<p>I've narrowed my college choices down to four and I'm trying to decide what to pick: UCI, UCSD, UCLA, or UCB. My major is mechanical engineering: I know that UCSD is good for engineering, and Cal is great for engineering. Comparing prestige/ranks or whatever, I know Cal is the no-brainer choice over UCSD. But I got Regents at UCSD, which is a $2,000/year scholarship with some other nice benefits, like guaranteed on-campus housing for 4 years, priority registration, etc...similar to Cal's Regents I imagine. I like UCSD's campus, I like that they are offering me the Regents (maybe a little stingy with the money compared to other UC's, but the benefits are nice), and they're only about 3 hours from home. Cal is further away, and most things that I have heard about it make me think it wouldn't be that great of a school for me...though I haven't visited in person yet. Hopefully I will visit Easter weekend or possibly for their open house day April 22. I guess my question is, assuming I like the campus/atmosphere and whatnot when I visit in several weeks, is the prestige and benefits that I will get from an engineering degree at Berkeley be worth giving up UCSD Regents, being a little closer to home, etc.? Or is UCSD good enough that I wouldn't be giving up something huge by not going to Berkeley?</p>
<p>As a stingy man who shamelessly uses coupons to save $0.99, I would choose UCSD. The perks of the Regents award is very appealing.</p>
<p>thanks for the input...bump......</p>
<p>at Cal it's definitely much more competitive..dang i wish i was in ur situation. i'd go with Berkeley (3rd best M.E.) but SD isn't that far off either (like top 25 for M.E. i think). you definitely need to visit cal to see if you like it cuz it's not for everyone..cuz the environment is totally different compared to SD.</p>
<p>is it ever a good idea to go to a slightly less competitive school for better grades to get into a good grad school?</p>
<p>i picked berkeley between ucb and ucsd, for eecs</p>
<p>bump..........</p>
<p>bump again</p>