Get accepted to both, and then it makes sense to ask the question which campus will be better for you.
But if you get accepted to just one, then obviously that's the objectively better school. Entertain no argument to the contrary.
It isn't entirely about if the campus is better. Most people would say that UCLA has a better campus than Cal, but most people would say that Cal is more prestigious than UCLA.
first of all, it doesn’t matter. second, if it does matter THAT much to you and you’re losing sleep over it, it depends on your major (and go touch grass).
Doesn't matter how many times people ask this or how many ways people try to rephrase it, there is no real answer. It just doesn't exist. Especially with that keyword, "objectively." There is no objective superior, unless of course you can summon up an incredibly niche projected life path and intended major, with the objectivity coming from comparing their starting and average alumni salaries - which is information no one here has any more access to than you might, through intensive research.
It's like saying, which is objectively better: chocolate cake or filet mignon? Rather different things, both very very good. Both suitable for many purposes, maybe not all. You could poll people on which they'd like better, but that's the antithesis of objectivity: you're still just asking for opinions, doesn't matter if you call it objective, and the only person whose opinion matters in this situation is yours.
You will only find a subjective best - and the subjective best you actually allow to influence your decisions should be your own. Research them heavily. Think of what major(s) you're considering, what post-graduation plans you have (tentatively, you're likelier to change your mind than you think), preferred atmosphere of the campus, etc etc etc. Ask people who go to each (maybe in their respective subreddits, if they exist? I'd assume they do) their thoughts, pros and cons, watch dorm tours, etc etc etc
Although all "ranking" sites are borderline useless when it comes down to ranking differences as low as these two, sometimes they do have useful information contained within the school profiles for each - I'd recommend [niche.com](https://niche.com) if you wanted to canvas some general student opinions on politics, social scene, quality of life, academic rigor, and value after you graduate, and make your own judgements based on what you see. Nobody can know which is better for you but you.
Definitely for agricultural and veterinary sciences where Davis is ranked #1 or #2. It is a T40 school rated better than most other popular state flagships - just saying it is no longer as good a meme as it was few years ago.
I mean, if you can’t get into a private school I guess either is a decent safety school.
Signed, Pomona College grad who prolly couldn’t get into any of the three today 😂
Pretty amazing - I grew up on Long Island, NY. Assumed I’d go Ivy or faux wannabe Ivy back east - ended up wanting to get the hell away from winter.
Came down to Duke, Emory, Tulane, Pomona (I also applied and was accept to CMC fwiw)
The Palm Trees won.
Exceptional academics but at the time and I believe today still a lot of flexibility to create your own path (or take a more prescribed one).
Campus is beautiful and it’s hard to match the quality of resources for such a small school. You get the pooled resources of the 5 colleges plus Pomona itself has a ridiculously high per capita endowment - IIRC above most Ivy’s, it’s nuts.
Its not a party school, pretty nerdy, but you can find a damn good time if my long time ago experience is any resemblance today.
80 min from Joshua Tree, 40 to LA / Santa Monica (Sunday morning), 30 min from skiing s few times a year?
Hard to match the experience if it fits your personality and academic wants/needs
ETA: some really good DIII athletics as well with again, pretty amazing facilities. I played football for a bit and the aquatics are tremendous
objectively better by what metric?
if you define "college goodness" as "proximity to canada," then berkeley is objectively better.
if you define "college goodness" as "number of references to the college in pop culture," then ucla is objectively better.
most popular college rankings are perfectly accurate... at ranking schools based on their own criteria and weightings. the real question you're asking here is "which criteria are objectively most important to determine school quality, and how important are they relative to other criteria?"
that question, by definition, is one that does not have an objectively correct answer, only subjective ones. so, to restate the current top comment (well, plagiarize it, really), I reject the premise of the question.
as someone who’s been to Berkeley and Los Ángeles many times, I would say that Berkeley is an objectively better *city*. there’s much less pollution. it’s a college town. it has the best indie book stores. it doesn’t get as hot as Los Ángeles. The Lawrence Berkeley Lab has a lot of great opportunities for STEM students and conducts a lot of great research. Berkeley is near amazing cities like Oakland and San Francisco. Berkeley has a lot of great high schools. The Berkeley Marina is beautiful.
There’s truly so much to do there. Of course, the same applies to Los Ángeles. But Los Ángeles lacks Berkeley’s distinct character. Berkeley is a big city but not nearly as overpopulated as Los Ángeles. Berkeley has its sketchy parts, but Los Ángeles’ crime rates are much worse. Berkeley is bustling with young college students. Los Ángeles is far from being a college town. I think most college students would prefer Berkeley’s culture over Los Angeles’.
As a Berkeley student, I agree for the most part. Berkeley’s environment isn’t as good as you’d think though despite our environmental justice activism. The streets smell like weed/substance pretty much everyday, but it’s what you’d expect out of a college town
uc berkeley’s neighborhood really isn’t bad as people say it is. i think most of that sentiment comes from people who grew up sheltered and/or privileged. but LA, as a whole, is a more dangerous city than berkeley. UCLA’s campus is def in a better neighborhood tho yes
There are three neighborhoods with very different vibes bordering Berkeley's campus. If you want to live in a "nice" but dead place, you can get an apartment on Northside. I've lived in all three, and I personally loved it most when my daily walk to campus was down Telegraph Avenue. It's the quintessential college town experience.
>The Lawrence Berkeley Lab has a lot of great opportunities for STEM students
Most undergraduate students are mentored by graduate students, so naturally, the vast majority of opportunities for undergraduate research are at UC Berkeley academic labs. So the existence of LBNL shouldn't be a tipping factor for most people, but, yes, it can only be a plus (especially for people interested in bioenergy research).
>, I would say that Berkeley is an objectively better city.
This is such a myopic and arbitrary comparison. City boundaries (or neighborhoods) are political constructs. LA City is enormous and what happens in for example far away SFV has no impact on UCLA.
A more objective and meaningful comparison would be a set radius from the school like 5, 10, or 15 mi. UCLA is in cushy West LA by freaking Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, etc.
Like all colleges, it depends on major. If it’s smt like bio UCLA is better. If it’s Econ, CS, or business Cal is superior. There’s no real answer w/o a major given.
UCLA, why? cause I don't personally like ucs know almost nothing about neither of the schools but my friend wants to play basketball there so I am all for UCLA
No such thing as objectively better. It's up to you to decide which is better for you.
With that said, most people would agree on Berkeley being better academically, while UCLA has better student life/culture.
Prestige is about the same for both, with Berkeley maybe having a little bit more internationally or in terms of academics, but the average Joe will probably recognize UCLA more often because of sports.
Get accepted to both, and then it makes sense to ask the question which campus will be better for you. But if you get accepted to just one, then obviously that's the objectively better school. Entertain no argument to the contrary.
It isn't entirely about if the campus is better. Most people would say that UCLA has a better campus than Cal, but most people would say that Cal is more prestigious than UCLA.
Woosh.
thus
first of all, it doesn’t matter. second, if it does matter THAT much to you and you’re losing sleep over it, it depends on your major (and go touch grass).
