<p>I don’t agree with Essenar either, but s/he’s entitled to say what s/he wants. </p>
<p>That said, I don’t know why somebody who hates on UCSD so much would be ■■■■■■■■ a UCSD forum, unless you’re just intent on spreading hate? People who want to apply to and attend UCSD come here. It’s just a waste of time if you’re trying to dissuade them from doing so.</p>
<p>How can you NOT agree with facts? It’s a fact that at UC Davis, you can check out gym equipment with one ID, they scan your ID and don’t hold onto it. It’s equally a 100% fact that at Rimac, you have to leave your ID there when you borrow equipment and they even check ID’s twice, once to get into RIMAC and again to get into the weight room. </p>
<p>It’s also an undeniable fact that as university area, we don’t have access to the same amenities as other universities. Are you really going to tell me that UCSD’s college town environment is better than Berkeley, LA’s or Davis’? At those three UC’s, I see frat/sorority houses right across the street from campus. At UCSD, I have yet to even see one and I’ve lived in San Diego for close to 10 years! </p>
<p>Like I said- I love UCSD. It was my first pick over any other school. My department is one of the best of all the UC’s. The social aspect doesn’t bother me because I have a girlfriend and it makes my personality stand out a lot more. </p>
<p>We also have the best surfing beaches of all the universities in the country and great research opportunities. I call it like I see it. I’ve been to other UC’s, my situation didn’t support me going to them or waiting longer to attend them, I’m happy with UCSD, but I don’t think it’s right to lie to people considering UCSD and telling them how great it is.</p>
<p>This school has its faults. If you claim you love it and deny those facts, then you’re not an honest person or a true appreciator of what this school offers, you’re just a blind fan.</p>
<p>They ask because they’re genuinely curious as to whether or not to attend this school. Some people really will base their decision on what they’re told. Will you get a quality education at UCSD? Yes, absolutely. It’s the #3 UC, but a lot more than that. While UCSD might be #3 with UC Davis at #4, the difference between the schools may as well be an ocean. UCSD is ranked the #7 public university in the country, where-as Davis isn’t even in the top 20. So yes, an education at UCSD pays itself off in time. The research opportunities give you a great opportunity to buff your resume. Many of the professors hold PhD’s from Ivy league schools. </p>
<p>But you have to make this school work for you, rather than at other universities where the opportunities come for you. If you want a girlfriend, you’d better be committed to meeting girls and breaking their social boundaries, because people in general here are VERY reserved. There are social people, but you need to go to them. I have no problem with this, but other people do and I see them all over the place. </p>
<p>It’s also a pain in the butt to get anywhere here. Target? Nearest one is Mira Mesa. I’m lucky, because my girlfriend lives on Camino Ruiz right next to it. Groceries? Sunshine Market on campus (Have fun paying those prices) or Ralph’s (Have fun paying those prices). Don’t like it? Hop on the 921 bus and take a 30 minute ride to Vons on Mira Mesa Blvd. </p>
<p>Ride a road bike? You’ll have company. Some. But you’ll nearly crap your pants every time you pedal down La Jolla Village Drive. People here drive crazy. In fact, on the Interstate 8 (East/West bound freeway connecting San Diego to Arizona) some car didn’t pay attention and ran 5 motorcycle riders off the road and killed them! This happened last weekend. </p>
<p>Come to the school, take a look around. Do mock errands like buying a video-game or going to get a snack off campus and experience the environment for yourself. Don’t just take peoples’ words for it because if you pick UCSD based on pictures and the tour, you will be surprised what the pictures and tourguides don’t tell you.</p>
<p>Man, you’d really hate my current school. </p>
<p>We have one gym for 24,000 students. It’s poorly-ventilated, below-ground, with sign-up sheets to use all the machines, and they hold our IDs hostage if we check out anything. Many of the walkways have potholes in the concrete, and bricks are missing from building facades. A campus entrance/exit is next to the mouse research labs and dumpsters, featuring odors from both. Our registration system is so outdated that we have to process all schedule changes after Week 2 via paper slips at the registrar. Professors curve like no other and inflate grades because it’s a private school and $$$ goes a long way. There are two dining halls, both with notoriously bad food and no option like Earl’s Place. Campus dorms have rampant mouse and cockroach problems, but nobody moves off-campus because there’s no affordable housing market. There are at most two sections of any lecture offered per term, essentially eliminating any hope of picking between professors or optimal class times. We need security guards posted at the entrance to the student center, library, and dorms because of the neighborhood. It gets unbearably hot and muggy in the summers, and depressingly cold from Nov-March. </p>
