Hey there!
I like helping out with the admissions process and helping people who are trying to decide where to go.
Currently, I am a second-year computer science student at UCSD (Warren) with a Regents scholarship. However I can try to answer a lot of questions about different majors/departments/finaid/food/housing/blah blah blah.
So ask me anything!
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Anyone is free to ask or answer questions in this thread.
What do you think got you your Regents Scholarship? Grades? ECs?
UC San Diego is currently one of my top choices, as it is an amazing university with a beautiful campus, but there are certain aspects of the school that concern me. My first area of concern as I am assessing UCSD is the fact that there is only one library on campus. That would not be much of a problem if it is not too busy and there is space consistently available, so I was wondering if you could speak on that as well as any other areas of campus that are ideal for studying. I have also read many negative reviews about the dining options available on campus, so it would be much appreciated if you could address that (in terms of taste, quality, options, etc./ your overall dining experience). I would also appreciate it if you could list some of your favorite activities on/off campus (social, recreational, athletic, music/poetry/art related, or any others).
Thanks!
@jayjay7737 Can’t say for sure because my some of my friends who were equally as qualified as I am didn’t get it, but I had a 4.0 UW in high school and had decent ECs and great essays.
@gainzzz There’s two libraries! Geisel + biomed library (which is near Club Med, a “dining hall” with super good sandwiches that nobody goes to b/c it’s sooo far away). I don’t really like studying in libraries myself, preferring lounges a lot (Revelle’s and Warren’s are super comfortable) or sometimes empty classrooms haha (they’re open 24/7, so as long as there isn’t a class/organization there you’re free to study inside).
Can’t speak for the biomed library but geisel has an okay load of people until midterms/finals week where everyone all of a sudden goes there, but with 8 floors you can definitely find space around. Maybe not a lot for a group, but for yourself likely.
The daily dining options do get tiring very fast if you aren’t prone to leaving your college, but there are a lot of favorites at each of the different dining halls. Canyon Vista in Warren for example has Japanese ramen once a week, and I like their Sunday burritos. Cafe Ventanas (ERC) serves poki bowls once a week and sometimes I make the trip out for it. I’m super prone to also eating at the restaurants on campus (Bistro and 64 degrees) which have EXCELLENT food for the campus but they are not dining halls (they take dining dollars though) and are more expensive + take longer than the other dining halls.
But I get tired of market food + daily offerings sooo easily if I don’t want to make a trek to a certain dining hall for a good offering that day or don’t want to spend too many dining dollars at the more expensive on-campus restaurants. I am also honestly super prone to uber-eating or going off campus for food!
Some of my favorite activities are going to UTC and Convoy (I love to eat KBBQ, maybe too much), and I’m a part of a volunteer org and an honors society on campus. So basically I’m a super foodie who likes to shop and volunteer and do some self-teaching on CS sometimes 
Typed up a super long response but edited it too much and accidentally got it removed? :’( A bit of a new user so if it shows up twice ignore it the second time LOL
@jayjay7737 Grades – super good, ECs – decent, Essays – good
@gainzzz There are two libraries: geisel and the biomedical library (which is a little far). I don’t particularly like studying in libraries myself, but Geisel’s load is okay up until finals week (where everyone goes to Geisel haha). I like studying more in the lounges which are in every college; they’re comfortable and smaller spaces and I like warren’s and revelle’s a lot
I do tire of the food super easily though but each of the dining halls have weekly offerings that change by the day. Some are super popular (Warren has ramen, ERC has poki bowls, for example), but their daily offerings you can get tired of really fast (daily offerings are just not that good lol). But there are some restaurants on campus (Bistro + 64 North) with food of way higher caliber than typical dining hall food, except it’s more expensive and there is a wait time as it’s a restaurant. I tend to go to those more at the end of the quarter after getting tired of daily offerings, but otherwise I cook for myself or eat out or Postmates food a lot haha.
As for hobbies I like shopping at UTC, eating at Convoy (super asian food street), or teaching myself some more programming in my spare time I’m also part of an engineering honors society and a volunteer org on campus.
@ucsdcompsci Is it easy to find internship as a freshman or sophomore (yes even for CS)? How’s social life there being that UCSD is said to be very STEM-academic. Also can it be hard to take some popular courses you want due to capacity if you are not a regents scholar?
@Just4Years As a freshman it might be difficult, but as a sophomore it’s definitely possible. Some of my peers are going to intern at Google this summer. Our career fairs have well known companies who come and regularly recruit here. I myself have been focusing a bit on research.
Social life is, contrary to what people think, very well balanced. We have kind of a vocal minority on our subreddit however that try to perpetuate the socially dead stereotype. The reality is that as long as you put yourself out there, you will find people with common interests, and this applies to all colleges. It’s just confirmation bias here ¯_(ツ)_/¯. We have great social events like Tritonfest and Sun God and the social orgs here on campus are very friendly and always willing to integrate new people in. It’s probably the fastest way to make friends, even if you eventually leave the org.
