<p>it is NOT that hard to type in lmu.edu and see what pops up. </p>
<p>would school spirit make our undergrad experience better? the only people who are adequately qualified to answer that question would be the ones who experienced two rounds of undergraduate life: with and sans school spirit. not many of those walking around.</p>
<p>i have as much fondness for UCSD as any other graduate from a "spirited" school community. your happiness at your school is most directly linked to your interactions with your close friends, not the bouts of drunken rowdiness of a 40,000+ crowd at monthly football games.</p>
<p>Ok, the fact is, if you have to have a community to foster school spirit, then that isn't YOUR school spirit, that's theirs. Your college experience is your own, not anyone else's. You shouldn't have to rely on the myth of school spirit to foster a welcoming atmosphere. It's not that it'll make your experience better or worse, it just doesn't affect you period. Do you think people are just going to and say "Hi you're part of the Triton family now, join my friend group and we can hang out for the rest of our college years"? No, you have to work for it, whether it be here, or any other school.</p>
<p><em>shrug</em> just saying that sd could work on some things. it's no fun going to a school and then having no pride in saying you go there, because honestly, that's how it is for a lot of people at sd.</p>
<p>if school spirit isn't important and all that defines how happy you are is your close friends, then why do people at sd want a football team? why do they want something to rally around? here's a link for you: <a href="http://studentresearch.ucsd.edu/satisfaction/USESCReport.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://studentresearch.ucsd.edu/satisfaction/USESCReport.pdf</a>. it's a report on student experience and satisfaction. look at page 30. it talks about how "students want to feel pride in ucsd." they want to "bask in reflected glory" and have DI athletics. They feel a "need for traditions" and a "need for bragging rights." sounds to me like a number or sd students recognize the need to feel some sort of pride in their school. good for you if you're not one of them. maybe those students are just being whiny. but it could also be that you're being incredibly defensive and don't want to face the facts that many at sd know to be true.</p>
<p>the so-called "rally" for a football team is as simple as this: many schools have one. those schools can gather the whole student body for a game with much drinking and much merriment. the general public assumes that said football games = general merriment = central to the undergraduate experience. a number of UCSD students, when polled, will probably name the lack of a football team as a possible way to boost campus morale, but this does NOT mean that campus morale is low. it's akin to the thought of "i'm pretty good already, but if my parents buy me that car, i'll be even happier"</p>
<p>nobody's being forced at gunpoint to attend UCSD, and if they set foot on campus they're more than welcome to pursue the [long] path of transferring. the ones who came obviously saw something they liked and the ones who stayed obviously found something else they liked. what's wrong with that? i dare you to find a school with 100% student satisfaction.</p>
<p>sure, call me defensive if you want. i'm a UCSD alum who's proud of where i came from and what the school gave to me. i'm now a grad student at a Division I Ivy League school with an extremely sucky football team. according to your post, students should be happier. are we? i doubt it.</p>
<p>but to make up for the lack of a good football team, your ivy league school has good academics, and that's something you can be proud of. but if you go to a school in which you can't feel pride in its academic reputation, then rallying pride in the school through sports and other "campus bonding" activities becomes more important. </p>
<p>now i'm not saying that students at sd aren't smart or diligent, only that the school does not have a reputation for attracting the best and the brightest. and the students at sd know it, hence the reason many of them aren't incredibly proud or happy to be there. a school with a 20% yield rate has a reason for having such a low yield rate. now also add in the fact that close to 80% of students at sd were rejected from their first-choice college. (here's the link to that info: University</a> of California, San Diego. it's broken down by college.) </p>
<p>i would dare to venture that many of the students at sd wanted to go somewhere "better" (academically speaking) and went to sd because they were rejected from the "better" school. (i know personal experiences don't count for much, if anything, but all the people i personally know at sd were rejected from the school they really wanted to go to - Berkeley and LA seem to the top choices - and ended up at sd because it was they didn't have a better option.) these students wanted to be at a school with a better academic reputation, and so they have trouble feeling pride in themselves or in their fellow students at sd. as a remedy to this problem, sd could look into promoting "school spirit" through other channels, such as sports. after all, many students at sports-powerhouse schools are very proud of their schools even though they don't have the best academics. sd could possibly choose that route. either that, or it could try to better itself academically and stop being the "school for rejects." </p>
<p>i'm not saying that all students at sd are unhappy or that they were all rejected from their top choices. in fact, statistics support that. what i'm saying is that a high number (or percentage) of current students fall into that category.</p>
<p>so because students are "sad" that they are not at a school with a better academic reputation, they should look to sports to make them happy? uhh how about more money into <em>drum roll</em> ... ACADEMICS</p>
<p>Its not about the lack of a football team, its about the personality of the average UCSD student. cenire, you seem to be implying that the average UCSD student was rejected from their top choice because of academic reasons. But if you were to look at the average stats of accepted UCSD students it would be in the range of, say, UCLA/UCB. My theory is that the reason these students got into UCSD but not UCLA/UCB is because UCSD does not practice holistic admissions.
