Starting a new thread on this as the previous thread is more than 10 years old and closed.
My daughter had always wanted to go to a smaller school closer to home (we are in the midwest). She did her elementary and middle school in private schools and really liked the small setting. Her high school is very large relative to other schools and she seems to have done fine in that environment.
Unfortunately she didn’t get into to the local top private schools in our area. She did get into our state school, but she isn’t too excited by it, given it isn’t located near a big city.
She also got into UCLA, UCSB and UCSD. She is very excited about UCLA as it’s by far the best school she has been accepted into, but does worry that it’s too big of a school. UCSD feels like it might have a smaller school vibe given the 6 different colleges they have, but it’s hard to pass up on UCLA.
Any thoughts on UCLA being too big? I’ve heard issues with not being able to get into GE classes, massive classes and lack of access to professors.
The current coronavirus situation isn’t helping as we haven’t had a chance to fully tour UCLA and didn’t even go to UCSB or UCSD.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
I can explain more but the advice I always give is you can always make a big school feel small but you can’t make a small school feel big. There are alot of resources and diverse people to meet in a big school while also being able to find your crowd.
I wanted to ask, @JMPStressed : What’s her major and what college at UCSD?
UCLA is the most greek of all the UCs in regard to social, service, academic concerns. A lot of OOS students join frats or sororities, and there are lots of clubs on campus, as well undoubtedly at SD and SB.
SB has the smallest enrollment for undergrads of the three, 26,309; SD, 30,794; UCLA, 31,543. SB also has the smallest grad enrollment, 2,960, which probably means more professor involvement.
Of the three UC’s, UCSB is the one with the “smallest school vibes” of them all. It’s also the only UC that is connected to the beach and the ocean. It has that liberal arts feel to the campus. UCSD is adjacent to the Torrey Pines beach, but it’s expansive and spread out with buildings that look like a cluster of multi-level parking garages. It also doesn’t have that “college town” atmosphere at all unlike UCSB (Isla Vista) and even the “college city” atmosphere of UCLA. Beyond the campus, Santa Barbara is a beautiful and cozy small city with clean air, whereas L.A. has everything that a major city offers. Sounds like your daughter would fit more naturally at UCSB than UCLA, so it’s the question of fit or, in your word, “prestige.” Having grown up in CA, I’ve always thought of UCLA as a very popular school rather than a “prestigious” school, but I’m sure others would disagree.
Forgot about this quote:
Large classes certainly for lower-div intro – biggest lecture hall is ~ 500, will get smaller and will become really small depending on major. SD has larger classes and possibly SB also.
@JMPStressed . . .
Re:
Inability to get classes.
Sorry, I have a bit more time now. GE classes would be easy to get for those coming in from high school. It becomes a bit more difficult if one transfers in, because the needed courses could be bunched up for those having only two years at the University. This is something the University has to improve, because transfers are becoming more important to UCLA.
Lack of access to professors.
It depends on the professor, but they’re generally pretty accessible, e.g., Professor Garg.
She got into Warren at UCSD. Her major is biology right now, but she really is undecided. Thanks for asking
@JMPStressed . . . As you’ve doubtlessly noticed, this thread was moved from the UC board to UCLA’s because of your subject heading. If you’re so inclined, you can post UCSD and UCSB questions on each of their boards for a wider perspective.
If she sticks with bio, then UCLA and UCSD will be more competitive, because there are a higher percentage of them at these two universities.
All the best!
@JMPStressed @firmament2x:
I am the one that moved this discussion but I will move it to University of California, General so you can continue with your discussion of the other 2 schools also. I also edited the title.
**UC Forum Champion: Gumbymom
None of the UCs have a small private school feel.
I was just going to say the same thing as 10s4life. There are so many different ways to find your people and your community at UCLA - dorms, classes, sports, clubs etc. Yes, some classes are big. You aren’t going to find a general bio or chem class with 20 students in it. That said, each class has a lab or discussion with a TA. Professors are accessible but they aren’t going to come to you. Your daughter will need to keep track of their office hours and take the initiative to go in and talk to them.
This my personal opinion so take that for what it is worth. We visited UCSD twice - once was the first week after spring break and the second was in the middle of the quarter. Both times it felt like a very large, spread out, impersonal campus. It also felt like there was a sense of intensity and stress. We didn’t feel that at UCLA. Certainly UCLA students take their academics seriously but, when walking around campus, the students seemed happy and friendly. Again, this was just our experience when visiting the two campuses.
That said if you are looking for a smaller campus feel, UCSB might be what you are looking for. UCSB is 90% undergrads and most students live on campus or in Isla Vista. Unfortunately you need to visit Isla Vista in person to get a true feel for what the town/community is like. Maybe Google Earth it and look around. It is nothing like La Jolla or Westwood.
I needed to correct my post #2: SB had 23,349 undergrads at the start of the 2019-20 year, and there were 26,309 total students (forgot to flip the switch), with only about 1 in 10 being a grad student as lkg4answers stated.
For SB, this would mean greater professor involvement, good, but for a large college it places a greater burden on them, bad. For a large university, teaching assistants and professors should work as a team for individual classes, and the professor will often rely on them to assist as their name states, even beyond the leading, small-group- instruction of the course.
All the UCs help fund their teaching by admitting non-resident students: both SB and SD have a large proportion of International students (Int’ls.) related to Domestic Non-Residents (DNRs); UCLA and Berkeley are the only two that are able to balance the two – both admit more DNRs than Int’ls. as freshmen, and the Ints. catch up when they transfer in.
Thanks for the feedback. It’s been tough for her to get the rejections from the top private schools. She got accepted by BU, CWRU (with a scholarship) but both are still a plane ride away from us. We were hopeful for something within driving range. Right now UCLA seems to be her best option. It’s hard to pass that up. She does have a cousin that is likely going to be at UCSB which I think would be fun for her if she also went to UCSB. She’s also not so keen on the triple dorm configs. Most privates schools have doubles with even some ability to get a single as a freshman.
@JMPStressed . . . All the best for your family; she has some excellent choices. Hopefully, the virus will be put in check, we can mourn for those who lost their lives, and we can get back to our normal lives.
Thank you @firmament2x
She also got into USC. Unfortunately she didn’t get into any of her other schools on the top of her list and is quite upset (especially now that many of her classmates are getting into the Ivy’s which we didn’t even target). If we had the chance to visit some of the California schools it would have really reduced her anxiety (which we were planning to do this week before the virus hit). I need to figure out how to get her framed into the positives of the situation for her. She was accepted at some incredible schools.
Yes, I hope we can move on with our normal lives. Please stay safe everyone.