<p>I just finished community college with 4.00 GPA (electrical engineering as a major) and I got accepted to UCSD and UCLA, but I received rejection from UCB. After a lot of thinking and calculating the costs, I decided to accept UCSD's offer. I live only 20 minutes away from UCSD, but 3 hours from UCLA. I love both schools a lot, a little more love toward UCLA tho. I asked a lot of people and almost everyone said that both schools are very close in undergraduate level, so it is not worth all the trouble of taking a loan and moving out. Now, I am in a dilemma. Am I wasting a great opportunity by not going to a university that has a great reputation as UCLA? Please any info would help. Thank you</p>
<p>I don’t think the cost of living expenses for a two year period is significant enough to be the deciding factor. If cost was not a factor where would you go? I don’t think the mistake in picking UCSD is because of lack of prestige, I think the mistake is not picking the school you want to go to the most. </p>
<p>Actually it would be three year period. For UCLA, I would have to take out a loan to live in a apartment. Of course it would be expensive to live in such a big city. However, for UCSD, I would live with my parents and carpool with two or three of my friends and it is like 20 minutes away. If cost was not a factor, I would go to UCLA deff. </p>
<p>
UCLA has more prestige, ie harder to get in, but both programs are very close, slight edge to UCLA. But I would hardly say it makes a difference to employers. From what I’ve read/heard on the news, San Diego is better city for jobs growth vs LA area. Some of your classmates will be your connections if they end up working near San Diego after graduation. So you might be luck out instead and save tons of money. </p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I picked UCSD over both UCLA and UC Berkeley, and never regretted, especially after what I heard about both schools from friends who went there. And in the end it turned out fine–I graduated with a high GPA and ended up in grad school. And many of my friends who went to higher ranked schools either wished they had gone to UCSD at one point or wanted to go to UCSD for grad/professional school. But UCSD was also a good fit for me, and it might not be a good fit for you.</p>
<p>Why do you like UCLA more than UCSD? I think it’s important to consider those factors when deciding if it’s worth it or not. UCLA is also a very expensive place to live, and you may find yourself in a cramming two or three people into a room to cut down the costs, in addition to taking out loans that you would have to pay back. But if you would be happier at UCLA or have more opportunities there, then it may very well be worth it.</p>
<p>Would you like to end up in San Diego after college job-wise? That might be a good reason to go to UCSD over UCLA. (Or if you’d like to end up in LA, then UCLA might be the better fit). If you can get internships or connections in the area where you would ultimately like to work, then that’s a huge plus. Do you think one area would be better or worse in terms of internship opportunities? That might be something else to consider.</p>
<p>And in my opinion, rankings mean very little, but if it makes you feel better in terms of “prestige,” UCSD is ranked just above UCLA for engineering (<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings?int=9a1f08”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings?int=9a1f08</a>).</p>
<p>For EE, UCLA ranks a few spots above UCSD using NRC. </p>
<p>My daughter is so glad she picked UCSD because of Regents, her friends at UCLA for the same major are suffering, they might never get admitted to the major if they don’t meet a certain GPA.</p>
<p>While my daughter admits UCSD is slightly not as social as UCLA, but if you study CS or engineering or premed, you might never have the time to do anything anyway. There are cool things to do at UCLA, like last minute notice to see a premier of a movie or a chance to meet some celebrities, but her friends also never made out of the lab to do it. He only heard of these cool things through the grapevines. But on the other hand, her friends parents were mad that them for not have better grades(C and failing), so that might be something for you to consider as well.</p>
<p>So I forgot to mention one point, if graduate school is in the plan for the future, attend UCSD might be more beneficial due to the fact that you might be able to achieve higher GPA at UCSD, but high GPA at UCSD is doable and it will help you to get into better graduate school than UCLA or UCSD for MS or PhD for CS. Also UCSD has a BS/MS degree in 5 year if you keep a GPA in major for about 3.4. I’m not sure UCLA has the same offering. If my kid can maintain high GPA, she can apply to Stanford or MIT for MS/Phd. I think from what I’ve read GPA 3.6 higher has a good shot at Stanford.</p>
<p>Thank you both for the extremely helpful info.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>