Ask Questions About College Life @ UCSD!

My son was admitted to UCSD for a History major, but he really wanted his first choice, Economics. How hard is it to change majors snd can it be done before school starts in September?

@londondad switching into a non-impacted major such as economics just requires you to indicate the change on your portal. your son can do this before school starts

Thanks. What does “non-impacted major” mean?

I’m an engineering major in ERC. Given that I can graduate earlier in Warren, would I be able to switch? Is it worth it to switch?

Hi! I just accepted into Muir for human bio. Is it difficult to arrange your classes for the specific days you want? I plan on commuting and don’t want to go up there five days a week. Thanks!

Congratulations to all that have been excepted!
My son is a first year in Marshall
IMO there GE’s are incredibly reasonable and there aren’t very many.
Especially if you come in with AP credit, he came in with 40 units and really had very few GE’s to complete
He is a Political science major and has absolutely no math classes to do
As far as scheduling every quarter so far he has only had glasses on MW and F and he lives on campus
He also has friends and every college, could be because he is Greek
Socially I think this college is perfect, if you want to party you can find them, but it isn’t in your face like it is at other schools
As a parent I have been nothing but thrilled with the school, good luck!

@muirmonster It’s possible but kinda difficult. You can schedule your classes however you like, but if a class you want isn’t offered on a day/time you like or the section you want is full (pretty common) there’s no guarantee. I’ve never had a full day off, but plenty of people I know have had either MWF or TTh-only schedules

Thanks for the replies! One last question, do a lot of students commute to school? I live so close that I plan on taking the coaster up to UCSD and the tram from there. Is that common?

@muirmonster it’s definitely possible, the Coaster stops at sorrento valley in the morning and there’s two buses that UCSD runs (no trolleys yet)

My son has an offer from UCSD so we are trying to get more information about the school as we have not had a chance to visit:

  1. What are the main reason that kids choose to enroll at UCSD (for this purpose, let’s ignore the kids who did not get into Berkeley, Stanford, etc, as every school has kids like that)?

  2. I have read a number of negative comment about the social life (or lack therof) at UCSD. While I don’t want my son to go to a total party school, I don’t want him to go to a school which is lacking social and outgoing people and which does not have a strong school spirit. If kids have to go to CSU SD for a decent party, that is not good either.

  3. I also read that over 90% of the UCSD undergrads are from California. If so, how hard is it for someone who is international to fit in?

Thanks

Hi! I got accepted into Warren as a psych major (I’m hoping to change to econ). How would Warren be like for someone who isn’t an engineering major? Are the GEs more geared towards engineering? What school would be best for econ/business?

@ London Dad
1 my son chose UCSD for a lot of reasons mainly to be completely honest location location location
Also when we visited the campus it just felt like the right fit for him. I’d have to say he was completely right, it has been an amazing fit.
2 only 60% of the student body are California residents, there is a huge international presence on campus, including a dorm specifically for international students, my son has met people from all over the place, and within his sweet there are people from other states and other countries and that is only 15 people
3 socially my son has had no problems, and he is a extremely social kid, he joined a fraternity and that has offered a lot of social opportunity, and I don’t believe he has ever gone to STSU for anything
I myself, a very long time ago, went to college in San Diego, and it was an amazing opportunity, a beautiful city, with a lot of colleges , So there are young people everywhere!
And honestly if I was going to pick a college in San Diego for my child to attend it would definitely be UCSD, it is a very competitive environment and has only push my son to be a better student
Good luck in your decision-making, I can’t even begin to imagine sending my child off to college in another state, much less another country, but what an amazing opportunity for your child!

@londondad 1) strength of academic program/programs. Whether considered on their own or even in comparison to Berkeley and Stanford, UCSD has some of the strongest academic programs in many disciplines (for example I’m in bioengineering; cogsci, CSE, economics, marine science are also renowned ). It’s also top 5 in the country in research, which translates to myriad undergrad research opportunities.
2) as TwoBoyz said there are plenty of international students
3) I’ve never gone to SDSU nor had trouble finding a party when I wanted to, and there’s always frat life
Congratulations on your child’s acceptance!

Thanks!

  1. 25.5% of UCSD undergrads are actually international...
  2. It is not a party school. Have a nephew at UCSD - he says it is a good balance. You get to party a bit and study a good amount. There is school spirit - it is just not as in your face.
  3. Excellent academics, location, location, location (San Diego), great research projects - better than other UCs.

@knguyen1297 I just finished my HUM final yesterday and I can tell you that it’s not as scary as people make it out to be. There are so many resources – TA’s office hours, handouts, etc. – that can help you succeed.

@LionsMum congratulations to your daughter! Revelle is actually majority STEM.

@londondad congratulations to your son! Firstly, to answer your question about non-impacted majors: this includes anything that isn’t engineering, essentially.

Funny story – I was admitted for Environmental Policy but now want to switch into economics as well. There is a prerequisite for economics which includes ECON 1&3 and either MATH 10A-C (non-STEM calculus) or MATH 20A-C (STEM calculus). Depending on if he took AP Macro/Micro Econ and AP Calculus A/B or B/C in high school, he may already have credits that satisfy these requirements. If not, he will have to knock them out hopefully during his first and/or second year. He must receive at least a C- average in the economics classes and either a B- or a C- average depending on which math sequence he takes before being allowed to switch into the major.

More information here: http://economics.ucsd.edu/ugrad/ugradEntry/index.php

@kasablanca as far as I know, Warren GE’s overall are just mild. You can look at them here:
https://warren.ucsd.edu/_files/academic-forms/advising-guide.pdf

I don’t know if there’s a “best” college for business and econ. All my friends in either field are spread out across all the colleges, but as a econ/bus major in Revelle I can say that it’s a little more tough because of STEM GE’s (my weak points), but doable. Either way, you are not allowed to switch out of your college.

Sorry for the lack of responses in the last few days because of finals, and thank you @DoctorP for answering questions as well during my absence!

Many of you are asking about social life and the “socially dead” aspect of the school – you will always get a varied response depending on who you ask. It really depends on how willing you are to find the opportunities to be social yourself. There are plenty of social clubs, Greek life (both professional and social), and events. You just need to be willing to join them yourself. You can definitely balance partying and studying life.

I will highly suggest coming to Triton Day, or if you can’t, snagging a tour sometime during the year.