<p>Please help me select a college! My heart is torn btw Case Western and the upper/middle tier UC's..</p>
<p>I plan to major in Communication/Business and I just received a provost scholarship for Case Western! I'm really excited.. yet I really, really, reallly want to go to California for college. Let's say hypothetically that I get into Irvine, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, </p>
<p>which college would you chose? Would you chose Case or one of the UC's?</p>
<p>I'm really concerned because I plan to go to a good grad school. I'm worried that UCSD/UCI/UCSB aren't really famous to people outside of california like Case Western is. </p>
<p>Yes, I am out of state for the UC's.. but please don't base your judgements upon financial differences.. </p>
<p>However, it's been my dream to go to California... I was desperate enough to fly out there for 6 weeks to take a summer session at UCLA as a junior. </p>
<p>What kind of communication major are you looking for? Theory based or mass communications?</p>
<p>Because at UCSD, economics is the closest thing to business and they only have a theory based communication program. Also the school is D2 and has no school spirit. Well maybe they're spirited about going to the library on a Saturday night...</p>
<p>UCI is just boring. They only have a theory based communication major as well. But they have Business Econ, and that is pretty good. But Irvine is a commuter school and nothing exciting happens there.</p>
<p>UCSB is AMAZING!!! It has a business econ program, that is highly recruited by big 4 accounting firms, as well as a communication major, that isn't theory based like the other schools. UCSB just won the national championship for men's soccer. And their campus has it's own beach. Also Isla Vista is a great college town, and offers everything you need. You will have a great time there.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about Case Western, but if you decide to come to California, UCSB should be your ONLY choice.</p>
<p>I did apply to UCSB for communication.. however.. this may sound stupid but I did hear that SB is notorious for STD's.. as in about 33% of the students there have STD's.. </p>
<p>How boring IS Irvine? Is it that bad? I'm a LA-big-urban-city type of girl.. and I desperately need to explore and do things.. so I guess that might be a big no-no for me.</p>
<p>If you have a car, Irvine could be okay, but still the type of students that are attracted there, aren't your "typical" college student. And people will argue saying you can find parties if you look for them, and how social life depends on you....i think that is just an excuse. At UCSB fun is all around you and it comes to you. You can easily avoid it by staying away from Isla Vista, but you won't have to search out for parties or people who want to party.</p>
<p>Okay well Irvine is a big school, so there is plenty of different types of students, but the typical UCI student doesn't seem to want the traditional college experience.</p>
<p>From princeton review</p>
<p>"UC Irvine has a very diverse group of students, and we all generally get along," A freshman further details, "Over half the students at UCI are Asian American, but it doesn't really seem to matter a whole lot for most people. People seem to be more concerned with doing well in classes than [with] who belongs to what race." Aside from ethnicity, "There's a wide representation of beliefs, cultures, and sexual orientations at UCI." A freshman reassures, "We're all here to succeed in college and beyond." Many remark that their classmates tend to be diligent and studious, and as a result, the social atmosphere can at times be a bit lackluster. A junior complains, "Many people have no idea what's happening on campus. They live in their own tiny bubble and rarely risk trying something new or meeting new people." Still, the academic-mindedness is what draws some students to the school in the first place; notes a senior: "Some people don't like Irvine because it's quiet and not a party school. I like that, though."</p>
<p>As for UCSD, it is very similar to Irvine. But UCSD is D2, and I would never go to a school where a good crowd for a sporting event is close to 300 people. Also UCSD isn't known for business/communications....it is all about the sciences.</p>
<p>It is known as the University of California: Socially Dead for a reason. But there are some positives...it is close to mexico and sdsu. </p>
<p>As you can see I care about social life and athletics to the same degree as academics, so if you are all about academics, then my opinion is probably worthless.</p>
<p>The social life at Irvine is much better and the people are a lot friendlier than at UCSD. If you care at all about your social life, don't go to San Diego.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d go to UCSB. Don’t worry about the STDs. Just don’t be promiscuous and make sure to wear a condom when you do have sex.</p>
