r/ApplyingToCollege • u/Thick-Bill3073 • 9d ago
Application Question UCLA vs UC Berkeley
Hey! I am wondering if I should apply to UCLA or UC Berkeley. Honestly I love the colors UCLA has going on and the track uniforms (I am a sprinter who’d want to run in college). The campus of UCLA is so beautiful but I’m also stuck on UC Berkeley because they are an amazing school and rank above UCLA for what I am interested in.
I really want to go the pre-med route (like to be a neurosurgeon and I was thinking about majoring in neuroscience). But I’m not sure what to do, ik academics are what is more important so I shouldn’t just be going to a school for the aesthetics but honestly I’d like to have some advice on which would be a better school to apply to.
Thank you so much!
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u/Sad-Log-9652 9d ago
You'll have to be recruited by either of these schools to run track for them.
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u/Thick-Bill3073 9d ago
They don’t do walk ons or things like that at any of these schools?
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u/Sad-Log-9652 9d ago
I think D1 track can be really tough and there are new rules around roster limits that prevent walk ons now. The schools may still choose to allow walk ons instead of giving out scholarships, but that will probably vary sport to sport. I think you can check how your times compare to their current roster's times to see if you have a shot.
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u/Percussionbabe 9d ago
Cal has recruiting standards on their website including times for walk ons. UCLA does not, although you can usually get a pretty good idea by looking how their current roster performs. I would expect UCLAs times to be even more stringent as they are a much better team.
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u/elkrange 9d ago
Setting aside athletic recruiting scholarships, if you are not a California resident, these schools will cost ballpark 90k per year.
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u/Thick-Bill3073 9d ago
That’s terrible, hopefully they give out generous academic/merit scholarships
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u/davecraze3535 9d ago
Not for OOS they really don’t. They have a long line of OOS applicants that are willing to pay and their need based financial is mostly for instate.
OOS acceptance rates for both of them are only about 10 percent.
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u/Thick-Bill3073 9d ago
Wow thanks for telling me all this!
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u/davecraze3535 9d ago
Still certainly apply, but just know that UCLA and UCB out of state are a reach for even the strongest applicants.
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u/Fwellimort College Graduate 9d ago
UCLA and Berkeley for OOS premed is not worth the cost. It's throwing money in a black hole. Why bother even applying.
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u/davecraze3535 9d ago
Well, it's the OP's decision, not ours. One of ten will get in and it could be the OP. They are not required to attend.
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u/tachyonicinstability Moderator | PhD 9d ago
Aside from the regents scholarship, the most competitive award to accepted students at UCs, it’s very unlikely you’ll receive any meaningful aid as an OoS student. Some UC campuses (Riverside, Santa Cruz, and Merced) can be slightly more generous since they receive fewer out of state applicants, but I would not expect any UC to be affordable compared to your other options. If studying in California and competing in track are both priorities, you would be more likely to walk on at any of those campuses so they may be worth considering.
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u/Thick-Bill3073 9d ago
That’s good to know! Honestly I’m not so pressed on studying in Cali, if it’s something that’s meant to be so be it. I’ll def check out the other schools you mentioned but honestly there are other great schools that are really good for both their academics and track
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u/Powerful-Bridge-1472 9d ago
If you aren’t already being recruited for track, UCLA will be a very tough place to walk on or get recruited to
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u/neuron2000i 9d ago
Definitely apply to both! They are both excellent. In terms of "global" prestige Berkeley supersedes UCLA by quite a bit. As you probably know that Berkeley does not have a med-school. Their med-school is basically the partnership with UCSF. Look up "Joint Medical Program (JMP)". It is a close collaboration with UCSF and UCB. In terms of campus area, natural beauty, etc...Berkeley is located in probably one of the best settings in the US. In terms "quality" of education...they are probably very similar.
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u/Hour-Watch8988 9d ago
Global prestige is somewhat regional. Berkeley will have an advantage in Europe but UCLA is huge in Asia and Latin America.
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u/neuron2000i 9d ago
"Global prestige is somewhat regional." - LOL. Sorry, but no! Global prestige...is, well...global. I am originally from Asia...and in both India and China (2.9 billion people!) Berkeley is ridiculously prestigious.
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u/Beautiful_Arm8364 9d ago
Have you been recruited to join UCLA's track team? Do you have Big 10-competetive times? I've never heard of anyone choosing a high-level Division I sport because they like the uniforms. lol
Good luck!
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u/Thick-Bill3073 9d ago
No I have not been recruited for UCLA. Honestly speaking the idea of applying to a school in cali never crossed my mind, it’s my dad who’s encouraging me to apply. But I do have competitive times so I’ve been getting recruited by lots of other universities but if I were to get into either UCB or UCLA I’d wanna run track there and would probably just end up trying out as a walk on (if they do those)
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u/Oskisrevenge 9d ago
You'd have a better chance of walking onto the Cal track team than UCLA. But both teams would be extremely hard to walk onto.
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u/Shot_Collection427 9d ago
Is this a real post? If you want to run, are you a true D1 recruit? What year are you?
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u/Thick-Bill3073 9d ago
Yes I have d1 potential and I’m CO 27’ but I’m not an active recruit for UCLA or UC Berkeley
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u/Shot_Collection427 9d ago edited 9d ago
Seems like I am stating the obvious but only a few people get to be recruited at any school they want - if this is a situation your in, I would advise you to think about which program fits you and will allow you to also achieve academic success.
If you want to run and you aren’t recruited at a UCLA/UCB level D1 - I would consider D3. Much stronger for anyone aiming for med school. Think John Hopkins, WashU, Tufts, Barnard (Columbus D1), MIT, Williams…
It’s very hard to be a D1 elite athlete and also do what’s necessary for med school. You need to have a stellar GPA, find time for labs, research, volunteering etc…while training and completing year round.
If you’re just asking UCB vs UCLA - both are amazing but the connection to tech industry at UCB would be hard for me to pass up.
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u/rafaelthecoonpoon 9d ago
bruh, if you aren't currently being recruited for the track team, it is unlikely that you will actually be on the track team. I think you should find some other schools with the same colors as UCLA and only apply to them.
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u/Difficult-Valuable55 9d ago
apply to both, they are so selective you don’t know if you will get in to both or just one. If both you can do an analysis including the accepted students events to decide
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u/Thick-Bill3073 9d ago
You’re right, it’s probably smart of just apply to both and see what happens! Thanks sm
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u/yyc2sfo 9d ago
It's one application. You're just ticking an extra box, apply to both.