Which one of these U.S Uni's is better, and which is easiest to get in?

Hey guys,

Which University is easier to get into? And which is better?

UCF
NYU
UCLA
UC Berkeley

In terms of overall academic strength: UCB > UCLA >>> NYU >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> UCF

UCF is by far the easiest to get into. Looking at their statistics on Wikipedia, they have an overall acceptance rate of around 42%.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

marcoh

OP

Thanks for the information :smile:

Reply 3

devil09

7

I feel like a broken record saying this, but since apparently everyone here is aiming for the UCs and NYU -- be aware that you will probably get no financial aid whatsoever, and each of them costs about £33,000 per year.

therealOG was correct about academic strength. It's mostly the same order for selectivity as well, except Berkeley and UCLA are equally selective these days, and NYU is much closer to those two than UCF, which has very little recognition or draw outside Florida. In Florida, I'd say there's several better options:

Private universities - U Miami
Public universities - U Florida, Florida State
Public liberal arts colleges - New College of Florida
Private liberal arts colleges - Rollins

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

marcoh

OP

For UCLA and NYU, what GCSE, A-level and SAT scores would I need to have a realistic shot at being accepted?

Thanks

Reply 5

magnum.opus

13

NYU > Berkeley> UCLA > UCF (this is for undergrad. only. For grad. school, Berkeley is better than NYU)

And UCF is the easiest to get into.

Reply 6

boucy

5

im surprised with the inclusion of ucf

Reply 7

PKU_Research007

NYU is in no way better than berkeley for academics. NYU has the highest amount of adjuncts teaching undergraduates in the country. That means that unless you are in Stern or Tisch, all those famous NYU professors will not be teaching you unless you have that small chance of getting into a graduate class (which the administration does everything in its power to prevent). NYU is a McUniversity, big with everything but no quality. Instead of improving the NYC academic experience they build a campus in the middle east. But NYU which has the largest homosexual population out of all the colleges in America "urges its gay and jewish" students to not apply to their abu dhabi campus. They are opening up a campus in shanghai in 2 years. Why? Because John Sexton the president of NYU realizes he can't compete academically with top schools so he follows the concept that fat balding mid life crisis. Pretending he is young aka good but hiding the flaws with all unnecessary shiny crap that just accentuate the flaws. Berkeley is a world class institute. Its good for EVERYTHING. Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Applied Sciences. If Berkeley could manage to raise the same amount of money that **** schools like NYU could, they would put 95% of the world's universities to shame.

Reply 8

therealOG

2

Original post by magnum.opus

NYU > Berkeley> UCLA > UCF (this is for undergrad. only. For grad. school, Berkeley is better than NYU)

And UCF is the easiest to get into.

Would you really rate NYU above UCLA and UCB?

Reply 9

CocoPop

18

UCB > UCLA ~ NYU >> UCF

For UCLA and NYU try to aim for an SAT score in the 2100 range. GCSEs and A-levels should be mostly A and A*.

Reply 10

magnum.opus

13

Original post by therealOG

Would you really rate NYU above UCLA and UCB?

For undergraduate studies, yes. UCLA and UCB are public state schools, so they heavily recruit within California. It is much harder to get into these schools if you aren't a Cali. resident, even if you have the required grades and standardized test scores. For example, 81% of Berkeley's student body are in-state students, and the number is 91% for UCLA. NYU's is 25%, which is acceptable compared to other top-notch schools (Harvard=25%, Cornell=35%, Columbia=27%).

Don't get me wrong, UC-Berkeley and UCLA are great schools. But for undergraduate studies they are pretty much exclusively California schools. On the other hand, NYU is much more diverse (if memory serves, NYU has the most international students out of any uni. in the U.S.)

Reply 11

magnum.opus

13

Original post by marcoh

For UCLA and NYU, what GCSE, A-level and SAT scores would I need to have a realistic shot at being accepted?

Thanks

If you are applying to U.S. schools, use the website collegeboard.com to gather information about each specific school. It will tell you the average test scores for each school. You can even do a general search using your test results to find universities that are within your range.

Reply 12

therealOG

2

Original post by magnum.opus

For undergraduate studies, yes. UCLA and UCB are public state schools, so they heavily recruit within California. It is much harder to get into these schools if you aren't a Cali. resident, even if you have the required grades and standardized test scores. For example, 81% of Berkeley's student body are in-state students, and the number is 91% for UCLA. NYU's is 25%, which is acceptable compared to other top-notch schools (Harvard=25%, Cornell=35%, Columbia=27%).

Don't get me wrong, UC-Berkeley and UCLA are great schools. But for undergraduate studies they are pretty much exclusively California schools. On the other hand, NYU is much more diverse (if memory serves, NYU has the most international students out of any uni. in the U.S.)

The fact that UCB and UCLA aren't as diverse as NYU doesn't mean that NYU is academically stronger than them. And you're forgetting that California has a population of nearly 40 million people (and is the 8th largest economy in the world) so they aren't limiting themselves too much compared to, say, a university with similar local intake figures from Massachusetts (where Harvard is located).

Reply 13

magnum.opus

13

Original post by therealOG

The fact that UCB and UCLA aren't as diverse as NYU doesn't mean that NYU is academically stronger than them. And you're forgetting that California has a population of nearly 40 million people (and is the 8th largest economy in the world) so they aren't limiting themselves too much compared to, say, a university with similar local intake figures from Massachusetts (where Harvard is located).

