<p>“I’m a first generation college student so money is simply high on my list of priorities.”… “My sister attends a UC and she says even though it’s estimated…”</p>
<p>How are you a first generation college student?</p>
<p>Anyway =), I HIGHLY recommend going with the school you feel most comfortable/excited with. Bare with me, I know it sounds cliche and not very helpful, but it is very true and I’ll tell you why. If you chose a school that you’ve already subconsciously made a judgment about and turn out not to like it so much, or if you have the slightest doubt about it, it will change the way you view things and ultimately the way you interact and perform at that university. It is very hard to do well at a university you are unhappy with, especially if you pretend to be happy. Intuition is always right. After all, it is not merely some superstitious source that has no credible reasoning, it is more reliable than you might think. It is your pattern of thought that is unbiased by outside opinions, ultimately based on your subconscious thoughts and feelings. OK, back to reality. You need a place where you can thrive in what you love. That being said, I recommend a university heavily into research. Research universities tend to have the best professors from all over the world (MIT,Stanford,CMU,IIT) with PHDs, whether they’re well known universities or not, and have many opportunities for undergraduates to conduct research along side them, which is a HUGE factor when applying to grad school. Also, a research university is where you want to be for grad school and if you’ve already completed an undergrad at a good research university, you have a good chance of getting into their grad program. This is not my preference, but based on your tone and the way you speak of the various schools, I think you’d like UCSD. I advise you not to listen to your friend and just trust your instinct. Investigate the matter yourself. Check out their undergrad CE program site and see if there are clubs for CE’s, various events and competitions, etc. As far as hands on, that really depends on your major and how much you put yourself out there as far as clubs etc, but is absolutely false to generalize that to all engineering majors at UCSD. CE’s will most definitely find more hands on work than a Nanoengineering major who are, quite honestly, studying topics at the NANOMETER SCALE. As far as job prospects, UCSD is not some hole in the wall. Being a research university, professors likely have connections with top corporations and those companies likely come on campus for career fairs. Engineering companies love research universities. Look at the universities career services website and see what companies attend. This usually gives a good insight. In the end, it all depends on how much you involve yourself and network when it comes to job hunting. I’ve gotten several job interviews with top companies that don’t even visit my university because I have a decent GPA and have worked on my resume ALOT, found jobs on campus related to my major, participated in outreach, and spoke with professors for advice. I shouldn’t really be telling you which university you should go to, but I feel you wanted an objective opinion and so here it is. I hope this helps. Keep me updated with the process! If you have any questions just ask!</p>