UCLA vs. Berkeley for Psychology

tishtok
Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:17:01 +0000

:) No problem. So, for one thing, UCLA is famed for socal weather (warm all the time)…that is one thing to think about. But, I have to say, Berkeley weather is very similar. It is just more cloudy and cold at Berkeley, but it rains almost the same amount. If you are somebody who gets depressed when the sky is always cloudy, I would consider that factor.

Berkeley is known for having more “liberal” people there (when folks say that, they mean hippies). I’m not a Berkeley expert (I visited it for 3 days, though, and my father attended it), but I definitely think the atmosphere is different there. I tend to like the social justice part of the school’s history. It seems like people at LA are more “mainstream”, but I don’t know if that’s true.

Berkeley is definitely in a more economically depressed area than UCLA, but when I visited I expected the worst…And Berkeley really wasn’t that bad. A lot of (relatively) new buildings have sprung up, and it isn’t more creepy than, say, Westwood Village. Yes, there are more bums there than there are at Westwood, but not by a huge margin. Yes, I wouldn’t recommend walking alone at night, but…really, I wouldn’t tell you to do that in LA either.

Now, there’s no two ways about it, Berkeley is a college town, and UCLA is definitely not. There is no contesting this. The city of Berkeley grew around the college; UCLA grew around the city. Berkeley has more of a “small” feel to it. UCLA feels vast. Many people talk about Westwood Village when they try to point out that UCLA does have some shops and places to eat, but…Westwood Village is a brisk ten minute walk from the center of the campus, so it’s not exactly a congregation place for students. It’s mostly populated by middle schoolers, high schoolers, and people who are already employed. Whereas, Berkeley (as a college town, again) is surrounded by small shops and places to eat. I went to eat in one such place when I visited it, and at 12:00 like at least 30 students streamed in all at once. There were almost no other people there aside from students.

UCLA does have Ackerman Union, basically a food-court with stuff like Jamba Juice, Sbarros, etc. It’s right in the middle of campus, so students will usually go there if they want a quick snack. Idk…I’ve seen people try to glam up LA, but seriously, it’s not very glamorous. You hardly ever see celebrities (I haven’t seen one yet, and I’ve lived here for 15 years). Yes, you will be near Brentwood, Bel Air, and Beverly Hills, but…You will be NEAR them, not in them. And you probably won’t go in them, since you most likely won’t have a car (and even if you do, finding parking is very difficult). There are no buses in Bel Air. There are some in Beverly Hills and Brentwood, but they’ll be out of your way, and you probably won’t have that much time.

Granted, I do think that LA has more “fancy” areas than Berkeley. It has nice weather, but the two things about Berkeley that appealed to me were, one, Berkeley is farther from my home, and I won’t be living in my own back yard. Plus, it will be a new experience, and usually I cling to the familiar, a habit which I want to break. And two, it is a college town. LA is a commuter school. You’ll probably have a social life no matter where you go, but to me, the “small campus” feel appealed to me.

Also, for some reason, as a random side-note, people at Berkeley are TALL. I don’t know why. lol. Walking around Berkeley I feel like an ant. Walking around UCLA I feel average. shrug. If you wanna know any more, ask away.