The OP asked which is school is better, and I think a diverse student body is better than one filled with Cali. residents :dontknow:

I don't know if you can honestly say Berkeley is better than NYU in terms of academia, either... I mean, they pretty much overlap:

NYU's medium SAT scores:
Critical Reading: 610 - 710
Math: 630 - 740
Writing: 620 - 720

Berkeley's medium SAT scores:
Critical Reading: 600 - 730
Math: 630 - 760
Writing: 610 - 740

Given the similarity between the two, yeah, I would definitely say NYU is better because it can claim to have a diverse student body which UC-Berkeley can't. California may be large, but it makes up only 13% of the U.S.' total population. So Berkeley's 81% figure for in-state students is very biased. But that's what happens at public state schools.

Reply 14

PKU_Research007

Diverse doesn't mean academic. Anyone who really claims NYU is strong for academics compared UCB is smoking crack. The lower sats?? Its a state school! If you want to go by rankings that you love so much, UCB is ranked higher than NYU. NYU attracts the rich brats from all over the world that can't get into Columbia. Its like the kids that go to GWU instead of Georgetown in DC. NYU is ONLY ranked high because of its non academic professional schools. STERN IS NOT AN ACADEMIC SCHOOL. Its a professional school.

Reply 15

therealOG

2

Original post by magnum.opus

The OP asked which is school is better, and I think a diverse student body is better than one filled with Cali. residents :dontknow:

I don't know if you can honestly say Berkeley is better than NYU in terms of academia, either... I mean, they pretty much overlap:

NYU's medium SAT scores:
Critical Reading: 610 - 710
Math: 630 - 740
Writing: 620 - 720

Berkeley's medium SAT scores:
Critical Reading: 600 - 730
Math: 630 - 760
Writing: 610 - 740

Given the similarity between the two, yeah, I would definitely say NYU is better because it can claim to have a diverse student body which UC-Berkeley can't. California may be large, but it makes up only 13% of the U.S.' total population. So Berkeley's 81% figure for in-state students is very biased. But that's what happens at public state schools.

I remember reading an article from The Economist a while back. Students from disadvantaged ethnic minority backgrounds who were admitted into Harvard were monitered over the years. Even though they had low SAT scores, on the whole they performed equally well with their peers at university and in some cases exceeded them. I suppose you can link tariff scores to how attractive universities are to clever students, but you can't compare universities' academic strengths on them as they have had no influence over them.

Therefore entry tariffs are largely irrelevent when considering the academic strength of universities. What matters is the end result (employment figures, alumni, employer reputation) and research strength. And I'm very sure UCB and UCLA outperform NYU in this respect, as the world and domestic rankings will attest. UCB and UCLA are consistently ranked in the top 10 and top 20 whereas NYU is left back in the 40's and beyond (in the world rankings).

Reply 16

magnum.opus

13

Original post by therealOG

I remember reading an article from The Economist a while back. Students from disadvantaged ethnic minority backgrounds who were admitted into Harvard were monitered over the years. Even though they had low SAT scores, on the whole they performed equally well with their peers at university and in some cases exceeded them. I suppose you can link tariff scores to how attractive universities are to clever students, but you can't compare universities' academic strengths on them as they have had no influence over them.

Therefore entry tariffs are largely irrelevent when considering the academic strength of universities. What matters is the end result (employment figures, alumni, employer reputation) and research strength. And I'm very sure UCB and UCLA outperform NYU in this respect, as the world and domestic rankings will attest. UCB and UCLA are consistently ranked in the top 10 and top 20 whereas NYU is left back in the 40's and beyond (in the world rankings).

Research, employment figures, reputation, etc. are only really relevant to grad. schools (I mean, you can't expect all of that from a college, even if it's Harvard College :p:

). Those factors don't weigh in until you're going for a higher degree, at least imo. That said, I still think the diversity point still determines which uni. is better, at least for me. I think we disagree on this because we both have different criteria for "better."

And my standard is more right :h:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 17

marcoh

OP

Thanks for the informations guys, its been all very helpful.

I think that when it comes to applying I'm going to focus on UCB and UCLA. I have nothing against NYU but after some research and reading the posts above I think that UCB and UCLA may have the extra incentive for me to go there, if i'm accepted :smile:

UCF will be my backup, just incase i'm not accepted into UCB, UCLA and NYU.

Thanks again for the info, much appreciated.

Reply 18

yorkbell

Original post by magnum.opus

Research, employment figures, reputation, etc. are only really relevant to grad. schools (I mean, you can't expect all of that from a college, even if it's Harvard College :p:

). Those factors don't weigh in until you're going for a higher degree, at least imo. That said, I still think the diversity point still determines which uni. is better, at least for me. I think we disagree on this because we both have different criteria for "better."

And my standard is more right :h:

What about Bethune–Cookman University, whats its rep like, easy to get into?

Reply 19

magnum.opus

13

Original post by marcoh

Thanks for the informations guys, its been all very helpful.

I think that when it comes to applying I'm going to focus on UCB and UCLA. I have nothing against NYU but after some research and reading the posts above I think that UCB and UCLA may have the extra incentive for me to go there, if i'm accepted :smile: