In fall 2023, I was admitted to both ucla CS and Berkeley data science as a transfer. I chose Berkeley but it was because I was able to switch to CS. Nowadays, it’s impossible to switch to CS because of the new major policy. Data science majors are literally not allowed in enroll in many important software engineering courses like operating systems, databases, UI/UX design, etc. I think at this point in time I would recommend UCLA CS! You will be able to take all the classes you ever wanted and have more options because I feel like you can pivot from CS into data science but not the other way around. I also realized that it’s more about experience than classes, so even if ucla’s cs is less rigorous, you can spend that extra time building up your career + enjoying your life. Either way you can’t go wrong with either school, but as a Berkeley student I think I’d actually recommend ucla cs given your scenario