How are you deciding which UC to attend?

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

<p>So far I have been accepted to Riverside, and Santa Barbara. I feel I am competitive for Davis, and San Diego. Berkeley is more feasible then UCLA because of the weight that the personal statement carries. So I feel I have a pretty good shot at all schools I applied to. My question to you all is if you are accepted everywhere what will be your deciding factor? What will you consider? Prestige? Location? Money? Vibe?</p>

<p>I am personally stuck, and can't decide what is most important for me.</p>

<p>Riverside is definitely the most cost efficient choice, and I am a guy who stresses about money. So that would be beneficial, but I don't like the area, and feel it wouldn't be the most interesting place for me or my 18 month old son.</p>

<p>Santa Barbara is beautiful, and is close to the beach. The location is a major plus for me and my family. The issue I see is its reputation for parties. Every time I tell someone I am considering it they tell me it is no place for a child. So I don't know.</p>

<p>The rest are pure speculation because I haven't been accepted.
San Diego- Beautiful location, has more prestige than Riverside, and some would say Santa Barbara (of course this is up for debate). It has a good program for my political science major as well. The negatives are really the fact that I am not sure how many really great internship opportunities I would get for my major. I also don't know if two hours away from my current location is far enough for my liking. </p>

<p>Davis-change of pace for me as I grew up in a beach city in Los Angeles. Everything has always been extremely fast paced, and I feel the location is much more relaxed. I am craving a change of scenery. It is also located next to Sacramento and will present a lot of opportunities for me. Heard it is great place to raise kids.</p>

<p>Berkeley-Prestige, top ranked in Political Science, but has a poor location. Doesn't sound too great to walk with my son after dark.</p>

<p>L.A.-eh. I grew up in L.A. Tired of it. But, it is UCLA.</p>

<p>So I am pretty much stuck. I am obviously going to wait until after all decisions are released to really dig into this question, but it am curious what you guys are considering.</p>

2

<p>I think having a family makes the process of choosing a school more difficult. Or at least it is for me, I don’t have a child but since I am married I can’t decide where to go based on where I want to attend, but where it will best for my spouse and I. It will be the first time we will be living on our own, since we got married so young we couldn’t afford a place of our own, instead we have been renting a house with another couple(in-laws). So it will be a big deal to move out especially since some UCs don’t guarantee family housing, and give priority to student with children. Therefore finding an apartment for our budget(which is small) near the school plays a huge factor. Another factor is our job transfers we need to make sure we can get a position with the company near the school, we can’t loose our jobs…its pretty much not an option. </p>

<p>Therefore I have a lot of things to think about when choosing a school, so far only UCR has accepted me, Im sure we can find affordable housing near campus, but I am scared of the area, don’t get me wrong I live in LA and its not pretty in my area but it is safe. My best options or UCLA and UCI, It would be a dream to move to UCSD. I only applied to UCSB last minute, and don’t really know if I would move there. UCB is out of the question found out our jobs won’t transfer. Im just hoping to hear good news from UCI at this point, since the move wouldn’t be too bad, I can always commute but traffic drives me crazy. </p>

3

<p>Do it based on school ranking. No one even considers undergrad program rankings, just the school’s overall ranking. Grad school is when the program ranks matter. If I get Regent from UCLA, I’m definitely going to UCLA though. Otherwise, whichever school has the highest on the rankings for me.</p>

<p>Are you going to be living with your kid while you go to school? Good luck friend; in your case, location seems like a bigger concern. I’m surprised you didn’t consider Irvine since you know Irvine is so quiet and clean and nice (I live in Irvine).</p>

4

<p>@sonic23 Your situation does sound very difficult. Even with a child, and a priority, I have found that my chances aren’t that great of getting family housing as soon as I need it. I am pretty much in the same boat with all of the factors that need to be considered, and it is definitely difficult. This will also be the first time my family will be on our own since having our son as well. So latter part of 2014 will be extremely interesting to say the least.</p>

<p>@onehandedred I did look into Irvine, but I needed to complete two more prerequisite courses for them than anyone else. After I found that out, and seeing I had no time to do it, I basically skipped applying there.
Yes I am going to be living with my son so location is definitely important. It is definitely the top deciding factor for me as of this moment, but as you said if one of those highly ranked schools accept me (Berkeley) I will definitely have a hard time turning it down. It’s funny because sometimes I hope that I don’t get into Berkeley because it will make my decision harder. Haha.</p>

5

<p>Hm, I don’t know if you should really decide based on school ranking. If you plan on going to grad school, it could be beneficial to choose a lower tier school because your GPA will be a little easier to keep up.</p>

<p>I myself am not too concerned with prestige for that reason. But then again, we will see if I feel the same way if I really do get accepted into UCLA and/or UCB.</p>

<p>I am majoring in Public Health, so my decision is heavily reliant on that. There are really only two UCs that offer it: Cal and UCSD. I’m currently leaning towards UCSD because I live in the Bay Area and would like to get far enough to actually miss home. But also because Public Health is impacted at Berkeley, so I didn’t even apply for that major.</p>

6

<p>UCSB no place for a child? Sheesh. </p>

<p>You’d be in married student housing, wouldn’t you? Don’t they guarantee housing first year to transfers? Call and ask them, since you’ve been admitted… Don’t take your baby to the Halloween Party or the spring break party, but you wouldn’t be living in Isla Vista, and Santa Barbara is a beautiful place to raise a child. When else in your life are you likely to be able to afford it?</p>

7

<p>Ranking and location come hand in hand. Irvine would be perfect for me since I have a family.</p>

