but it wasn’t back then. Similar with Purdue, where is was extremely good in the past so it is viewed as very good by ppl who went to school when it was at the top.

752

So is that because they are taking HAAS/Ross kids? I could see how if you are at U Mich in Ross, maybe you have an advantage or if you are in undergraduate business at UCB. But if you are doing Econ, then surely it doesn’t matter.
Perceptions are funny. For younger generation UCLA is more desirable. Berkeley took 7 kids from our high school. UCLA took 3. Two of those kids got into both schools, including mine. UCLA admits were absolute top of the class, while some Berkeley kids were more social justice and lots of community service kids. Preference among kids is UCLA. My children couldn’t believe I wanted them to even consider Berkeley.
Also interestingly kids who got into USC got into zero UCs and were all sports popular kids. So strange. I think all these schools know who goes where out of which high school and type of kids they take varies by high school.
Also US Davis and UCSC seem to waitlist some high stats kids. And no kid at our school has gotten into UCLA but denied at UCSD. However some of kids get into Berkeley who are denied by all other UCs.

Also subject rankings are mostly graduate program related.

My kid couldn’t believe frats were in the middle of Berkeley campus. He said kids were drunk on Cal day by 11 AM and they were behaving in a disgusting manner. We have never seen anything like that at UCLA on campus.

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753

Not sure what you mean by that quote above, I take it as you like UCLA more.

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754

You will not go wrong either way and as a parent myself, ultimately, as long as you are happy and successful at what you are doing, this will cease to be an issue, for your parents.

755

Show them this post if need. But it sounds like you have made your decision. Parents want what’s best for their kids and I am certain they will understand. Your happiness is everything. Congratulations!

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756

Go to UCLA. You have 4 years to spend in college, you should be happy.

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757

Agree! And as a UCLA alum who also got into Cal, I get the struggle, but follow your heart. Your parents would understand. All 3 of my girls would have done anything to have gotten in to my alma mater. Congrats!

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758

I’m sorry, if this last sentence is true, this is not even a question. If your relationship with your parents will be in jeopardy for a decision as trivial as this one, this should be a no brainer. UCLA and Cal are honestly so much more similar than they are different.

As much as I love and adore UCLA, if I would “lose a part of our relationship” with my parents, I would take Cal in a heartbeat. Remember, unless you’re on full financial aid or you get some snazzy internships, your parents are paying for you and have the final say no matter what. Take Cal and learn to love it

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759

As a parent, I see it differently. I would never damage my relationship with my child over my own feelings about their school choice. Also trivial.

And I would hate that my kid might think this and if I found out they did, I would set them straight.

I know everyone is different but if SunSteel feels strongly about their preference for UCLA I hope they can sit down and have a serious conversation about it with their parents. And let the parents tell them directly how they feel. At least they are then deciding based on fact and not assumption.

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