<p>UCSD is a more respected college than case western, even outside california. especially on the west coast and east coasts. what are your stats? out of state UCSD is very difficult to gain admission to. likely significantly more so than Case Western. UCI/UCSB/UCD would be a bit easier, although out of state, they are by no means easy. unless you have very good stats, UCSD, UCLA and UC Berkeley out of state are gonna be real real tough. USC would be another option and possibly Pepperdine which is a lower ranked than usc, sd, la and berkeley. USC and Pepperdine, are in california and because they are private dont penalize you for being out of state. you could also consider even slightly lower ranked schools that are privates such as usd and loyola marymount. if you like the big citys, as you stated, i would focus on either UCLA, which has downtown la down the road a bit, or UCSD which has downtown San Diego down the road a bit. Berkeley has San Francisco a half hour away as well. Irvine and Santa Barbara arent really close to large cities, although Irvine is continuing to grow, but is deff not a city like LA or SD. Loyola and USD are also close to big cities (LA, SD) so those are also an option. But if your worrying about grad school placement, UCSD will deffiantly place you every bit as good as Case Western, in my opinion it is even more respected, especially by grad schools. UCI/UCSB/UCD should place you quite well into a good grad program too, with good grades of course. as someone who went to UCSD for my B.A. and go to UCLA for grad school, i visit/visited ucsb and isla vista quite a bit to see my buddy who goes there, and I second what the other poster stated. it is a very fun school with very solid academics. you really cant go wrong there if your looking for a fun place to go to school with good academics. for social life, UCSD is very dull. however once you turn 21, you have the whole city, which has an incredible urban night life scene, in the gaslamp district (downtown sd) and pacific beach. But untill you turn 21, you will be with a lot of smart science oriented people on campus who dont really tend to party much at all. UCSB on the other hand has partys galore. If i was under 21 i would rather be in SB, but if i was over 21 i would choose SD (downtown sd gaslamp and pacific beach/mission beach) or LA (hollywood/westwood) for the big city nightlife options.</p>
<p>USC has an excellent comunications department. Its admissions difficulty for you will probably be around UCSD/UCLA/UC Berkeley, maybe not quite as tough since you are applying to the UC's out of state. Remember USC computes its SAT scores a bit different than UC's. It takes your best score in each area from different sittings, while UC's only use your single best sitting, which deflates UC's SAT scores in relation to USC's. Also tuition usually is quite a bit more for USC than the UC's, but since you are applying to UC's out of state, the tuition difference will not be very large. Again, if you could give me your stats (GPA and SAT scores) i could give you an idea if your grades are good enough to get you into these schools. UCI/UCSB/UCD would likely be a bit easier, even out of state, than USC to get into. One thing about USC, you claim to like its location, i would have you visit there before making a decision. South Central is not exactly the nicest location. Although it is in the city, and I like you like city/urban locations, South Central is a bit tough. Its not exactly Westwood or La Jolla, which are both in the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, although not in the downtown areas. It is really one of the only negatives about USC though. On the positive side for USC, you will likely have smaller more personalized classes their than at UC schools, especially than at large UC's like UCSD and UCLA. If you could give me your stats (GPA and SAT scores) i could give you a better idea about your chances.</p>
<p>Here are stats for admits into UC's in state (remember that you are applying out of state, and will likely need significantly better scores for admission out of state):</p>
<p>USC's communications department is pretty amazing. i'm sure you won't have any problems getting cred after you graduate, especially with alumni connections. </p>
<p>and "South Central" isn't too bad (technically South Los Angeles now). it's definitely no Westwood (which i'll admit is pretty amazing) or no La Jolla (i mean...La Jolla's nice and all, but boring and stifling all the same), but it's not bad. before starting my first semester, the environment around the school was (and sort of still is) the one thing i felt like i gave up in going to USC. but i learned that it almost becomes a useless point to argue because the students tend to be more "active" than they seem to be at other schools. many of the students seem to be equally studious and wanting to do more than just staying in their rooms and/or playing video games. whether that something more be party, play musical instruments, play sports (which is a big thing here), go to art exhibits...the type of people at the school tends to be an underrated criteria when choosing a school, and in my 7 months here it's definitely the thing that's made my college experience amazing, granted you're willing to take advantage of the abnormally enormous diversity of students.</p>