Major: Economics
GPA: 3.89
Im a transfer student coming from community college. I’ve done really well in cc, but i never felt extremely challenged. I’ve been admitted to both UCSD Cal SLO for economics. I recently toured UCSD and loved the campus, but im afraid of not fitting in and not being able to compete with the other students in my major. Though i haven’t yet toured Cal Poly (doing so next week), i feel it’d be a better fit for my personality. I have about 3 weeks to decide if id rather go to UCSD.
Any thoughts?
You need to go where you feel most comfortable because that is most likely where you will be able to do best academically. You also need to consider the curriculum and determine if one is stronger than the other and whether that will be important to you after graduation. Both universities certainly have solid majors in economics.
If I were in your position and I knew I worked hard, I would go to UCSD. If you don’t feel confident in your abilities, go to SLO. Either way, both schools are great so do what you must.
Why do you feel that CP would be a better fit? Why do you feel that you’d have a tough time competing at UCSD but not at CP? These are not rhetorical questions.
Either school would probably provide the challenge you need. If you were admitted to them both, then you should not have any concerns about being able to compete with other students. Your stats show that you are a student who can succeed at either school or they would not have admitted you. As far as fit, the two schools have very different atmospheres and that is something you will have to figure out. I’m not sure why you think Cal Poly is the better fit but hopefully you will be able to confirm that one way or another with your visit. You really can’t go wrong and will get a great education at either school.
Cal Poly is a significantly smaller school with a small town feel. I do not come from a small town (Los Angeles), but I feel it may be easier to adjust to being my first time away from home. I am very social and feed of positive energy, which SLO is supposed to be filled with. UCSD is larger and more diverse. I feel I might excell in the SLO environment, but UCSD is so highly ranked in their program that I feel it may provide more job opportunities after graduating. SLO has a good reputation, but isn’t ranked in Econ. Most student do get jobs out of school, but they don’t have as many connections with large employers due to their central California location.
@mustangortriton, I think you’ve nailed the atmosphere of CP, but visit and see if it still resonates as deeply as you believe it will. If it does go with your gut.
As for rankings, take all of them with a grain of salt. The methodologies are all over the map and likely don’t even rank stuff you may care about.
Lastly, here’s a link where you can search where CP grads end up being employed. Look at several years.
https://careers.calpoly.edu/search.php
Good luck.