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I am a current freshman at UCLA. Last spring I was given the option to attend UC Berkeley or UCLA. I loved everything about Berkeley- I loved the social atmosphere, the academic prestige, and I especially have always loved the bay area. However, it was farther away from home and at that time, I was reluctant to attend UC Berkeley due to the rumors of its fierce competition and its cut throat grading system. So UCLA kind of fell into my hands as default. Now that I'm here, I greatly regret my decision to not attend UC Berkeley. I know its still early in the game to make any harsh judgments, and I have tried my hardest to not compare UCLA with Berkeley, however, I still cannot help but wish I was attending Berkeley right now. I've never been partial to the city of LA. I thought I would be able to ignore some of the negative qualities of the city like the smog, the superficiality, and the huge intimidating city atmosphere and rather focus on the school, but I find myself already growing tired of these things. Now I realize that a large part of your college experience depends on the city you are in and I have never liked LA. The college itself is of course, a fine school but I never felt the same "connection" as I did at Berkeley when I first stepped foot on the campus. There was something very invigorating about walking around Berkeley that I cannot feel here. My decision to attend UCLA as you can see, was not well founded. I am wondering if I still have available options or if UC Berkeley is completely out of the picture now. I hear transferring to Berkeley is difficult (especially for bioE) and I don’t know their policy on accepting second year students.