UCLA or Berkeley (very last minute, off wait-list)

Question

Found myself in an interesting situation recently, and am curious if anyone else has had a similar experience. Also wanted to share my thoughts in my decision making for anyone else who might have a comparable choice to make one day.

8 year Army veteran committed to living in CA post MBA, initially was planning to recruit for big tech companies, but now considering a more general approach to industry and marketing as a primary function.

I applied to the 4 main programs in the state, R1 waitlist from Haas, R2 admit from Anderson and Marshall, and R2 ding from GSB. Eligible for 100% of G.I. Bill so tuition is covered at public schools and USC offered $$ which met the difference.

I went to both admit weekends and was very impressed with both programs. Ultimately chose UCLA, started connecting with classmates, lined up 2 great roommates and just finished a very frustrating housing hunt and verbally committed to a lease for a great townhouse starting in 2 weeks.

Suddenly Haas calls (July 16); says I'm the last person they're going to let into the program (maybe she phrased it differently); and to put a deposit down in 9 days if I want to come.

I plan to stick with UCLA (99% sure) for a number of reasons:

- Already in a SoCal state of mind (have a great living situation sorted, don't want to bail on people just to be scrambling to find something in the Bay Area, plus would ultimately rather live in a big city for my MBA instead of next to a big city, thus L.A.>Berkeley for me)
- The schools seem very comparable in terms of resources and opportunities. Sure Berkeley has a slightly higher reputation, but my target companies recruit at both, I think my background and undergrad institution will get my foot in the door regardless of which UC I go to, now it's up to me to do the work and land an internship/job.
- Have already begun the pre-work for UCLA, paid for pre-orientation trips, and have G.I. Bill money set to go to UCLA (not sure how hard that is to switch last minute)

Curious if anyone else has found themselves in a similar situation? Not just getting accepted off the waitlist after paying a deposit somewhere else, but getting that admit 1 month before orientation starts and you're already full steam in another direction? Thoughts on my situation? Seems silly to uproot everything for a 7-8 spot jump in someones ranking, so I think I'll just consider the Haas admit bragging rights at this point and enjoy the beach and sunshine

*throwing a poll on here for kicks

newdimensions · Answer

wow very nice post.....
newdimensions

bb · Answer

Wow! Congratulations on your super-last minute admit and I will agree with your choice - I have seen most people set their mind on the program and not change it last minute. I got a few PM's from people who have been cleared off a WL and know a few personally and only 1 out of all of them switched last minute (I could not blame them either since it was a switch from a Top 25 program - think Emory/Kelley to a Top 15 with a scholarship). Anyway, I am not going to argue to uproot you as it is hard to switch esp for people who value and uphold loyalty. While I would say that nobody would judge you really if you switched. It would be a fun drinking story to tell if you go to Haas. Anecdotally, I traded a higher ranking program for the sake of a scholarship and people thought I was crazy with a slight hint of admiration that I chose to be with them

P.S. This situation is even crazier for international students who have to reapply for the Visa and go through the ringer again (the person switching with a scholarship was international) but they were not on the ground yet - this was a few weeks ago, early July. I PM"ed him/her to get the status.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/emergency-pl ... 98919.html

PPS. I got another PM today from another user who also cleared a WL at Haas, but not sure about the timing and who got the last spot...

P.S. This situation is even crazier for international students who have to reapply for the Visa and go through the ringer again (the person switching with a scholarship was international) but they were not on the ground yet - this was a few weeks ago, early July. I PM"ed him/her to get the status. https://gmatclub.com/forum/emergency-pl ... 98919.html PPS. I got another PM today from another user who also cleared a WL at Haas, but not sure about the timing and who got the last spot...

aeno · Answer

I am a soon to be vet also recently accepted off the Haas WL and I chose to make the switch, but actually for similar reasons to why you are leaning toward staying with UCLA. I had been planning to attend Columbia, but staying in CA (at Haas or GSB- extreme long shot-) was always the preference for my wife's career among other things. Happy that they came through and my move will be much easier now. I think in your situation I'd lean towards staying at UCLA, especially since you seem really happy with the situation going in and Socal seems to be your preference.

billionaire · Answer

Hello themarc Congrats on multiple admissions

OK so you applied to all good schools in Cali. And you got accepted in all of them, except for Stanford. In general: Stanford > Berkeley > UCLA > USC That goes for business school and overall for university. Now you explained clearly why you prefer UCLA over Berkeley and it is perfectly reasonable to me, especially that you want to live in big metropolitan area/city like L.A. Your already made some commitments. I would not say that Berkeley is (just) slightly better ranked than UCLA: https://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolra ... nking-2019 https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-sc ... a-rankings https://www.forbes.com/business-schools/list/#tab:rank https://www.bloomberg.com/business-schools/2018/ I personally would go to Berkeley.

Having said that, I would be perfectly happy to go to UCLA as well. Hope UCLA will do the trick for you. Good Luck

Asisjp · Answer

I was in similar position that I applied to Anderson and Haas and got accepted to both schools. I chose UCLA primarily for the flexibility and much better diversity. I personally met the academic chair at Haas and his feedback was that the level of education would be very similar at both schools since they are both high ranked programs. If you are in tech and want to be in tech than Haas has an upper hand from networking and location stand point. If you are not in tech and do not want to be in tech, then I would not go to Haas. I met several folks at Haas and almost everyone had tech background. I am sure there is more diversity but not compared to UCLA. After spending much time researching and going to both the schools, I didn’t felt ranking mattered between the two. Adcom and current students at both the schools were super nice. It was hard saying no to Haas but Anderson was a much better fit for a non techie. Don’t go for the rankings.

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UCLA or Berkeley (very last minute, off wait-list)

UCLA or Berkeley (last minute waitlist admit)

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