<p>Has anyone here turned down or thought about turning down UCSD to attend UCI? Can you give me your reasons? I want to hear your guys' thoughts about this.</p>
<p>I choose UCI or SD about three years ago. I visited both campuses and liked UCI a lot more. I haven’t ever regretted my choice. For all everyone says about UCI being dead on the weekends, trust me, it is far worse at UCSD (at least when I’ve been there to visit friends). Also, I find UCI’s campus to be a lot prettier and better organized.</p>
<p>In the end, you’re getting the same education at both places so I’d recommend choosing the one where you see yourself having the most fun.</p>
<p>Can anyone reinforce my pros/cons list? (it’ll be helpful to know that I live 20 minutes from UCI)</p>
<p>UCSD -</p>
<p>Pros: 1) higher ranked
2) college experience because I will live independently
3) will prepare me well for graduate school (Revelle promotes a well-rounded student)
4) renowned in many areas
5) people say more research opportunities (I don’t know if i care about/ or need this)</p>
<p>Cons: 1) I’m scared of failing because of the rigorous GE requirements (Revelle)
2) scared of getting a low GPA
3) expensive, but loans and working can cover it
4) I won’t be able to drive my car that my parents got me
5) nothing really amazing about the campus
6) plenty of horror stories (students study a lot, stress, bad dorms/food at Revelle)
7) confused on how to take the amtrak down (I’m from orange county)</p>
<p>UCI-</p>
<p>Pros: 1) close proximity to home, convenient
2) can also gain college experience if I choose to dorm for a year or so and go back home afterwards
3) cheaper because I don’t have to dorm all four years
4) i’ll have my own car to drive
5) be able to mooch off of family still
6) easy to get into majors because they are not impacted as UCSD
7) possible more comfortable since friends going
8) generally positive reviews, no horror stories
9) a lot less rigorous than UCSD so I can achieve a higher GPA
10) I won’t be in debt or be obliged to work</p>
<p>Cons: 1) lower rank by a bit
2) will still be depending on my parents/friends without relying on myself
3) not renowned in any academics but overall a good university (Well-rounded)
4) parking at UCI sucks LOL</p>
<p>So in general, for me, UCSD is like taking the hard road which I have no idea if I will be successful or not and UCI is like taking the easy road where I can rely on my parents if anything goes wrong. Do you guys have any comments/suggestions about my pros-and cons list? I’m still deciding and this is really hard. I’m guessing many of you are going through the same dilemma as me so hopefully you guys can relate.</p>
<p>I would choose UCI, just by looking at your list. The main thing is that you’re going to have a great experience wherever you go.</p>
<p>And one more thing, don’t listen to all these reviews from other people, as in, take them with a grain of salt. IDK about the adults you know, but the lot of them that I know are really stubborn and lack an open mind, as in, unless they went to the university, don’t listen, or even consider their water-cooler talk.</p>
<p>No offense, but you have a really naive, high school level understanding of these universities.</p>
<p>You really think Irvine is going to be “a lot less rigorous than UCSD?” LOL. By all means, pick the “easy road.” Though I’m a UCI student, I can guarantee you that almost every class I’ve taken would be just as difficult at Santa Cruz or Riverside- this is just the way college is. The only non constant variable is the quality of the students taking the classes.</p>
<p>The only case in which what you’re saying might possibly be argued if you want to be a bio, chem or physics major (where classes are frequently curved). In that case, you should care a lot about research because that’s precisely what’s required to get into grad school.</p>
<p>Also, why would going to UCI prevent you from being independent? Would your parents force you to commute or something?</p>
<p>I was mainly referring to the GE requirements that I have to take at UCSD in comparison to UCIs when I was talking about rigor.</p>
<p>Yeah I would have to commute.</p>
<p>I understand. I personally don’t think the GE requirements are harder at UCSD, even if you are in Revelle. This is especially true if you want to major in a hard science or engineering because you’ll be taking the a lot of those same classes as lower division major requirements anyway.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s input. I do feel like I’m leaning towards UCI and if the academics between both schools are similar then it would make my choice a lot easier.</p>
<p>
true dat. </p>
<p>the ranking issue is an almost non-factor. for one, you don’t even know what discipline/sub-discipline you’re going into. If you want to do physics at mit, thats a great choice. if you narrow down and want to do astrophysics at mit, thats a pretty good choice. if you narrow down even more and want to do radio astronomy, mit is a horrible choice.
and even then, the difference between UCI and UCSD is really difficult to resolve. *</p>
<p>*I’ve always though of people comparing UCs to be comparing chunky to smooth peanut better. People will yell and scream about why one is better, but they’re both peanut butter at the end of the day. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Two things wrong:
- If you want to go to graduate school (ie PhD, not professional school like an MD), they don’t want well-rounded students. If you want your PhD in economics, no one is going to really care if you worked at a nursing home (unless you can spin it so that it becomes relevent).
- If you want a more well rounded education, just take more random/interesting classes. you don’t need a catalog with a list of GEs telling you what to take. </p>
<p>
except for the parking lot by physical science, i tihnk parking is fine. the school keeps building new parking structures to deal with all the commuting students. also, don’t try to leave campus when classes usually end and you won’t get stuck waiting.</p>
<p>yeah…so now I see that taking extra classes (because of GE requirements) at Revelle is kind of unnecessary huh…like for example i just learned that they make you take 4 quarters of a foreign language. I definitely do not want to take Spanish again…</p>
<p>I do like peanut butter lol >.<</p>
<p>ALRIGHT! I got it. I need to stop overthinking this and just decide what college I like more… and yeah I do feel like a naive high schooler now for not realizing this first besides worrying about all those other factors. Thanks everyone… time to visit UCI now :)</p>
<p>It’s ok. I thought about the same things when I was a high school senior.</p>
<p>The thing is (and many high school students forget about this), you’re actually going to have to spend a lot of time and live at the campus you pick. That is going to affect your daily life a lot more than the ranking of the school you’re at or how “well rounded” of an education you’re receiving.</p>
<p>Try to forget you’re picking a university for a moment and pretend you’re picking an apartment or something. Where would you prefer to spend an extended period of time?</p>
<p>I chose UCI after visitting both campuses because I liked Irvine better and it is about 15 minutes from my house. I regret my decision now because I decided to switch majors and UCSD does have the better program on their campus for the major I am switching in to. I would visit both fairly early and give yourself more time to decide than I did.</p>
<p>are you a first year, ramennation?</p>
<p>Yes I am a first year.</p>
<p>thought so. Older students tend not to regret their college choice because they settle into a comfortable groove after a while. what major did you switch into?</p>
<p>If it makes you feel better, it hardly matters if one school is “better” for a certain discipline because undergraduate programs are all essentially the same. The rankings you’re probably referring to measure graduate programs.</p>
<p>You can most likely cross off the con for UCSD “Confusing to take the amtrak down” with one google search.</p>
<p>Looking at your list, UCI is definitely the way to go.</p>
<p>Pharm Sci, and I intend on going to Pharmacy School. UCI doesn’t have a pharmacy school, which means that I would have to attend UCSD or another school that offers the program anyway later on.</p>
<p>Not exactly turning down UCSD but I did get waitlisted, but I think I’ll go to UCI regardless if whether or not I get in from that</p>