8

<p>@TheUnderdog1‌ UCSD is a very family friendly school. You should not have any problem getting family housing, and it is large and inexpensive compared to the surrounding area (La Jolla). Students with dependants are given priority registration. They also have childcare for students, as well as a preschool co-op. They offer summer and spring camp programs for older kids, and give children of students priority. And I am not sure what the income requirements are, but my friend who is attending UCSD is being reimbursed for some of her daughter’s after school program by the school.</p>

<p>I am having a hard time deciding between UCSD and SDSU. I have had my heart set on a program at SDSU ever since I found out about it. I only applied to a bunch of UC’s because I was worried I would not get into the program. But after I found out everything UCSD has to offer students with families and compared it to what SDSU offers (which is nothing), I feel like I have a difficult decision to make between the two.</p>

<p>I am married and we have an almost 7 year old.</p>

<p>I like the UCI area, but family housing is incredibly expensive, and I would probably commute because my husband cannot move his job and my daughter is in a really good school down here.</p>

<p>I was accepted to UCR, but I only applied as a back-up. The family housing is nice: single-family detached homes and duplexes. It is in a safe area, I think because it is an older area, it gives the impression of being unsafe.</p>

9

<p>I have to agree with collegevetting. Santa Barbara is a very nice area to raise a family, and incredibly expensive. Living there while attending college may be the only time you will be able to afford it. You will have the opportunity to live on campus in family housing, which is usually also where they put graduate students, so you will never see the party side of UCSB unless you go looking for it.</p>

<p>I just realized I didn’t directly answer your question. Prestige and ranking mean less to me than the size of the program and networking opportunities. Location is huge for me, because if I decide to attend Irvine, Riverside, or LA, I would have to commute from San Diego. It pretty much rules them out. It is also very important that I am successful in school. Because I have more on my plate than most college students (a husband and a daughter with a serious medical condition), I want to attend a school that has a community of married students and student-parents so that we will have a support system.</p>

10

<p>For me it’s location location location. As a result, I’m going to UCSB, even though I was invited to apply for UCLA regents. Los Angeles is not exactly my favorite place to drive, and UCSB is so much more spacious, I actually feel like I have room to breath (although maybe not during Deltopia :)</p>

11

<p>IMO, if you get the acceptance, I would choose Davis for Poli Sci. While it does not have the reputation of UCLA or Cal, it is a nice family oriented town. I am very familiar with Davis, grew up in Sacto area and have spent a lot of time in Davis, both on and off Campus. The way the parks and parkways are set up to make the town very “bike-able” also makes it very kid and family friendly. My biggest reason for suggesting UCD is its location near Sacramento. The opportunities for potential internships with State or Federal government agencies would give you great opportunities. My sister went to UCSD and from hearing her experience it does’t seem like the opportunities for poll sci would be good there. However, I do believe there is good opportunities at all of the UC’s you just may have to look harder for the poll sci internships at UCSD because it is so science/engineering focused.</p>

<p>So far I have acceptances at UCSC and UCSD, i am hoping to have more choices when UCB and UCLA announce their decisions. If by some miracle I am put in the situation to choose between Cal and UCLA I don’t know how I will make that choice. Being closer to home at Cal would be very nice, but the beaches, been there, done that, they are always cold! I know Westwood well and I love the warmth and sunshine of LA. My sis is now a grad student at UCLA for one more year, so that is a factor. However, that I even have a choice to make is a small miracle, I used the community college to majorly redeem myself, I got lots of D’s in high school and didn’t even qualify to attend a CSU after high school graduation. So, having any choice is a good choice.</p>

12

<p>As an incredibly indecisive person I should probably be the last person to answer this but I would like to think that I am taking a relatively holistic approach to my choice - granted some factors are weighed more than others, but I am not basing my decision on a single criterion alone.</p>

<p>As far as prestige goes, its inevitably on my radar but nothing I dwell on for too long because I believe there are more important things to focus on (obviously, prestige of your uni might be important for grad school, future employment, etc…).</p>

<p>A relatively well developed anthropology department is a must. How much the department (and their faculty) effect my decision depends on how serious I am about going to grad school at the time I SIR. </p>

<p>Environment and vibe are very important to me (and what converted me from a non-believer into a believer of UCLA potentially being the right school for me). I think it is incredibly important that my uni experience is at least a pleasant one. I want to like where I live, work, and go to school. </p>

<p>More specific concerning environment is the academic environment. I want to work and be challenged, but I do not I want to go to a school where the pressure and stress of academics is all consuming. While university is about getting a degree, the opportunity to pursue and explore intrests outside of academia is key for me. Music is really important to me and I want to be able to go to the occasional show and have a hand in the college radio/general music scene; but in order to do this the music scene needs to be strong at the uni and its surrounding area(s).</p>

<p>Cost. This is a big one, which unfortunately plays too large of a role in many of our decisions for which school to attend. What is there to say about it? I want to be able to graduate and not be drowning in debt.</p>

<p>Even though the “order” in which I consider this criteria changes constantly tonight the order is looking like this: cost (good financial aid package), environment (stimulating school work that still allows for exploration of music and other activities), department, prestige. </p>

<p>I just really want to pick the right school for me and have a good uni experience.</p>

<p>And kudos to those of you who are going to university and have a child, I can not imagine the type of balance and skill needed to do both things at once. </p>

<p>Good luck to all of you in picking the school that best suit all of your needs!</p>

13

<p>I went to UCLA and UCSB on saturday. I’m leaning towards UCLA cause I only saw 1 ambulance compared to 3 at UCSB :D</p>