Is UCSD right for me

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
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<p>I have been accepted to UCSD as a bioengineering major. I am not using it as a pre-med, I plan to continue on to grad school in bioengineering and work in the field.</p>

<p>Bioengineering program rank/quality is important to me, and UCSD's bioengineering program is ranked higher than any other school i have been accepted to, although as a school overall it is ranked lower than many of them. </p>

<p>My biggest concern is that I am not 100% positive that bioengineering, or any kind of engineering, is right for me. I like math and science, but I don't really know what I'm getting into, so need to consider the fact that i might want to switch majors, and if I did I would likely move to computer science or business, but I'm not sure about those either. The point is that I think college should at least partly be about finding what I want to do with the rest of your life, no matter what I go in thinking I'll do. I know that bioengineering is an impacted major, so I could not transfer into it, and as far as I can tell, traferring out is not a problem. I do know, almost for sure, that if i do stick with engineering, it will be bioengineering.</p>

<p>As a result of the program's excellent reputation and ranking, and the fact that the major is impacted, it seems to me like it would be a very cutthroat environment, which I don't think I'd like. I do want competition, but not ruthless cutthroatedness. Any opinions on that aspect of UCSD?</p>

<p>Other things that are important to me:
- I want to have fun in ways that don't involve getting drunk or high
- School spirit and atmosphere in general - I like school spirit, etc.</p>

<p>The biggest issue is money. Right now, it is not a problem, and money is not enough of a factor to differentiate UCSD from other schools on my list, but this situation is contingent upon me being an engineering major, and if i quit engineering I would not be able to afford the school anymore. I realize that this point alone makes it seem like UCSD isn't right for me, but regardless of my indecisiveness, the probability remains high that I will end up attempting to pursue a bioengineering undergrad major all the way through, and I don't want to turn down the top ranked school on my list because of silly cold feet. Any thoughts and advice from people who have ever felt this way before (there must be some, right?) would be much appreciated</p>

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<p>What are your other options?</p>

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<p>Why is your funding so completely based on your major?</p>

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<p>I’m not an engineering major so I can’t comment on the cutthroatness or UCSD’s facilities and faculty regarding that, though I hear it’s good. However I will agree with you that choosing a school just for a major is only one consideration and not the ultimate reason why one person chooses one school over another. I came into UCSD as one major but ended up switching out of it because I realized my interests lie elsewhere, but I was okay with that because that meant I was diversifying my academic experience.</p>

<p>You don’t have to worry about not having a social life or having fun-- there are plenty of events and clubs on and off campus for that. The atmosphere is definitely unique but in a good way (at least in my opinion)-- on the weekdays it’s just a typical day with students going to and from class with several club activities going on here and there around campus. On the weekend it is very beautiful/calming and it has a woodsy relaxing feel to it that is perfect for studying outside or going to the beach.</p>

<p>I’ll admit our school spirit is rather on the low side. That’s more or less because we’re a commuter school and we don’t have many unifying traditions given that we are a young school, though Spirit Night and Sun God are the exceptions to that.</p>

<p>If you want to reaffirm your love for bioengineering I suggest you visit the campus, and specifically the research labs the faculty and students are working in. Talk to people, get advice, and explore for yourself and see if it is an environment you see yourself in for the next few years. See if the curriculum is as cutthroat as people say it is.</p>

<p>Let me just commend you on taking the time to factor in all the important aspects of the college experience – you’re one in a million. Most other people just look at the rankings as a means to justify their decision over another school.</p>

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<p>Other options: I haven’t heard back from all of my schools yet (April 1st!), but so far I have also been accepted to Madison, Cornell, USC, and Vanderbilt. I’m waiting to hear back from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and UPenn.</p>

<p>The reason my funding is based on engineering is that I have an engineering specific scholarship that I would lose as soon as I switched majors.</p>

<p>subtle_overlord, thanks a ton for all your input and advice! I am going to try to visit over spring break, so hopefully that will clear up a lot of my questions. You mentioned that UCSD is a commuter school, and as an OOS student I would obviously need to stay on campus, so how empty does the campus really get on weekends?</p>