<p>Yeah, give me UCSD any day. I didn’t use the free weights, wouldn’t be more impressed with a professor with a Harvard PhD, willing did my shopping at Ralph’s/Trader Joe’s/Whole Foods (even with a car), and knew much better than to ride my bike down LJ Village Drive.</p>
<p>Guys, let’s be fair. I actually agree with a lot of Essenar’s points. I’m a huge proponent for UCSD, but he qualified his opinions pretty well, and we actually share a lot of the same sentiments.</p>
<p>Had I not found a niche in research, I’d probably either still be doing nothing but drinking with my old frat, or I’d be miserable as hell looking for a way to transfer out.</p>
<p>College life is what you make of it and UCSD provides a great vehicle for you to have the time of your life. You can’t blame the experiences of other students towards your own dissatisfaction with the school.</p>
<p>I’ve been to many other schools on extended stays for either research collaborations, summer REUs, or research internships and I’ve seen what other campuses offer. UCSD may not be the most idyllic, but it provides everything necessary to have a great time–as Essenar pointed out.</p>
<p>astrina is definitely in one of the more nuanced campus locations, and it’s definitely an extreme when juxtaposed with UCSD. Visit different campuses and get to know the culture surrounding it. Once you do, it’ll be easier to parse out differences and less obvious treasures that your respective schools offer.</p>
<p>UCSD is ranked the #7 public university in the country, where-as Davis isn’t even in the top 20.</p>
<p>Actually, Davis (and Santa Barbara) are right behind at #9, if you’re using the US News Public University rankings.</p>
<p>I agree with Essenar but I want to add some things.
La Jolla is beautiful and the area around UCSD is great, so I can see why students think San Diego is “heaven”. But anywhere else in San Diego, I’d rather kill myself. I’m from LA, AND BOY DO I APPRECIATE LA NOW. >> Downtown is full of illegal immigrants and veteran hobos, and I had a hard time swallowing a burger in JackintheBox. I live in Mira Mesa and I saw some HUGE cockroaches in the house and now I have to sleep with the light on. I barely trust any restaurants here and everything just looks so filthy, and the traffic lights and roads are outdated - after 3pm, the freeway to Downtown is PACKED, WITH CARS GOING AT .0001mph. Thankfully, I drive the opposite way and pity those drivers haha 
whenever I go to La Jolla, I feel relieved from all the bad things in San Diego, so I would recommend staying in La Jolla to live in. I would do anything to get out of here quick, if it wasn’t for UCSD’s prestige… Boy do I seriously miss LA…</p>
<p>I just graduated from UCSD, and I absolutely LOVED IT. However, I agree with all the points Essenar made. Even if there are negative things, I believe that there are ways to go around the negative:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I live off campus and when I first heard about the price of parking permits, I was OUTRAGED. However, I quickly realized that I could drive to UTC, park on the street, take a bus to UCSD (they run every 10 minutes and it’s free with your ID) and save myself ~500 bucks a year. Problem solved.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t live in La Jolla, but there are actually a few grocery stores that are decently priced around UCSD, one of them being Trader Joe’s. </p></li>
<li><p>I absolutely agree that people suck in San Diego. But honestly it may be California, or even the U.S. (I am from Europe and I have never met more inconsiderate *******s than I have here). HOWEVER, I have also met amazing people as well, and that’s what matters. Just pick the people that you like and can be around. </p></li>
<li><p>The sociology department at UCSD is great, but I have heard horrible things about the biology department from my friend, who is a biology major. In that aspect I have maybe been lucky, but it has played a big part in why I have a great experience at UCSD. I have also had the chance to like the majority of my professors, some of whom I can even call friends now.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Overall I absolutely enjoyed my experience at UCSD. I personally love the campus (I visited Berkeley and personally hated it) and the area. I really think that when someone considers a university, they should take a day or two and visit the campus, walk around, go eat out etc. to see how they really feel about it.</p>
