I'm sure it's been discussed a million times but.. UCI vs UCSD.

<p>UCI vs. UCSD.</p>

<p>I tried searching and read many UCI vs UCSD threads on the forums, but i still can't decide.
It's being a headache to me, so please help!
I'm a transfer student, and don't know which school to attend.</p>

<p>I'm accepted to UCSD as a Visual arts (media) Major, (Alternate choice was communication)
and UCI as film & media studies major.</p>

<p>However, I'm still quiet "undecided" about my major.
I put those majors on my application because it was time to apply
and I still didn't know what to major in. Those seemed interesting.
Meaning I think I could change my major in the future.
I think I'll really enjoy the vis art major in San Diego, but maybe the harsh realities will make me change my major to a more practical one.</p>

<p>Housing is another problem. I could save money by living with my family here in Irvine, but I wonder if the housing (off-campus) will be too much in San Diego. I like living alone, but wouldn't it be hard to find housing that costs like 800/month?</p>

<p>San Diego to me, seems like a school that offers good education in generally all majors.
But since I like to save money especially when I don't have a solid major, Irvine seems like a good choice, too.</p>

<p>With these things being said, which school would you recommend to me?</p>

<p>I say UCSD.</p>

<p>I’d go to UCSD, UCI just doesn’t have much prestige.</p>

<p>^sigh…I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.</p>

<p>Anyway, do you have an inclination toward one school or the other? Both schools are very similar in terms of atmosphere. They’re a little different in a few ways.
Irvine has some very strong sports teams (baseball and volleyball are currently #1 nationally), if that’s important to you. One cool thing about SD is that it’s literally right next to the beach. Irvine has newport, but that’s a short drive away. Both campus are relatively quiet on the weekends.</p>

<p>If you changed your current major, what area would you most likely change it to? SD has very strong sciences, while Irvine has equally strong humanities.</p>

<p>lol prestigious? no one really calls any of the UC’s “prestigious” except for maybe cal. Cal and LA and very, very good schools, but i think you are misunderstanding the meaning of this term. Prestige comes with hundreds of years of reputation, quality of education is a different story. </p>

<p>UCI and UCSD are not considered prestigious schools, although they are very good academically. UCSD is strong in sciences, UCI is more well-rounded. For your interests, obviously UCI is the better choice.</p>

<p>really? so irvine is more well-rounded?
also didn’t know their humanities is strong. hmmmm…</p>

<p>Garpa-If you don’t know what career you want to pursue after college, I think that you may be better off going to the school that allows you to be better off financially. Chances are, you are going to change your major, and even if you don’t, you are probably still going to be trying to figure out what direction you want to go in after graduation anyway. </p>

<p>However, I always recommend that you visit all of the campuses you are interested in and make the decision from there. I was dead set on moving to San Diego for years, and after visiting UCSD, I just didn’t see that happening. I like the city, but didn’t care for the campus. So, go and visit both, then decide.</p>

<p>P.S.-As far ar reputation is concerned, I think that both of these schools are on par with one another (unless you are science major, UCSD is the obvious choice).</p>

<p>if you want cheaper housing, go with uci. if you have a car and are willing to commute, there are much cheaper places to live–mira mesa and clairemont and university city. consider a roommate. but i go to ucsd and its perfectly fine. i have a visarts friend and she loves her major. popular majors at ucsd are bio, chem, psychology, and engineering. popular nonscience is economics/management science</p>

<p>haha cheaper housing my ass. average housing price on UCI’s side of the city of irvine is close to 1 million. that goes for apartment renting as well, it is very expensive.</p>

<p>^
Yeah, Irvine is expensive, but you can commute like most students there tend to do… The outlying cities near Irvine have cheaper housing and it wouldn’t take much longer to drive down to campus. San Diego is expensive to live too…La Jolla @_@</p>

<p>Dash-Did you read her post? She said that she will be living at home if she goes to UCI. Living at home = cheaper.</p>

<p>UCSD has their unit cap at 200. UCI doesn’t have a formal unit cap. I would go to UCI since they seem to be more about the students while UCSD just wants you out.</p>

<p>sorry but isn’t the difference between majors? Isnt one more of a STUDIO major vs an ACADEMIC major? That’s the difference between majoring in art vs art history. One involves doing, the other involves the study of.</p>

<p>Yes. I prefer “doing” things rather than studying theories, so to some degree SD’s major appeals more to me. But at the same time, SD’s major doesn’t seem so “specialized” in the field…seems pretty general to me. I wonder what jobs I could get with that major. ugh, i don’t know. =(</p>

<p>I don’t think prestige matters too much for the UC’s unless it is UCLA or Cal. They are pretty much equal from there. I don’t see why people see UCSD as prestige. If it was so prestige then why bother going to other UC’s like ucsb, ucd, an ucsc. Plus its so easy to get into UCSD…</p>

<p>I suggest you go where you feel most comfortable and do best at. Its not worth it if your going to ucsd for its prestige.</p>

<p>^
It’s easy to transfer to UCSD, but its not easy to be admitted there directly from high school. Usually people give some prestige to UCSD because it’s in its own tier, between Cal/UCLA and UCSB,UCD,UCI. And most people I’ve met think UCSD > UCI in terms of academics.</p>