Generally, my non scholar friends have an easy time getting the classes they need especially if they came in with a decent amount of AP credits. Upper div classes get a bit harder though, especially for classes that are required for the major but non-contiguous, so you have seniors possibly vying for a class that sophomores are allowed to take. So it’s entirely possible to get the classes you want, but slightly less possible to get a professor you want if you don’t have as many units.
For computer science in particular, the department tends to purposely have class waitlists so CS majors can be cherry-picked out of the waitlist, considering we have CS-“offshoot” majors like math-cs and cogs-hci/machine learning who might want to take the class too. So classes of your own major tend to be easier to get into as a CS student.
@ucsdcompsci Is it true that UCSD accepts more students that are underrepresented and have significant hardships in their life?
@orionary sorry, that’s a specific thing that I can’t answer and should be better directed to an AO 
@ucsdcompsci Hows UCSD for econ? also i have heard that ucsd is overcrowded and has relatively large classes. Is this true?
@Heisenberg1700 Economics IIRC is getting capped soon, so the classes won’t overfill as much. The only time the classes are “overcrowded” are in more of the lower division GE classes (like about 200s) that everyone has to take, and even then it’s not like you’re scrambling for a seat (unless it’s the first day and there’s a huge waitlist). The large classes are on par with other public universities. Upper div classes get smaller very fast depending on the major.
IIRC UCSD is fairly highly ranked for Econ too; I think in comparison to the UCs, only Berkeley surpasses it. From an econ friend, he thinks that the faculty is incredibly helpful and teach well. I’m not an econ major myself, so I can’t talk too much about it, but from what I hear the department is pretty great!
@ucsdcompsci I live in the LA area, so what’s the best way getting from UCSD to LA like every weekend? I’m thinking of taking the Metrolink train from LA union station to Oceanside and then the SD Coaster from Oceanside to Sorrento Valley. Is there a shuttle that comes and takes you from the Sorrento Valley Station to Campus on weekend nights/afternoon? What alternate route could I do to limit travel time?
@jayjay7737 I’ve been to LA few times and I’ve taken the Amtrak from Old Town to Union Station, (as there is a bus from Old Town to campus that runs fairly late) but probably the cheapest option would be our Rideshare groups; a lot of people tend to drive up to LA and the Bay Area and offer very fair prices to people who also need to go.
I think there is a bus from Sorrento Valley to UCSD, but there is definitely a weekend bus (MTS 101) that takes you from the Oceanside station to campus. Don’t know how late it runs, but busses are free for students
@ucsdcompsci What about personal cars for freshmen? I read something that we don’t get to bring cars. Is there a workaround?
I’ll probably still go with my Metrolink/Coaster Plan as its only $12 or so for one way, instead of the doubled price for Amtrak.
Econ became a capped major this school year (17-18). Some transfers from last year were talking about its recent capped status when we did college orientation in early September.
Freshmen can only bring their cars during the summer sessions or if you provide proof of “extenuating circumstances.” Otherwise, lol good luck. Parking is a gigantic issue right now (same goes for housing, which a nightmare last year for transfers) so I’m not surprised they haven’t lifted that ban quite yet.
@jayjay7737 if you’re willing to pay off an upperclassmen and think you can get away with it, you can have them buy you a parking pass under your car details. Not recommended though bc you can get in trouble for it.
Didnt know about metrolink prices though so I’ll have to take it next time heheh
@ucsdcompsci
I applied to UCSD for a joint major in economics and mathematics
My stats are as followed-
sat-1440
math 2 sat- 780
IB predicted points- 40/45
Plus a ton of volunteering and internships and other extracurricular activities.
Are these stats competitive enough to get me in?
at UCSD, how are research opportunities for an undergrad ? Are you involved in any research ? Also, I’m trying to find out more on Mechanical Engineering. Any inputs about ME at UCSD?
@Heisenberg1700 Low chance. Just kidding, I have no idea. I’m not going to do chance mes since admissions are coming out this week or next week lol. It seems fine though so don’t worry.
@goodsense There are a lot of research opportunities here at UCSD. A lot of people I know are doing it and it seems easy to get if you maintain a good rapport with a professor. I was involved in some research fall quarter and it was just applying online and going through an interview.
I have a lot of ME friends who enjoy the program! I think a lot of ME classes pertaining to practical engineering in particular focus a lot on collaborative work, which I think is very helpful in the long run (because I think in that career you have to end up doing a lot of work on teams) and all the mech-E’s I know are super friendly LOL. There are also a lot of orgs that help you gain practical ME experience too.
One of my ME friends joined a racing club and was sitting down waiting for the bus one day (freshman year!) when someone from a company sat with him and they started building up a rapport. Then when he introduced himself being from blahblah company my friend hit it up with the elevator pitch about what he did and he got a summer internship! Which is pretty sick for a freshman too.
So I think very well of the ME program
@ucsdcompsci - Thank you! Waiting for UCSD decisions…I’m in the process of comparing ME programs for UCs. I’me very interested in research and definitely the clubs to give me hands on experience. Your answer was very helpful.