Best UC Campus fit? (exchange student)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
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<p>Hi everyone, I’m from Singapore and will be going to UC on exchange, but I’ve yet to decide on a campus (not allowed to go to Berkeley or Merced though). I was wondering which campuses you guys think would be good fits for me.</p>

<p>The application requires us to list 3 campuses. I’m currently leaning towards UCD, UCLA and UCSC in that order. Would be open to the other campuses though.</p>

<p>My background: female Computer Science major. Planning to take CS and Philosophy courses, the latter for fulfilling my General Education requirements. Since I’m from Singapore, I’m used to big-city life (and have never lived in a small town before). Socially, I’m pretty quiet, although I do drink occasionally and enjoy drinking games with friends. I live in one of the halls of residence, but I’m not very active in their activities (I chose the hall for its proximity to the school buildings).</p>

<p>Thoughts on UCD:

  • Their Crafts Center looks really cool :smiley: If I do go to UCD, I’ll probably take a few craft classes.
  • It’s up north, so I would have an easier time visiting friends in Silicon Valley.
  • It has access to a major city, Sacramento.
  • On one hand, it’d be interesting to try out small-town life. On the other hand, I’m afraid it’d be boring :X
  • Their Computer Science doesn’t look like much, but the courses I’m taking aren’t what I’m interested in (they’re mandatory), so I guess that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
  • Everyone seems to cycle. Not sure if it’d be troublesome as an exchange student to get a bike, or if it’d be hard to get around without a bike.</p>

<p>Thoughts on UCLA:

  • Their courses look really good, but are kinda scary as well. Their intro Philo courses are 5 units and their Operating Systems course description says “outside study, nine hours” and has a huge amount of content! I’ll learn a lot, but it looks like I’ll be studying a lot.
  • It’s in a major city, which is convenient. And LA looks awesome. Not sure if safety will be an issue though.
  • Weather’s milder since it’s down south. I don’t like the cold much, haha.</p>

<p>Thoughts on UCSC:

  • I heard it has a really liberal and political atmosphere, which would be interesting to experience. Who knows, I might end up joining a protest. (Which would be a first, since they’re illegal in Singapore D: )
  • They have game-related CS courses which look pretty cool.</p>

<p>Thanks for any advice!</p>

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<p>Speaking as a current Davis student (also majoring in CS, actually):</p>

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<p>While it is true that there’s a huge bike culture here, it’s perfectly fine to not have a bike so long as you’re willing to take public transportation. I managed most of my first year riding Unitrans, which you can ride just by showing your undergraduate ID. Even now, when my bike is in perfect working condition, I typically take the bus during the week. Partly because buses go around frequently enough for it not to be an issue, and partly because I’d rather not deal with the bike traffic on campus during the week. I do bike on the weekends because the buses don’t come around as often, but even then it’s still doable without a bike if you don’t have one.</p>

<p>As far as getting a bike as an exchange student, I believe there’s some bike rental programs? Or they’re at least trying to start some up. Possibly something to look into, though I’m not sure of the prices.</p>

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<p>Depends on what you’re looking for, I guess. Based on your comment under UCSC you’re interested in game design to some extent? If that’s what you mean, then no we don’t have anything like that.</p>

<p>As a random observation, most other CS majors I know are more interested in theoretical CS than applied CS. It could just be the people I know, but I’ve definitely noticed that (especially as someone more interested in applied CS).</p>

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<p>If you’re used to a big city, you’ll honestly probably find it a little boring. Or maybe it’ll grow on you, who knows. You won’t really know until you experience it, so the only real advice I can give on this is to seriously consider whether you want to try out small town life or not before deciding. I know that that’s not the most helpful advice, but that’s all I can think to tell you.</p>

<p>On the other hand, what you say about your social life is in line with how the school as a whole is; there’s definitely a party scene if you choose to partake in it (what else do you expect when you put a bunch of college students in a small town? ;)), but it’s easy to avoid if you’d prefer not to.</p>

<p>As far as the other campuses you mention, I don’t have first hand experience. I can make a couple comments on what you’ve said about UCLA though:</p>

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<p>Keep in mind that that’s true at most schools. The rule of thumb is that for every hour you spend in class, you’ll spend two hours outside of class studying and doing work for that class. Looking at the catalog, there are 4 hours of lecture…going by the above rule, you should be spending at least 8 hours per week on that class outside of lecture. So 9 hours is in line with the rule of thumb, even if it’s slightly more than “expected”.</p>

<p>From personal experience, a “short” week for me as far as my CS classes was about 10 hours per week at Davis. I had the weeder professor for one class that left me with 15-20 hours per week outside of class on that one class…and in the actual weeder class the following quarter I spent about that much time on projects with a professor that’s generally considered to be easy. It sounds like it’s similar at UCLA, and presumably just about any other school you’d look at. </p>

<p>One thing you could do is try to get in contact with other CS majors at whichever school you’re looking at and ask how much work any given class actually is. It could vary a lot by the professor, so asking around is generally a good idea so you know what to expect. This goes for just about any program at any school, for what it’s worth.</p>

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<p>Re Davis: a lot of the students take the train into San Francisco for excursions. There is also the access to Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.<br>
The campus is not that small. It’s a very large campus with lots of activities.<br>
My dd bikes but mostly takes the bus from her local apartment.
What I really liked about the school was/is its proactive stance on helping students via free tutoring or office hours with the professor.
I don’t know much about UCLA, but it is tough.</p>

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<p>FYI
[Top</a> 20 colleges for computer science majors, based on earning potential - Network World](<a href=“http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/091713-computer-science-college-ranking-273910.html]Top”>http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/091713-computer-science-college-ranking-273910.html)</p>

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<p>UCSB and UCSD are good choices too.</p>