<p>I'm well aware that it's the highest distinguished honor one can receive among all the UC's. But does it make much of a difference? </p>
<p>Let's say I got a Regents Scholarship (full ride included) from UCSD or UCI, is it worth turning down UCB or UCLA for?</p>
<p>What's more important in your opinion?</p>
<p>It depends on how much it would cost at the non-full-ride schools in the context of your own financial situation and likely pay rate after graduation based on the school and your major.</p>
<p>It would probably cost $8000-9000. But the programs for that major would be better at UCB and UCLA. </p>
<p>I was just wondering if grad schools or employers look at your resume and/or transcript, what would they favor more?</p>
<p>From an employment perspective, employers visiting university career centers tend to favor (a) local schools, and (b) schools with a better reputation for the major that they are looking for. Students at a university not visited will likely have to make extra efforts to apply to companies that they may want to work at. Doing co-ops or internships can be a significant boost for employment prospects at graduation in some fields.</p>
<p>In terms of graduate school, medical and law schools are said to care mainly about GPA (although the higher reputation schools do tend to have more grade inflation). Graduate schools in academic subjects presumably take more consideration of the quality of your school’s major, but also how you did (taking harder courses, doing undergraduate research, etc.).</p>
<p>Interesting, so I’m guessing that getting the Regents Scholarship at a “lesser” school for the major won’t do much, will it?</p>
<p>My daughter chose a Regent’s Scholarship at UCSD over UCB or UCLA. </p>
<p>Regent’s Scholars get special treatment. They choose classes well ahead of everyone else and a class is never closed to them. So if you want to switch to another section, you can switch. You have more control over your schedule. You can choose the best professors.</p>
<p>There is also the chance to do research as a freshman. D is doing some pretty sophisticated work in Biology, her major. (Which is ranked higher at UCSD than UCLA anyway).</p>
<p>And I think Regent’s Scholars just get better treatment all around from advisors to people in the scholarship office to meeting the Provost at Honors Society meetings, it is very prestigious. Top 1% of admittees.</p>
<p>And the money is nothing to sniff at particularly if you are looking at med school or graduate school, you don’t want to pile up loans.</p>
<p>^ If I were your daughter, I would have chosen UCSD as well. UCSD’s biology program is phenomenal and the Regents Scholarship is just an added bonus, kudos to her!</p>
<p>It’s just a little different I guess because for sociology (my major), UCSD is ranked #38 while Berkeley is #1 and LA is #7. The only things that would make going to UCSD worth it is probably the full ride, priority enrollment, and the Regents distinguishment. </p>
<p>But I guess having Regents as a transfer is a little different than getting Regents as a freshman because most people DO get research opportunities by the time they are junior standing at UCSD and transfers have already completed a certain number of units which sort of puts them ahead of a number of people when signing up for classes. </p>
<p>I am just curious about the distinguished honor at this point. Is being Regents and the best at one school (regardless of the school’s ranking in your major) better than going to a more “prestigious” school but not getting any special treatment?</p>
<p>In that situation, I would personally go to the school with the best program. If you have the work ethic and genuine love for what you’re studying, you will surely find ways to set yourself apart at school. If you can be accepted to 2 of the top 10 programs for sociology, that says a lot about your presentation as an applicant and if you keep on the same track, you will surely stand out in the future as well. I don’t even think Regents students get that much money. A few people from LA were saying they got 2k? Why sell yourself short on your education for priority registration at a predominantly science/math school? UCSD is awesome but you already said it’s not even close to the best for what you want to do and UCLA and Cal are essentially world renowned. If you’re faced with this choice, go for the best program. They admit people for a reason and if you’re admitted, you deserve to be there.</p>
<p>However, Sociology graduates from Berkeley do not exactly have highly paid job and career prospects: <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Soc.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Soc.stm</a></p>
<p>You will also want to check if graduate study in Sociology is likely to be funded (fellowship / assistantship) or not.</p>
<p>Based on that, consider carefully whether any student loan debt will be manageable. (Is that $8,000-9,000 total for two years, or per year?)</p>
<p>The minor perks of the Regents’ Scholarship do not look like they should be a big consideration compared to the reputation of the major (favors Berkeley and UCLA) and the cost of attendance (favors UCSD).</p>
<p>@killmyentourage - UCSD’s regents offers full ride if you’re need based.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus - It’s 8000-9000 per year. But I have saved enough to pay that amount my first year. So technically, I guess you could say I would try to work out loans for 8000-9000 throughout the next two years.</p>
