Best UC Psychology Department?

<p>bump.........</p>

<p>im going to UCSB for psychology. does anyone know about their psychology program? </p>

<p>also i feel like the prestige of each school's program only goes toward their grad students so i feel like maybe i should just work my butt off in UCSB so i can go to grad school in UCLA or UCB depending on my emphasis.</p>

<p>I'm a psychology major at UCSB right now. UCSB does have a good psychology program. There are always opportunities to volunteer as a research assistant for the psych department. Good thing is too, is that when you work in the lab, you earn units at the same time (taking it P/NP or for a grade). UCSB offers a variety of classes in mostly all aspects of psychology. (I like the psych program at UCSB, but SB is not really a good fit for me). But great school, plus great psych program (recommend).</p>

<p>thanx sistahgurl2006, that makes me feel a lot better about transferring to a party school. Why wasnt UCSB for you?</p>

<p>SB isn't for me because well...yea it is a party school. SB is right next to IV. And, IV is really trashy. The apartments look really broken down, some food places are good, but most are just mediocre. Plus, there really isn't anything to do, but stay in your room, <em>if you are not the partying type of person</em>. (Which i love to go dancing and hang out with friends, but watching people falling over and doing ridiculous things is not my thang lol).
This is my point of view though. I'm not trying to put down the school at all, because it's amazing! But, just where it is located is not for me.
I recommend visiting the campus first, but not just the main campus- all areas surrounding it, to make sure it is a good fit for you. The last thing you want is to gain a false idea of the campus. Feel free to ask me anymore questions. :-)</p>

<p>how do you feel about bringing a car? is it worth it? or will it be more of a burden?</p>

<p>Well this is hard to say because if you are living in the dorms and you don't feel like taking the bus to get groceries, then Yes-have a car. But, if you aren't going to be living in the dorms, try to find an apartment that has parking, because street parking is horrible here. (IV does have markets where you can pick up the things you need, but since it's so convenient, the markets tend to over charge you).</p>

<p>UCB is the number two psych dept in the country. It is also very research based, but all psych departments are heavy on research these days. In fact, you can't apply to grad programs in psych without research experience. And Berkeley is the biggest research school in the world (that is not an exaggeration, Berkeley has more labs and publishes more research papers each year than any other university). Berkeley also holds a lot of weight when you apply to grad school. UCLA does somewhat, but no where near as much as Berkeley. That's just how the applications go. For what it's worth, i'm a grad student at Berkeley and have sat on admissions committees before, so i do know what i'm talking about in terms of what grad programs are looking for.</p>

<p>^what do you mean when you say ucb holds a lot of weight when you apply to grad school? ucb is strict in their grad school acceptancy for psych?</p>

<p>or prepares their students more for grad school?</p>

<p>Is completely absurd to read people talking about UCLA or UCSB as top UC for psychology. Neither one of those two are in the top 10. US news and rankings website places UC Berkeley as the BEST public school in the United States and number 2 in psychology. 1)Stanford 2) Berkeley and 3)Harvard. I believe UCLA is 14 or so. and UCSB or UCSD well, after the top 10, they really dont matter. Despite this new information for those that try to neglect it, all UC’s are competitive and great schools. None of the other UC’s are as good as Berkeley or attracts so many brilliant and intelligent people in the country and from around the world. Still, you cant never go wrong with UCLA, which may well be in second place after BERKELEY> I am currently going to Columbia University.</p>

<p>@El Barto – interesting, my TAP counselor also mentioned that Irvine was one of the more superior schools so I’ve been putting it on level with San Diego. Is it more 4th choice? But yeah I agree that UCLA is pretty much the best… I’m interested in Neuropsych so that changes things a bit lol</p>

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<p>Actually US News & World Report ranks UCLA Psychology Department as #3 in the country, tied with Harvard, Yale, and Michigan Ann Arbor. Furthermore UCLA outranks Berkeley in several specialties in psychology (Behavioral Psych - UCLA #1 vs Berkeley #4, Experimental Psych - UCLA #1 vs Berkeley #5, Social Psycho - UCLA #6 vs Berkely #8).</p>

<p>Now back to reality. The truth is, no one’s gonna give you a hard time for going to a school that is ranked one place behind another. If it’s in top 10, whether you go to #1 school or #9 school really won’t make or break you in terms of entering the field. Both Berkeley and UCLA are phenomenal school. Oh and other point to make. For most of social science, undergrad program ranking doesn’t mean crap once you step out into the real world. I’ve experienced that first hand.</p>

<p>Are you a psychology major? If so, it depends on what field of psychology you are interested in. </p>

<p>If you are focusing on the social aspects of psychology, as a social science, then go to berkeley.</p>

<p>If you want to become a clinical psychologist, neuropsychologist, or use psychology to go to med school, then UCLA would be a better fit for you since there is the med center on campus to do research, internships and volunteering.</p>

<p>You asked what weighs more in regards to grad school acceptance. I’d say that the ranking of the department would weigh more. </p>

<p>I’m a computer science major who plans on going to graduate school. I wanted to see how often students from the schools I applied to got into the top ranked grad programs, and what I learned from my research is that top ranked computer science schools are filled with students from other top ranked computer schools, not students from general-top ranked schools. So, top computer science programs are filled with students from the University of Washington and with very few from Harvard (in fact, I only saw a couple students from Harvard at top computer science schools).</p>

<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if the situation is the same for psychology.</p>

<p>bump…</p>

<p>Is it possible to somehow go to UCLA for a child psychology major?</p>

<p>I can’t seem to find any child -related majors or minors at UCLA?</p>

<p>Which UC is best for child psychology major?</p>

<p>I am willing to double major in child development and psychology if that’s
the perfect combo?</p>

<p>I don’t know if this still helps since you posted a long time ago.
I go to UC Berkeley, 2nd year majoring in Psychology. I have never heard of child psychology or child development being offered as a major at a UC…there is just the Psych major…and then areas of concentration, but not a specific child psych major. I would say that child psychology would be underneath the bigger umbrella of “developmental psychology”…
I am also minoring in education with an emphasis in early childhood development…however that has more to do with the classes you take. It’s not separate from the normal minor…you just do an area of concentration…
If you want to major in psych you can take as many developmental classes as you can, but once you’re done with the intro developmental class, usually only 1 other developmental class is offered a semester, so…
lmk if you still need info…</p>

<p>UCB and UCLA. They are both top notch. UCB has a much bigger name than UCLA overall, but UCLA may have a slightly higher ranked psychology program, specifically. So it’s really hard to say. It depends on how you look at it.</p>

<p>UCSD is well known for cognitive science. I don’t know what UCB and UCLA are known for, especially. They’re both just really great programs.</p>

<p>I was looking into a couple UCs that had biological psychology as a major. And I was considering UCI, UCD, and UCLA. I am planning to go to PA school for my graduate studies, but I was wondering which campus would have good opportunities, resources, programs and the necessary fit to what I need towards medicine; which college would you recommend? Also, how competitive and expensive would it be?</p>