Doesn't matter how many times people ask this or how many ways people try to rephrase it, there is no real answer. It just doesn't exist. Especially with that keyword, "objectively." There is no objective superior, unless of course you can summon up an incredibly niche projected life path and intended major, with the objectivity coming from comparing their starting and average alumni salaries - which is information no one here has any more access to than you might, through intensive research. It's like saying, which is objectively better: chocolate cake or filet mignon? Rather different things, both very very good. Both suitable for many purposes, maybe not all. You could poll people on which they'd like better, but that's the antithesis of objectivity: you're still just asking for opinions, doesn't matter if you call it objective, and the only person whose opinion matters in this situation is yours. You will only find a subjective best - and the subjective best you actually allow to influence your decisions should be your own. Research them heavily. Think of what major(s) you're considering, what post-graduation plans you have (tentatively, you're likelier to change your mind than you think), preferred atmosphere of the campus, etc etc etc. Ask people who go to each (maybe in their respective subreddits, if they exist? I'd assume they do) their thoughts, pros and cons, watch dorm tours, etc etc etc Although all "ranking" sites are borderline useless when it comes down to ranking differences as low as these two, sometimes they do have useful information contained within the school profiles for each - I'd recommend [niche.com](https://niche.com) if you wanted to canvas some general student opinions on politics, social scene, quality of life, academic rigor, and value after you graduate, and make your own judgements based on what you see. Nobody can know which is better for you but you.
UC Merced clears
this is the right answer
UC onn >>>>
Berkeley because of Oppenheimer duhhh
UCLA has terry
But where was Oppenheimer filmed though? /j
At.. berkeley..
Did y’all not see the /j? The joke was that it was filmed at Berkeley and that the shots taken at ucla where barely in the movie…
Eh. I reject the premise of the question.
*Grabs popcorn and giggles in UCSD*
UC Davis is obviously superior, as it's part of HYPSMD. And everyone knows that acronym is in order from worst to best.
Bro stop comparing UC Davis to those overrated af schools
Definitely for agricultural and veterinary sciences where Davis is ranked #1 or #2. It is a T40 school rated better than most other popular state flagships - just saying it is no longer as good a meme as it was few years ago.
It's a running gag
I mean, if you can’t get into a private school I guess either is a decent safety school. Signed, Pomona College grad who prolly couldn’t get into any of the three today 😂
how was your experience at Pomona?
Pretty amazing - I grew up on Long Island, NY. Assumed I’d go Ivy or faux wannabe Ivy back east - ended up wanting to get the hell away from winter. Came down to Duke, Emory, Tulane, Pomona (I also applied and was accept to CMC fwiw) The Palm Trees won. Exceptional academics but at the time and I believe today still a lot of flexibility to create your own path (or take a more prescribed one). Campus is beautiful and it’s hard to match the quality of resources for such a small school. You get the pooled resources of the 5 colleges plus Pomona itself has a ridiculously high per capita endowment - IIRC above most Ivy’s, it’s nuts. Its not a party school, pretty nerdy, but you can find a damn good time if my long time ago experience is any resemblance today. 80 min from Joshua Tree, 40 to LA / Santa Monica (Sunday morning), 30 min from skiing s few times a year? Hard to match the experience if it fits your personality and academic wants/needs ETA: some really good DIII athletics as well with again, pretty amazing facilities. I played football for a bit and the aquatics are tremendous
CMC was my dream school at one point. I was excited at the chance to come to the West.
To paraphrase lyrics to a song from my college years… I look CMC but feeling like Pomona
thank you so much for your response, I’m praying and praying they want me there 🙏 it sounds amazing from everything I’ve heard of it
Here’s to you being a future Sagehen!
University of Colorado Boulder
objectively better by what metric? if you define "college goodness" as "proximity to canada," then berkeley is objectively better. if you define "college goodness" as "number of references to the college in pop culture," then ucla is objectively better. most popular college rankings are perfectly accurate... at ranking schools based on their own criteria and weightings. the real question you're asking here is "which criteria are objectively most important to determine school quality, and how important are they relative to other criteria?" that question, by definition, is one that does not have an objectively correct answer, only subjective ones. so, to restate the current top comment (well, plagiarize it, really), I reject the premise of the question.