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<p>Funny you mention that. I find San Diegans to be some of the nicest and most laid-back folks in the country. Better not visit NYC anytime soon…</p>
<p>I have been to New York, and yes, people were even worst there from what I saw. I was only there for 2 weeks though, so I didn’t notice the inconsideration on a daily basis for months in a row like I do here. When I talk about inconsideration, I mean things like the way people curse at you on the road, people just standing in the middle of the street and talking to each other while completely ignoring the fact that they are blocking the path for everyone else, people leaving carts all over the parking lot at grocery stores, people mindlessly cutting you in line. I just feel like there is a huge lack of manners and I truly don’t understand it. When I see a person emptying their groceries in their car, then just pushing their cart and leaving it there blocking a parking space, I just want to punch them. And I see this every week. I just don’t understand how people can be like that.</p>
<p>Haha, this thread is like 2 years old.</p>
<p>I think people often mistake laid back for reserved at San Diego. The only ******bags I’ve met was this old rich couple who rolled down their window and yelled at me for crossing the street too slowly o___o I’ve lived in an urban city before (like NYC!) and all the “bad” about San Diego does NOT compare, like astrina said…I love the city, but ride the subway/metro in NYC or DC and you’ll see what I mean…</p>
<p>Essenar sounds like he/she would have been better off at UC Davis, a school I actively avoided because a) I can’t ride a bike and b) the weather is atrocious. Also, if you’re complaining about UCSD’s block schedules - guess what! UCD offers several classes at 7am! I’d take a random 8-9pm problem sesh any day of the week.</p>
<p>Points I do agree with, though, is that UCSD is very, very FAR from everything and in desperate need of some sort of college town. Ranch 99? You need a car. Biotech internship? Car. Hospital internship? Most likely, car. Physician shadowing? Probably need a car. MCAT testing site? Car.</p>
<p>Solution? buy a car (or make friends with cars). Put some effort into meeting people. Ta daa, you’re set and UCSD is going to be awesome for you.</p>
<p>gaiou37, I’ve lived and traveled all around the US for work and school, and if you think SD is bad, you’ve really not experienced many big cities. San Diego (LJ, especially) would be on my top 3 big cities/metropolises in terms of how nice the people are (Seattle and Chicago are my other top 2).</p>
<p>Don’t go to NYC or Boston if you hate rude people.</p>
<p>You know what’s funny? It’s been 2 years and now I freaking love UCSD. I joined a club that was socially open to anyone (even though it says Asian in the name and I’m not Asian at all) and I made a crap load of friends.</p>
<p>This school really is what you make of it. I balanced my schedule better. When classes are too packed, I just podcast them or share notes with class mates. </p>
<p>I live at Costa Verde and it’s awesome. I’m near all the bus stops and I don’t have to drive at all. </p>
<p>The administration/your college advisors will bend over backwards to try to keep you here no matter what problems you go through. They are REALLY forgiving. </p>
<p>People are nice if you go out and talk to them. I’ve met a lot of cute girls, a lot of chill dudes, started partying more, having social events. People also watch out for each other. My friend left his brand new iPhone 4S in the bathroom, someone found it, texted all his friends from it telling them he found his phone and brought it to his class to give it to him. </p>
<p>My new housemate fronted me my rent for our first month because my financial aid doesn’t come until September and our lease starts this month.</p>
<p>I joined a dance crew. Sure UCSD dance crews are nowhere near as legit as like, UCLA dance crews, but the people are so much more chill/laid back. </p>
<p>My first quarter here, I hated it. No one was nice to me, everyone was mean. I had trouble finding study partners. Everything was expensive. But once I got into the groove of things, met people and learned the ins and outs, I really settled in and now I don’t want to leave but it’s my last year coming up. :(</p>
<p>@Essenar, do you mind me asking what club you joined (through PM, maybe?)? I’ve been looking for some clubs/associations to join, since I felt pretty inactive and did little during my freshman year :(</p>
<p>Join Photography Club (UCSD Photo.Club)</p>
<p>For real</p>