General

All the UC's have a "curve" but it's not a curve that hurts you. It's more of a grade scaling that gives you plus points. Also, the only thing the top UC's have is grade deflation, which is the opposite of grade inflation as you may be familiar with for the top research universities. This is not the same as a bell curve scale though.

Go to the school with a better program in what you are studying. If it's not a significant difference, it doesn't matter. I don't think there's a huge math difference, so it doesn't really matter where you go. For social life, if you join a frat or club you would be well off ANYWHERE you go.

[quote=grip25]both are pretty bad since it's not harvard[/quote]

only betas go to Harvard

Berkeley because that's where all the smart people in our school end up at

both schools have practically equal merit in the eyes of employers. it's the difference between the #1 and #2 public university so the differences are rather arbitrary like the difference between a 2200 and a 2220 on the SAT. also, both schools due to their prestige manage to get recruiters for top companies to attend their job fairs. I currently go to UCLA and my recommendation is to go to the school which is farther from home which in this case is UCLA. I've found that spending time away from home and not having the pressure to go home on the weekends to be important to my personal growth, and you'll find yourself doing better socially if you're not tied down by family obligations. furthermore, I felt that having the opportunity to familiarize myself with a completely foreign environment independently was my first step into adulthood.

I graduated from UC Berkeley pretty recently. After finding the right group of friends, I actually had the time of my life at there. A degree from Berkeley can open up a lot of doors as well. Having a Berkeley degree definitely gave me a clear advantage during job interviews.

@grip25: ikr, a friend of mine got into Harvard, Yale, MIT, and Columbia and im salty af rn even though I didn't apply to any schools ranked higher than UC Berkeley
@abyssMind: Berkeley has a curve, which means all grades a relative. I'm somewhat intimidated by the fact that almost every student there is just as bright, if not brighter, than I am. I still need good grades.
@Skyenets: I'm sure I'll have fun at Berkeley too, but judging from the people in the fb groups for class of 2019, the UCLA people are just a lot more easygoing and less fake (all the berkeley people are trying to act all cultured and it's kind of annoying)
@RitoPls: I'm asian and I love asians
@superswift12: I live near stanford bay area represent ^-^
I don't really talk about my gpa, but I'll give you a rough rundown of my stats
GPA: Slightely below average for those who enter Berkeley from my school. Check your school's naviance, since every school has a different amount of weighted classes, etc. and make sure your GPA is in the ballpark.

Standardized tests: 2220 SAT, 34 ACT. 800 SAT Chinese, 800 SAT Math II, 780 Physics. I also took and passed 8 AP tests, but I'm too lazy to list them. All of them were 4/5s except for AP French which was a 3.

EC's:
Concert master of highest level of school orchestra, Merit scholarship student at local music school, play in prestigious youth orchestra outside of school
President of Interact and VP of Key Club
Math Club member, made AIME (but not USAMO)
XCountry and Tennis (both JV)
National Merit Finalist (from the PSAT)

What makes me stand out: I'd sat it's definitely the rigor of my courses. I took all possible honors and AP available at my school. 2 Honors freshman year, 3 APs 2 honors sophomore year, and 5 APs Junior year, 5 APs this year. My GPA isn't as high as I like it to be, since during my sophomore and junior years, I had some family problems so my grades dipped. Luckily, both UCLA and UCB asked for supplemental essays for me to explain my misfortunes, and my grades shot back up first semester of my senior year. Also, my essays showed I was very passionate about my extracurrics (I managed to blend math and music into one, family and community service into another) and since my major is in math, it shows direction in my extracurrics. I hope this helps

Hey, I live in the bay area as well.. Could I get to know of your academic accomplishments ?
I come from an area near San Francisco...

Are you white? If so, I've heard UCLA is filled with Asians.

You should go to community college

i consider berkeley to be a school where all 4.5 gpa+ students go. basically students who fell short of some ivies due to lack of ecs. you will be competing with those students

Go for Berkeley. You can have fun anywhere as long as you know the right people.

UC Berkeley isn't as socially dead as it's meant out to be. Sure, it's not UCLA but find the right people and join clubs and you should be fine. I go there and I enjoy it.

both are pretty bad since it's not harvard

UCLA is a great mix of academics and social life
Berkeley is an elite school academically and a degree from Berkeley can match any public Ivy and go par for par with some lower tier Ivies

Berkeley looks more impressive but UCLA is still a sick school. I'd still choose Berkeley for the prestige and the value of your major.
Your choice, both are great schools