IOW, they were rejected from UCLA/UCB because they lacked the "passion" that holistic admissions looks for. And these "passionate" people are the ones who have school spirit. But UCSD's point system is based mainly on academics, so the average UCSD student was accepted here. The personality of these students is go to school, do work, and get out ASAP. That's why UCSD lacks school pride. I am not judging/complaining; I have no school spirit.</p>
<p>tien, you seem to have overlooked the phrase "it could try to better itself academically." i'm not saying that sports will make anyone happy, but it certainly wouldn't hurt sd to have something, anything, that the school can rally around.</p>
<p>if longdaysahead is right that sd students are academically in the range of cal/la students, then my high school and my bf's must have both been some kind of freak place. the ones who went to sd were not academically comparable the cal/la people. none of them were part of the "ap crowd" that went to cal/la/top privates. (and the one that was didn't do very well in her APs or SATs or anything else.) now, i know that every single uc has a large RANGE of students. i will say straight off that i know people at cal and la who i wouldn't have bet on being able to get into sd. but take the anomalies out of the picture, and what you're left with is the fact that that sd students tend to not be as academically accomplished. the avg gpa and sat at sd are lower, despite using a point-based system. this is an indisputable fact. and in fact, if sd did practice holistic admissions and take the emphasis off of numbers, its avg gpa and sat would go down even further.</p>
<p>cenire, it is NOT about having a good academics or sports program that makes you proud of your school. UCSD may not beat out UCLA or Cal in sports teams or funding, but we've certainly come a long (and respectable) ways from our start in the 1960s. we're humble about our beginnings and where we are today. you don't see us posting on the UC [fill in the blank] forums, telling them that they go to an inferior school and should desire more. i'm basically sensing that goal in your incessant posts.</p>
<p>i'm making the assumption that you won't be attending this school any time soon, given all your negative views regarding our school spirit and intelluctual potential. then WHY are you still here wasting our time, arguing with us about how much our school sucks to you? this forum is meant for posing questions and getting answers. prospectives may raise issues about social life to hear what current students have to say, and that's fine. but when you raise issues, hear our responses, and quote obscure school polls to try and prove us wrong, then what are you really trying to get at? </p>
<p>the university of california school system is an internationally-renowned institution. within it you can find informal campus rankings based on explicit variables. but the UC system does not make a point of bothering with a "best schools" poll because those factors are ever-subjective and variable on an individual basis. each college student's experience is his or her own. i am very pleased with my UCSD experience. many of the current students and alumni making the effort to post here are also generally pleased with what UCSD has to give. please do not assume the role of an omniscient outsider and send the impression that we are all unworthy beings.</p>
<p>exactly, this forum is for getting answers and raising issues. just because i'm not drowning in love for sd means that i don't get a voice? that's very draconian and close-minded of you. what, are you afraid that someone's going to say something you don't like about sd and prospective students will see it? isn't that the whole point of this forum, so that students can see everyone's view point? it's great that you love your alma mater so much, but it's too defensive of you to close your ears/eyes/whatever whenever you don't like the info being presented.</p>
<p>why are you looking up my background? kinda creepy. trying to undermine my opinion or something? if you went onto berkeley's forum and wrote whatever you wanted, i wouldn't stop you. it's your right to say whatever you want. but you just can't stand the fact that sd isn't regarded as the best of schools and try to make the people who recognize that fact seem as if they're not qualified to say anything.</p>
<p>and, uh, who said sd was unworthy? tell me where/when i said that. i admitted that sd is a good school. that there are smart people there. all i can hope is that they're not this close-minded.</p>
<p>and answer this honestly, was sd your first choice when you went into college? when you applied to college? answer that HONESTLY. and then ask everyone at sd to answer that HONESTLY. oh, look, there's info on that. going to just ignore it and tell me i'm not qualified to open my mouth to tell you something that's FACT?</p>
<p>Nope, UCSD wasn't my first choice for college. UC Davis was. Then offers from UCB, UCLA, and UCSD arrived and I re-evaluated my priorities and ended up at UCSD. Take from that what you will.</p>
<p>I looked up your public profile to see whether you were some super-inquisitive prospective or just some really bitter UCSD student. (If it was the latter, I'd let your comments slide, because as a UCSD student you would have every right to make assumptions about your school.) But if you've already made a commitment to UC Berkeley, why ARE you still posting like this? What ends do you hope to achieve?</p>
<p>I do not maintain that UCSD is the best school. Sure, I can find my share of faults with the university. But I believe that my presented opinions reflect those of a good set of UCSD students. If you showed up on our campus with posterboards highlighting your views:</p>
<p>"... sd could work on some things. it's no fun going to a school and then having no pride in saying you go there, because honestly, that's how it is for a lot of people at sd."