<p>Umm, I would go to UCLA/Cal over a full ride to a lower tier uni. it’s totally worth the investment.</p>
<p>Depends on your financial situation really, if you were from an upper-middle or upper class family, you would lean more towards which school is better in terms of ranking. I wouldn’t fault someone for going to UCSD after being offered a full ride and all.</p>
<p>God I can’t decide!</p>
<p>The prestige of UCLA and Cal, which I’ve noticed is greatly exaggerated on this particular message board, may end up turning into a tangible benefit for you down the road. On the other hand, the Regent’s Scholarship gives you a solid financial benefit on the order potentially of tens of thousands of dollars by the time you graduate.</p>
<p>I can see why it’s a difficult choice given that Berkeley is literally the top program in the country. However, consider the disadvantage you may be at, coming in as a transfer; students in your graduating class who were freshman admits will have had the past two years to get to know the teachers and the school, and you may find it difficult to “break in” to the most desirable opportunities. Whereas the Regent’s Scholarship at UCSD would help in that regard by giving you the privilege of early registration, and possibly more.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to steer you away from UCLA or Cal. In my opinion, the decision comes down to your level of confidence in yourself as a student. How are your study habits? Do you have problems with procrastination? Would you be happier in the bay area, in LA, or in San Diego? Your happiness will be a huge influence on how well you do in your studies, and nearly everyone’s happiness is affected to some degree by their environment. The student body may challenge you more at Cal or UCLA, because of the reputation of the program and the generally higher entry requirements. That could be a good thing or a bad thing based on how you react in that situation.</p>
<p>When employers look at your resume and transcript, they are probably not going to give a damn about the Regent’s Scholarship unless they see you participating in some extra project-based coursework because of it. You can be brilliant and have a 4.0 GPA and get a big scholarship, but still be lazy and a terrible worker. An employer first and foremost will care about what you do with your skills outside of your regular classes.</p>
<p>If you’re planning to start a career right after your undergrad and you know the area you want to live in, choose the school closer to that area; ucbalumnus pointed out the advantage it would give you with local employers. I wouldn’t consider the Regent’s to be something that would give you an advantage on your resume, so much as something that might create more opportunity for you to do things that actually will look good on your resume. The big advantage of the Regent’s is definitely financial. Don’t underestimate the value of that. If you get out of school with little or no debt, you’ll have much more freedom to choose a job or graduate program based on things other than money.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, is it covering tuition AND room&board etc? I’m not sure how much your need is… but if you’re barely getting any money in grants I can see why you’d definitely be considering SD. I think the people I was referring to early had blue and gold listed on their FA and then only an additional 1 or 2k from regents (in which case I don’t think it’d be worth it for them to give up getting a degree from a better program). If you ever apply for jobs outside CA, I doubt anyone will have ever even heard of Regents yet people within your field who are hiring you will definitely know the better schools for Sociology. Additionally, SD is great and all but the majority of people have never even heard of it outside of CA either and they will have NO idea that it’s one of the top UCs in terms of prestige. I actually really like UCSD and if it’s the school for you then that’s great, but tons of people are incredibly successful in college without needing an extra push from “regents privileges”. </p>
<p>If you sincerely believe you can’t become an outstanding student and integrate a variety of interests/projects/clubs/internships into life on your own, then maybe you need a program like that to do the work for you and put you in the face of professors and potential research programs etc. Though, I’m pretty confident that you don’t. Like I said, you were accepted to all these schools for a reason. The whole purpose of the Regent’s scholarship is to draw in students like you who are having a tough time deciding. They want you because of your academic background and because they think you would be an asset to their school and they feel like they need to entice you with money and privileges to go there. But do you really feel like you belong there? Or do you feel likeyou could be selling yourself short in some ways? You should feel like you DESERVE to go to the best school, not that you’re settling for one because they gave you a good package! </p>
<p>If this were a choice between 3 schools that were all acclaimed for Sociology or if you had a different major, I would totally pick SD for the Regent’s perks. Who wouldn’t want the best of all worlds? But in your situation, choosing SD is bypassing an overall better education with professors that are at the top of their field. All in all, the choice is yours. Go where you see yourself.</p>
<p>@killmyentourage - It is a full ride that pays for room+board as well. That’s why I’m swayed. But I really appreciate everyone’s input.</p>