How important is the prestige?

<p>I'm debating between UC Sand Diego and UC Davis, and I know UC San Diego is ranked higher and has more prestige. When it comes down to it, does the prestige of graduating from UC San Diego give you an advantage when finding a job and/or earning more money?</p>

<p>Generally not much, but that depends on the field and of course employers. If you want us to help you make a more informed decision about choosing between the two schools, can you give us more information. For example, what about Davis appeals to you that SD otherwise don’t?</p>

<p>They are both great schools. Hopefully you’ve visited both and have a gut feeling re: which environment you’d be happier in. I think their “prestige” levels are so close that you should base your decision on your gut feelings together with opportunities in your chosen major. </p>

<p>I, myself, went to Davis (for grad school) and loved it. It’s a great college town, easy to get around, friendly, and pretty close to good skiing and San Francisco. But… they can have very gray winters and blistering hot summers. </p>

<p>My son goes to San Diego (he chose it over Davis) and loves it. It’s got the beach (he surfs) but La Jolla isn’t much of a “college town.” It has a much more “serious” vibe than Davis. But the weather is great…</p>

<p>It really depends on the major. Graduate school is more important than undergraduate by far. There is a sense of prestige that comes by attending one college over another and some employers do pick up on this prestige. This prestige is undermined by work experience, community service, internships, etc. So it just depends what you do at the college you go to.
I know someone that went to CPSLO for engineering and ended up doing better for himself than about 99% of the people that opted for UCB, UCSD, UCLA, etc.</p>

<p>@SupplySide: I’ve heard that if one attends graduate/professional school, the prestige of the grad school is much more important than prestige of the undergrad - usually people will ask first, ‘Where did you get your PhD/MD/etc?’ rather than ‘Where did you get your BS?’ But how much does prestige of the undergraduate college matter when APPLYING to graduate/medical school?</p>

<p>Also, though I have heard many times that ‘it doesn’t matter where you go; it matters what you get out of it’, I also keep hearing that prestige always plays a significant role. Employers think - whether consciously or not - that someone from a more prestigious school such as Berkeley is more qualified than someone from a not-as-famous school like SD. Even if the Cal graduate didn’t do as many activities or get as good grades as the SD graduate, the employer may think that the Cal grad is better, because Cal is (supposedly) more rigorous and competitive and prestigious.</p>

<p>Is this pretty accurate for the viewpoint of employers/grad schools? I know that among most of my peers and their parents, prestige is definitely the #1 factor in deciding what college to attend…</p>

<p>@archaic</p>

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<p>Well, you have conflicting information here. Who that have you heard from is more reliable in this case?</p>

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<p>I’m hard pressed to imagine a employer as simple minded as that. “Well, it seems that these other candidates show greater proficiency in their subject and have been more involved in the field… but I guess we’ll just assume you’re better with no evidence”.</p>

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<p>What do high schoolers and their parents really know? I’m not saying that they can’t know what they’re talking about and I’m not singling out you in particular, but to me, that’s just not a reliable enough source to hedge all bets on. Misconceptions run rampant everywhere. People WANT a clear cut method to understanding which college to go to. Whether they’re right or not, rankings provide an answer to that desire. It’s just something that’s easy to get behind because it’s definitive as opposed to “you can be successful anywhere”.</p>

<p>Which university best prepares their students to be successful at their jobs? Heck if I know, but I promise you that that perimeter is not something the rankings take into consideration (not that they easily could). What will keep somebody at a job is somebody who is skilled at the job. Wherever you go work hard to gain the skills, knowledge, and experience you need. It doesn’t matter what degree you get if you have no applicable skill in your field.</p>

<p>I tend to hear from grad students, professors, and professionals that it doesn’t matter where you go, it matters what you do when you’re there and I hear from a lot of high schoolers that prestige matters. That’s just from my experience. It doesn’t mean I’m right. It’s just something to think about.</p>

<p>I think if neither student has anything to show besides the school they graduated from, then prestige would matter. That’s why you have to do something outside school to show the employers you have more than just a degree. In my opinion both schools will give you the same opportunities to do what you want, education wise, but think about your future career and what you want to do, and then look at the locations of both schools and think about which one will give you a better advantage geographically (which industry is better and where etc.).</p>

<p>Edit: How happy you’ll be at the school you go to is important as well, not only for your social life but academics too. Motivation plays an important part.</p>

<p>UCSD might be slightly more prestigious, but the difference is so small that how happy you would be and what opportunities each school can offer you should matter more in your decision than the slight prestige difference. Any UC in top 50, prestige shouldn’t really be an issue.</p>

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<p>I’d love for you to substantiate those claims.</p>

<p>@Jesuis: [University</a> of California, San Diego - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“University of California, San Diego - Wikipedia”>University of California, San Diego - Wikipedia)
[University</a> of California, Davis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“University of California, Davis - Wikipedia”>University of California, Davis - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>In any ranking that isn’t usnews, UCSD is generally ranked higher. And I guess the prestige comes from the fact that UCSD is more selective (based on admission statistics). </p>

<p>I see that you are from Davis, so I just want to note that none of us are making conclusions about either one being the better university. A lot of us are saying that the rankings are indeed trivial. So worry not.</p>

<p>My point was that the differences in rankings or “prestige” are so trivial/nonexistent that they should play no role in the OP’s decision. This is, of course, barring certain majors, hence why I asked the OP to substantiate his/her claims. For all I know, he/she could be a Cognitive Science major; in that case the claims could indeed be backed up and the decision would be easy.</p>

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<p>That is just plain sad . . .</p>

<p>I got in undeclared at both schools, but I either want to study computer science or economics. I got into Revelle at UCSD, and I know it has a crazy amount of GE requirements plus the computer science major is impacted which means that I might not even be able to get that major. I’m also worried that the amount of GE will cause me to take even longer to graduate. I like the environment better at Davis, and I know that I’ll be more comfortable there but then I think that shouldn’t sacrifice a better education based on a better living situation. I’m also really influenced by the rankings, and UCSD is ranked way higher than Davis in both majors I’m choosing from. I hear that the prestige doesn’t matter as much for your bachelors, but if I don’t go to graduate school, wouldn’t it matter more?</p>

<p>It’s true that for those majors UCSD is ranked higher than UC Davis, but the rankings are for graduate programs. That’s not to say that the graduate rankings don’t affect undergraduates, but I don’t think it’s a big enough difference to say UCSD would be a “better education” per se. I’d say go where you’ll be happiest; you’ll perform better and be more likely to get involved in research/internships.</p>

<p>But don’t let anyone else make the decision for you. Only you can choose which school is right for you. And honestly, you can’t go wrong either way.</p>

<p>Sounds like you might be happier at Davis. Knowing both schools, I would have zero hesitation in supporting that choice for any of my kids in your situation.</p>

<p>Aren’t the rankings for Davis and SD the same this year? Something like that</p>