So I submitted my SIR to UC Irvine because I’m low income and got the Regents Scholarship and a huge grant from them, but now I’m wondering if I made a mistake in rejecting UCLA and Berkeley.
Are there more opportunities given to UCLA and UCB students compared to UCI? Do employers look at where you earned your degree from? I guess in the long run it doesn’t matter as long as you have a solid resume right? I’m an English major by the way.
Work hard at your interests to build a solid, personal education and you will do well. It is not just the popularity of your University which gets the job done! It is really largely up to you!
Go to https://www.oir.uci.edu/Data-Hub/CDS-Reports.php and download the PDF report on the entering freshman students from the latest year. Basically, the average entering students in your class have straight A’s on there secondary school records. This is not the only, but is a primary determinant of the high academic standards you are likely to encounter in the classroom.
Do well in a student body of this caliber and you will have all the GS and employment opportunities you can afford to handle.
Street talk and not even US News rankings really play a role at this point. This is not your secondary school or virtually any other secondary school. You will notice an academic difference!
Get into your subject matter, program design and a social life that enable you to respond to the daily experiences you will encounter. I.E., It is a personalized balancing act.
Have a nice trip! Wish I were you!
Believe it or not, Steven King, his wife and a cousin of mine all went to The University of Maine in Orono and all did rather well as novelist… how did that happen?
There classmates had little of the HP your fellow students will have!
Honest… the computer put in “there!”
@jp657584 you made the right choice. Irvine has a high ranking, basically #3 behind Cal and UCLA (although every ranking system is slightly different). The Regents on your resume — and grad school application, should you go — will look great and the financial awards almost make it a no-brainer. Enjoy!
Yes and no, The honest truth is that pedigree matters, and UCLA and Cal have are much well known than UCI, particularly internationally. Pedigree makes it easier for applying to grad school and recruiting for very competitive fields such as FAANG and MBB consulting. By that same token, both Cal and UCLA do not have the same pedigree as StanFURD or the ivy league schools. I attended UCLA and am a graduate student at Cal. For the most part, my classmates at Haas (business school) have come from different types of universities for undergrad. But the 3 top represented undergrads are 1) Cal (double bears) 2 and 3 (tie) Harvard and UCLA. the other UC’s are not as represented, much less for Cal States. I am proud to have started my academic career at a community college
On the flip side, some of my smartest classmates went to schools that are not considered ‘prestigious’. A friend of mine attended a Cal State, and just graduated from Harvard Business School (where I was denied), this is because he had other talents superior to my own. So as @retiredfarmer mentioned, at the end of the opportunities will come to you, and academic pedigree will play less of a role.