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<p>are you kiding? UCSD’s bioengineering is the top of the nation, even almost teh world! its up there with harvard and berkeley. UCSD can be place with no social life if you make it that way. But parties are fun if you want to. UCSD lacks school spirit but who knows weatehr or not it will be good for you.</p>

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<p>If you don’t want cutthroat competition, look elsewhere.</p>

<p>[US</a> Graduate Bioengineering & Biomedical Engineering School Rankings](<a href=“http://www.infozee.com/channels/ms/usa/bioengineering-biomedical-engineering-rankings.htm]US”>http://www.infozee.com/channels/ms/usa/bioengineering-biomedical-engineering-rankings.htm)</p>

<p>If you want a top BioE program to one day be your alma mater, come here.</p>

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<p>You have to look at your future plans.</p>

<p>If you want to do Bio Engineering and then go onto Grad school, you need to go somewhere where you can keep your GPA up a bit.</p>

<p>Personally, I think if UCSD has one of the best programs in the country, I wouldnt go there because I figure, it has to be an EXTREMELY difficult program where it would be a bit tougher to keep up my GPA, when I could instead go to a school that doesnt have as good of a program (but is still better) and keep up my GPA easier. But then again, it also does depend on how much time you’re willing to put into your work.</p>

<p>Also, you should look at location and where you would want to live for four years of your life.</p>

<p>Do you want to stay relatively closer to home that way you can go back and visit often? Are you willing to live in a certain place for 4 years of your life (assume that you have no option of transferring out)?</p>

<p>Personally, I’d factor all of these in before making your decision.</p>

<p>Good luck with everything.</p>

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<p>I strongly suspect tha if you change majors at UCSD during the year and then submit your financial aid application as we have to every year, that they will switch the scholarships around to compensate for the loss and give someone else the engineering scholarship who would normally have gotten the one they would need to reassign to you. My mom used to work in college admissions and that’s what she thought would most likely happen as long as you maintain a decent GPA and remain a student they want to keep.</p>

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<p>Avib0y, I agree very much with what you’re saying about GPA, that is a serious concern. How different would my chances of grad school acceptance be if I got an okay GPA at UCSD vs. a pretty good GPA at USC (which is a competitive school, but not ranked super high for bioengineering specifically) for example?</p>

<p>It’s not that I don’t want a challenge, I do, but I also don’t want to needlessly set myself up for failure or unbearable stress.</p>

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<p>GPA isn’t used as a SELECTION criteria if you are applying to M.Eng/D.Eng. Schools expect you to have a certain GPA above a cutoff threshold and then analyze the rest of your record there (most important being research experience, SoP, LoR).</p>

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<p>I’m sorry, but what to SoP and LoR stand for?</p>

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<p>statement of purpose / letter of rec </p>

<p>you must be new :)</p>

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<p>It is interesting how people with important questions suddenly show up on the board with a full engineering scholarship and admission to top schools in their very initial posts. Are you real? Possible…but still… Where have you been? You managed to land a multi-year scholarship in bioengineering – an emerging field undergoing definition (no two schools fully agree on definition and course content varies tremendously) and all you are concerned about is getting GPA up. A guy who wins such a scholarship would presumably have done his/her homework and have clear ideas of which school, what kind of program and great self-confidence in their ability.</p>

<p>Sorry, something doesn’t sound right…</p>

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<p>^i think the OP is just mostly worried that it may not be his passion for life</p>

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<p>You don’t have to worry about the commute. In fact it’s much cheaper to live off-campus. On the weekdays there are university shuttles that run through all of the apartment complexes around the university and they come about every five minutes.</p>

<p>On the weekends you have to use the city shuttles which come every 30 minutes. It’s dead quiet on the weekends and that can be a good or bad thing depending on what kind of person you are. I love strolling through campus on the weekends because it’s very peaceful and I feel like I own the university seeing as there is no one else around. You should definitely stay for a weekend and see if that kind of atmosphere is your cup of tea; some like it and others dismiss it as too boring.</p>