<p>Afternoon Forum,</p>
<p>I got accepted into both UC's. My major is computer science, I would like to hear your
opinions on whether going to UCSD Vs. UCB has much of a difference? Some pros and cons would be nice!</p>
<p>My Pros/Cons:</p>
<p>UCSD - Solid academically, RIGHT on the beach, a lot to do in surrounding cities, Apartments relatively cheap, only two hours from my home.</p>
<p>UCB - Strong reputation, Solid Academics, Very expensive city to live in, 6 hours from my home.</p>
<p>Trust me on that the location relative to the beach and your home will be non-factors after your first two weeks when you’re no longer nostalgic. Berkeley’s cost of living should also be a non-factor unless you financially unstable. The events off campus, in my opinion, are also insignificant because you can very easily occupy yourself with clubs/frats/other events that are conveniently on campus.</p>
<p>As for academics, UCB’s CS prereqs are absolutely terrible weeders for many people. You’ll have to decide if you want to put up with the work. But it should be worth it in the end because so many tech companies come to UCB to recruit.</p>
<p>Can you please tell me what is your GPA ?
Because I want to transfer to UCB &UCSD.
thank you:)</p>
<p>Lecture notes wise, you will most likely see the same slides at both schools considering UCSD uses a lot of CS Berkeley slides. Faculty wise, Berkeley will blow SD out of the water. I know a couple people who went to SD for comp sci and it does seem that their curriculum is lighter than that of Berkeley but is just conjecture since they haven’t experienced my workload nor I experience theirs.</p>
<p>Area wise, I personally find the Bay Area more entertaining than so cal (born and raised in LA). The beaches in nor cal absolutely blow unless you head to Santa Cruz or Half Moon Bay or maybe Pacifica but you WILL need a full body wet suit without a doubt.</p>
<p>Firstly, distance from home and distance to beach are pretty irrelevant - you’re not going to be returning home except on break, and as a CS major you won’t be going to the beach frequently. Not to mention that you’ll probably get tired of the beach after your first couple months of college.</p>
<p>I would like to add that while Berkeley is usually mentioned along with Stanford, MIT, and CMU as THE top CS schools, UCSD is also considered to be strong in CS - but it is not quite Berkeley’s level.</p>
<p>That being said, Berkeley CS supposed to be really tough, and if you consider yourself academically borderline relative to your Berkeley peers, you might have a happier (and more successful, paradoxically) time at UCSD.</p>
<p>Distance from home is irrelevant? That is certainly not true for me. It depends on who you are. My hometown is about an hour from Berkeley, and 40 people from my graduating class are currently attending Berkeley. Every person I know out of those people goes home AT LEAST once a month, if not 2-4 times (yes, I have friends that go home EVERY WEEKEND, just because they can). It’s a nice option to have; I haven’t missed my family even a little bit since I’ve come to Berkeley because I can just go visit them whenever I want. And when my friends visit home from schools around the country, I can conveniently return home to meet them. You need to decide for yourself how important this factor is.</p>
<p>With that being said, Berkeley CS is a cut above SD CS.</p>