<p>Dear *<strong><em>,
I am honored to inform you that are among an exclusive group of incoming students our faculty have selected to recieve the University of Calrifornia, Riverside's prestigious award, the Chancellor's Scholarship.
Your achievements provide clear evidence of your ability to understake a course of study at UC Riverside and complete it with distinction.
As a Chancellor's Scholar, you will recieve an award of approximately $4,988 this academic year, which represents 75 percent of in-state fees. You will recieve this award each academic year you attend UC Riverside and meet annual requirements.
*</em></strong>, please accept my congradulations on earning this award, and I hope you will join us at the Scholarship Celebration on February 25th.
Sincerely,
France A. Gordova
Chancellor</p>
<p>I just got this letter in the mail. Does this mean that I'm actually getting it or am I only just eligible? Do they send this to almost every student? And if I actually did recieve it, does that means I'm basically guarenteed into UCR?</p>
<p>does anyone know anything in general about ucr? I'm trying to weigh out the pro's and con's, is it worth going there since I'm getting money, or should I go to another uc and pay more? why is it considered "lower"?</p>
<p>What do you want to know? It's, like every other UC, a generally strong school. It's considered lower for a few reasons, I think. One is it's in Riverside. I know the city well, I'm from there, but it's overcriticized beyond belief (as is the school itself). It's in a good location for getting around southern california, to the mountains, beaches, LA, San Diego all within an hour or two away. Riverside itself also is importing stores and shops of various sorts. Generally, UCR attracts weaker students than the other UCs. This is statistaclly true. However, I think it has the lowest student to faculty ratio, and the higest percentage of students seeking higher degree outside of the UC system. The honors program is supposed to be quite good for better students. UCR has a few stand-out programs, such as biomed, creative writing (the only pure creative writing school in the UC system, and a program which Billy Collins, Poet Laureate, attended), as well as the best entomology department in the nation. It has many generally strong programs, such as engineering, some sciences, some languages, some humanities and social sciences. Many of these at the undergraduate level are good, but not particuarly amazing. It's easier to stand out at UCR than say UCB or UCLA if you are amazing. It's a very green campus, and very peaceful. If you go to ucr, it does not mean you cannot be succesful. A friend of mine was a psych major and is now at the best psych graduate department in the nation for his field, and if you check the Harvard law website, you will notice that a UCR alum is there. I'm not sure if it's causation or correlation (probably the latter), but slimmer cuts will be admitted to better graduate programs than say the best schools. UCR isn't as highly regarded as the top, top schools, but it's regarded as being pretty good, alright, decent. What are you interested in studying, and what questions do you have?</p>
<p>thanks for the info. i actually live 20 min away from riverside so my parents wants me to commute everyday if i decide to go to ucr, and i've taken a few princeton review classes across the street, so i'm familiar with the area and i've visited the campus. i am interested in science, particularly biophysics, but they don't have that major at ucr, so currently i'm bio. I've heard the Haider program is really good, but it should be difficult to gain a spot. I just don't know how to choose the college, would ucla be better because its name, or ucr because i'll have to pay practically nothing? i guess i'll have to wait and see where i get accepted, but i guess as long as anyone is a good student getting into grad school shouldn't be a problem</p>
<p>I can tell you right now that the Haider program is very competitive. There are about 50 spots for thousands of people. My friend is doing that right now and he choose UCR over UCLA and Cal because he got a full ride. Unless you're very confident that you will get a 3.8+ then i wouldn't bank on the haider program. If you get in LA just go there directly, it's much easier.</p>
<p>thanks for the crucial info. so LA is better even though I have to pay significantly more? That's what everyone tells me, especially since everyone says that living in a dorm freshman year is essential to making new friends and getting the college "experience," and i'll be living at home with the 'rents if i choose to go to ucr. and yes, UCLA has biophysics as well as USC and UCSD.</p>
<p>Whoa, thousands of competitors? That's kind of an exageration. However, I do agree, there is no doubt that the program is very competitive. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Unless you're very confident that you will get a 3.8+ then I wouldn't bank on the haider program.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Why do you say that? Why that GPA?</p>
<p>UCLA is generally a higer quality school with generally higher quality profs and generally higher quality students. I do think living in a dorm is important, and that even if you go to UCR, you should do it for a year. If you don't think it's possible to construct some sort of biophysics-like curriculum, and you really want to study that, and money isn't that much of an issue, and you'd be happier at UCLA or USC or UCSD or wherever else, then you should probably go there. If you go to UCR, there are many advantages, such as being a "big fish in a small pond." You will get more attention, you will be able to more easily take advantage of research and professorial help than if you were at a school with students that are more competitive, for examples. But there are definite advantages to going to the other schools you're considering. Try visiting each.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if its thousands but i'm pretty sure it's 500+ for 50 spots. I know because i have many friends that are in the program and a lot have been rejected with 3.7's etc... I also believe that living in dorms is part of the college expereince and shouldn't be neglected even if you live 20 minutes away. Commuting sucks, unless you're really sociable it'll be hard to make good friends. I choose UCR over some of the lower UC's because of the money and other stupid reasons and i do regret it. Anyways, if you have any questions about UCR just ask me, i'm currently a sophmore trying to transfer out.</p>
<p>kinda sucks since i already put on my fafsa since i would be living with parents for ucr, i shouldn't have done that. haider program seems extremely competitive since high gpas were rejected, maybe a high MCAT is a huge factor...just wondering if u dont mind why you want to transfer out? and what made you choose ucr in the first place?</p>
<p>uhm.. i came because of stupid reasons. Well, my major is business administration and my counselor from highschool was like "well the only UC's with business are Cal and R" . I got rejected from CAL so i basically thought R was my only choice at business. I know, stupid move. I didn't know much about college back then and i've never heard of this site. Also, R offered money and a lot of my friends were going here so... yeah... (i know, these are the dumbest reasons you'll ever hear) </p>
<p>Anyways, I don't like it here mostly becuase of my major. UCR is not going to get me into jobs that i want to work in. I know that no school gurantees employment but i feel my chances are substantially higher at a better school because more firms recruit at the schools i applied to and they are generally more highly regarded. That's the biggest reason why I want to transfer out of here. </p>
<p>Other reasons include lack of motivated students. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of smart people, however the general majority of the student body are unmotivated, lazy and not very smart. I don't mean to sound all arrogant or anything; I fit the description in highschool. I slacked off like crazy, didn't even think about the consequences of getting bad grades etc... I basically was a typical lazy riverside kid but some personal circumstances/revelations motivated me to do better. It's really hard for me to stay focused here because all everyone does is chill and party - which is cool sometimes but it's really hard to do well and not fall into the trap when everyon else is basically doing nothing. I almost got addicted to gambling / morongo, luckily i came to my senses.</p>
<p>Other inconsequential reasons are the weather - really dislike heat. Even though i've lived in southern california (1 hour away from UCR) i can't stand the heat here. I don't like the city, its not a college city at all and there's really nothing to do other than go to morongo =). </p>
<p>Anyways, there are some pluses to riverside. Most of the people are cool and really nice. The atmosphere is really chill since academics isn't the number one priority. It's not very hard to obtain a good GPA - which will help you in med school / law school admissions. There are also a lot of opportunities here that you can't get at Cal or LA mostly because the student body is unaware/doesn't care. These opportunties include the UCDC program - which few people from UCR apply for and various other internships. You can be a big fish in a small pond if you choose to go to R. Anyways, if you have anymore questions just ask away.</p>