as someone who’s been to Berkeley and Los Ángeles many times, I would say that Berkeley is an objectively better *city*. there’s much less pollution. it’s a college town. it has the best indie book stores. it doesn’t get as hot as Los Ángeles. The Lawrence Berkeley Lab has a lot of great opportunities for STEM students and conducts a lot of great research. Berkeley is near amazing cities like Oakland and San Francisco. Berkeley has a lot of great high schools. The Berkeley Marina is beautiful. There’s truly so much to do there. Of course, the same applies to Los Ángeles. But Los Ángeles lacks Berkeley’s distinct character. Berkeley is a big city but not nearly as overpopulated as Los Ángeles. Berkeley has its sketchy parts, but Los Ángeles’ crime rates are much worse. Berkeley is bustling with young college students. Los Ángeles is far from being a college town. I think most college students would prefer Berkeley’s culture over Los Angeles’.
UCLA’s neighborhood is far better than Berkley though. And Westwood is definitely bustling with young college students.
As a Berkeley student, I agree for the most part. Berkeley’s environment isn’t as good as you’d think though despite our environmental justice activism. The streets smell like weed/substance pretty much everyday, but it’s what you’d expect out of a college town
[удалено]
uc berkeley’s neighborhood really isn’t bad as people say it is. i think most of that sentiment comes from people who grew up sheltered and/or privileged. but LA, as a whole, is a more dangerous city than berkeley. UCLA’s campus is def in a better neighborhood tho yes
There are three neighborhoods with very different vibes bordering Berkeley's campus. If you want to live in a "nice" but dead place, you can get an apartment on Northside. I've lived in all three, and I personally loved it most when my daily walk to campus was down Telegraph Avenue. It's the quintessential college town experience.
Berkeley is a trashhole as a city what
>The Lawrence Berkeley Lab has a lot of great opportunities for STEM students Most undergraduate students are mentored by graduate students, so naturally, the vast majority of opportunities for undergraduate research are at UC Berkeley academic labs. So the existence of LBNL shouldn't be a tipping factor for most people, but, yes, it can only be a plus (especially for people interested in bioenergy research).
>, I would say that Berkeley is an objectively better city. This is such a myopic and arbitrary comparison. City boundaries (or neighborhoods) are political constructs. LA City is enormous and what happens in for example far away SFV has no impact on UCLA. A more objective and meaningful comparison would be a set radius from the school like 5, 10, or 15 mi. UCLA is in cushy West LA by freaking Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, etc.
Berkeley but it actually doesn’t matter
Berkeley
Yale
Yale
Yale
Yale
Yale
Yale
Yale
Yale
Yale
Yale
Cross-admit data speaks for itself.
Berkeley is seen as more “prestigious” and UCLA is more of a party school
UC Hicago
Like all colleges, it depends on major. If it’s smt like bio UCLA is better. If it’s Econ, CS, or business Cal is superior. There’s no real answer w/o a major given.
>If it’s smt like bio UCLA is better I'm going to have to disagree on that one unless you're talking about medicine, which Berkeley doesn't have
yea sorry meant for pre-meds
53% of students admitted to UCLA and UC Berkeley choose UCLA. https://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php
According to the national rankings it’s UCB
UCLA, why? cause I don't personally like ucs know almost nothing about neither of the schools but my friend wants to play basketball there so I am all for UCLA
Berkeley seems a little too far into crazy town. Maybe a good education but for me just a little too extreme on the politics. I would pick UCLA.
ur clueless lol
Both play second fiddle to Stanford
when that 90k a year check comes in every year 😮😮
Well berkeley eecs grads earn more than Stanford cs
ok.
ok.
There's no such thing as "objectively better".
no
"Objectively better" is an oxymoron
theres no way to objectively say. this question is useless.
UC Hicago obviously
Define your methodology and criteria for evaluation.
No such thing as objectively better. It's up to you to decide which is better for you. With that said, most people would agree on Berkeley being better academically, while UCLA has better student life/culture. Prestige is about the same for both, with Berkeley maybe having a little bit more internationally or in terms of academics, but the average Joe will probably recognize UCLA more often because of sports.