<p>For those of you who are concerned about prestige and brand names, here’s a little story…I graduated from UCSD back in 1979, my husband in 1977. He went on to Med School (at UCSD, by the way), I went on to Harvard Business School a few years later. Back then, UCSD wasn’t nearly as well known as it is now, and yet we managed to get into amazing grad programs. Which is all by way of saying that your undergrad school is as prestigious as you make it, and grad schools are looking for students who take advantage of the opportunities presented to them, no matter what undergrad they’re in. And if you’re not looking to go to grad school, UCSD is a great education that is well-respected by employers too.</p>
<p>Our son is going this Fall, and we are thrilled for him!</p>
<p>I still fail to see why this thread still exist, BY ANY MEANS!</p>
<p>Look, if you want prestige? take a good iffing look it’s “UC” San Diego. Do you honest think that Cal Berkeley and UCLA dominate the UC system and that’s it? Just because people fail to recognize UCSD? And who the heck are they anyways? Northeastern privater schoolers? Yeah well, UCSD’s bioengineering is better than both smogtown or fogtown, and get over it. La Jolla is one of the best place in the state, and in the country, it has a nice climate, a nice place, and it’s like 15min to the beaches and what more do you want? Some name that outsiders gave?</p>
<p>San Diego has come a LONG way in 30 years, and given how it is still expanding its courses and reputation at such a fast rate, it’ll be just as “recognized” (if you want that so much) in about a decade or so.</p>
<p>If you don’t like it, go to Merced, enjoy your crappy food, and shut up</p>
<p>oh and, in 30 years Merced is going to kick butt too.</p>
<p>For one, why should I, a graduate student in management, care about bioengineering? How does that spill over for me?</p>
<p>Secondly, La Jolla is pretty quiet and bland compared to “Smogtown” and “Fogtown.” At least at UCLA or Cal there are a lot of really good spots to drink or relax that are not the beach. PB is like ONE street and there are maybe three bars worth hopping.</p>
<p>Finally, what if I don’t want to stay in CA my whole life? That’s the problem with UCSD: it’s well known in its home market, but not well known outside of it. It doesn’t matter after the first job or so anyway, but don’t expect UCSD to carry as well as the flagship schools quite yet.</p>
<p>Well, I just hate seeing people put UCSD down just because it’s not “prestigous” enough, which I consider that be more petulant than what I said.</p>
<p>That and I’m having a bad day.</p>
<p>But yeah, definitely sick and tired of seeing UCSD get put down.</p>
<p>LOL, I can’t believe you’re in here! Well I got that from your post actually, but I still like Merced. I was just saying, UCSD is great, and there are other campuses that aren’t as nice, so poeple should shut up and stop whining. I didn’t mean to bash Merced at all, that’s not what I meant! So, just in case, I’m sorry!</p>
<p>You’re lucky, because of a financial crisis, I had to decline UCSD and stay in Texas…</p>
<p>Lol…an equally interesting question might be “Is being in Cal/UCLA something to be very proud about?”</p>
<p>I can’t think of anything you can accomplish/gain in LA/Berk that you can’t at SD in terms of undergrad study. The three schools are very similar in both good ways and bad ways.</p>
<p>^ True that. Im a transfer from UCM, and Im turning down UCLA to go to UCSD btw. Being in a beautiful city and the hub of bio-tech companies is more appealing than UCLA for pre meds. But if my major was biz/econ or something else I would probably be going to LA.</p>
<p>Sedna: No offence taken =] Afterall, there is a reason Im tranfering from UCM–>UCSD and not the other way around haha ;)</p>
<p>But yeah, by then I’ll be filing as an independent OOS, and if I get in, I can see a $45k yearly pay. How does that financial aid thing work for independents? because I have no idea outside of applying as a dependent.</p>
<p>"I can’t think of anything you can accomplish/gain in LA/Berk that you can’t at SD in terms of undergrad study. "</p>
<p>in terms of what you can learn, i agree, there isn’t a big difference. in terms of whom you learn it with, though, that’s a much bigger difference. let’s face it, a large number of sd students couldn’t get into cal or LA, hence why they are at SD (i refer to an earlier post about people generally choosing the best school they’re capable of getting in to). you can argue that the rejection is due whatever reason you like, but the fact is, students at SD are generally considered a cut below students at the top UCs (it’s a well-known and often-stated public sentiment). now go ahead, argue that to death.</p>
<p>also, i, like uclari, don’t understand what relevance sd’s bioE program has to the vast, vast, vast majority of students who are not interested in it.</p>
<p>it’s great that people like sd, but it’s a little … petulant, shall we say (=P) to disregard all the facts and stick up for sd like there are no cons to the school. that’s just being (a) blind, or (b) irrational.</p>
<p>I actually disagree to an extent. The truth is that there is so much compression at the top schools these days that it’s almost impossible to clearly delineate where the cut actually is. While there may be a 30 or so point difference between admits at the top 3 UCs, it’s a) probably not statistically significant; and b) probably not going to affect your experience.</p>
<p>The issue with all the UCs, particularly salient at the top 3, is the vast difference between the top 25% and bottom 25% of students. The top 25% at all three schools is excellent-- top 15-25 school quality through and through. The bottom 25%? Not so much.</p>
<p>However, I’m fairly certain that the issue today is not so much that there’s a large gap, but that there is so much compression at the top schools now that the differences between student bodies are becoming less important than the similarities.</p>
<p>Cenire, you’re definitely right. A lot of students at UCSD chose to attend here because they were rejected from Cal/LA. I myself chose SD because i was rejected from Cal (although accepted to LA). Nevertheless I think it is foolish to say that UCSD students are “cut below students at the top UCs”. While UCSD’s avg student profile isn’t very high compared to other top universities, LA/Cal isn’t much better. (I can’t recall the exact number but i’m guessing a +.1 differential in GPA and +50 differentials on the SAT). Are you implying that Cal/LA is inferior to the other top 25-35 universities? </p>
<p>I just find it very amusing that some Cal/LA (and even SD) students view themselves as geniuses simply because of the college they attend. The name of the college really means nothing if u don’t learn/accomplish anything there. A 3.0 student at Cal/LA isn’t any better/smarter than a 3.0 student at SD.</p>
<p>i said “students at SD are GENERALLY considered a cut below students at the top UCs (it’s a well-known and often-stated PUBLIC sentiment).” i didn’t say i believed it, only that it’s a very prevalent belief. the only thing i have to back up the public sentiment is seeing the people at my hs who go to sd … hate me if you want, but they were indeed weaker students. just anecdotal evidence.</p>
<p>i have nothing against saying that cal/la are inferior in student quality to the best privates. both are still excellent schools, where’s the shame in not being no. 1?</p>
<p>i don’t come close to viewing myself as a genius or thinking that cal > everywhere. and yes, where you go doesn’t matter if you fail there, but there are jobs (i.e. consulting, IBanking, other “high profile” professions) that establish cut-offs based on (a) reputation of the institution you attend, and (b) your GPA. given that i might be interested in those professions (haven’t quite decided yet), you can forgive me for giving perceived prestige a little weight.</p>
<p>and about the 3.0 at sd vs. cal, i would like to direct you to a thread about haas (too lazy to find the link) that argues extensively about how hard it is to get certain GPAs at certain places. the general consensus on that thread is that getting good grades at a more competitive institution is generally harder (and i believe someone stated that for an sd grad to be competitive with a cal one, the difference in GPA would have to be 0.2 or 0.3 higher for the sd grad). i didn’t say it, i’m just paraphrasing.</p>