"...the school does not have a reputation for attracting the best and the brightest. and the students at sd know it, hence the reason many of them aren't incredibly proud or happy to be there"</p>
<p>then you'd be greeted with glares and tomatoes. you're effectively telling us that we're ashamed to be at UCSD, no? And what right do you have in telling us that?</p>
<p>i'm a student at ucsd, and i gotta say, cenire has a point. ucsd was not my first choice school. i had my heart set on ucla but alas, i did not make it. I know a lot of people who share my sentiment of being rejected at their first choice school, mostly la and cal, and being forced to go to ucsd because it was the "highest" college they got into. In fact, I know many people planning on transferring out. That being said, ucsd isn't totally bad. It's all about making the most out of what you've got. Like most people, I came in with the impression that ucsd was "uc socially dead." It didn't help that the campus was so ugly, with the exception of ERC. That impression stayed with me, as i saw how deserted the campus was on weekends. I went into OVT and saw like 6 people...Compared to my friends at ucla and cal, who were having the time of their lives, i felt very depressed and wanted to transfer out very badly. But then I joined a fraternity (sigma nu) and instead of sitting in my room being bored i went out to find things to do. I do intramural sports, hang out with my suitemates, and I'm surprised, but I'm actually having fun. Plus the weather is gorgeous. And it helps if you have a car or know someone with a car. I'm still going to apply to transfer just so i can tell myself i tried, but if i don't get in i'll be ok. </p>
<p>However, be warned: for the majority of ucsd students "fun" is drinking or smoking ganja. This is from personal experience. My suitemates and i go drinking every weekend, because there really isn't much going on campus. But still, it's not as bad here as everyone says it is.</p>
<p>UCSD wasn't my first, but UCLA wasn't either, I had to pick between the two and chose SD, how do you figure that cenire? are ya bitter at UCB or something then but you wanna take it out on something so you go here to do it?</p>
<p>uh, why would i be bitter at being at cal? like ni said, i'm having a great time. where are you getting this from?</p>
<p>the original reason i posted was because i was surprised someone would say "what else could you ask for?" at ANY school, there's always more you can ask for. i knew i was going to get defensive responses for not being sd's no. 1 cheerleader on this board, but i was hoping for a little more honesty and a little less hostility. and really, if any of you wanted to tell me that cal has problems, that its students can't compare to harvard's or something, i'd agree with you 100%. i'm being honest with myself. but if i say that sd's avg student doesn't have the avg cal or la student's stats, i get a flood of "what are you doing here" and "are you bitter" and other strange, unfounded accusations.</p>
<p>of course sd has good points. how could it not? and college is what you make of it. but there's no need to jump down someone's throat when they say something you don't like to hear.</p>
<p>Cenire if anything your the creepy one for posting paragraphs with links to statistics and numbers that you obviously live and die for. This isn't a big dick contest, and your pretty naive if you equate those numbers with intelligence.</p>
<p>What are the typical class sizes for freshmen & sophomores at UC San Diego? According to USNews almost one third of the classes exceed 50 students. What are the largest classes at UCSD? Thanks!</p>
<p>^ You can look at the range of high school gpa/sat for each UC. Notice that 5/9 of UCB's admitted students had a gpa above 4.2 (~5k/9k) and about 1/3 of them had a gpa between 4-4.2 (~2.7k/9k). You could look at SAT scores as well but those aren't as telling since they only give the highest one.
As for UCSD, 5.6k/18k had a gpa above 4.2, 1/3 (~6k/18k) had a gpa between 4-4.2. So, yes, UCB admits better students. </p>
<p>THE INTERESTING PART: As for the students who -actually- enroll in UCB, about (1.8k/3.8k) had gpa's above 4.2 and (1.2k/3.8k) had gpa's between 4-4.2. But for UCSD, only 600/4.3k who chose ucsd had a gpa above 4.2, and (1.2k/4.3k) had gpa's between 4-4.2. So, yes, UCB students have far better stats.</p>
<p>Here's what I was getting at though: at least half the enrolled population of freshman of UCSD in 2006 had the GPA to get into UCB, but they didn't. I think this is because some part of their application was lacking, and I would guess it would be EC's. Also I'm assuming people who did extensive EC's in hs are more involved on campus/have greater school spirit. </p>
<p>Fact is, UCSD is a great school if your stats aren't that good or you want to spend less money, but let's not trick this impressionable hsers into thinking the UCSD experience is equivalent to a college with a more active student body and better academics.</p>