<p>Don't forget the (infamous) grade inflation on that Junior University on The Farm (a C is essentially failing)!</p>
<p>That's really not a difficult choice.</p>
<p>Who cares what the major is, Go to stanford</p>
<p>SDboy, that was a link, not a title. I am aware that Stanford is not an Ivy.</p>
<p>I personally think you should go to Stanford even if you don't have the major of its not for the major of your dreams. The most terrible thing would be to go to UCSD and finish undergrad only to run out of money before grad school, like a previous poster mentioned. This happened to my friends dad who spent 4 years getting a degree in biology to become a doctor only to run out of money and be unable to afford grad school. Go to Stanford and save UCSD for grad school.</p>
<p>I live next to Stanford and know lots of people who have attended. it is a great school, like many, and is the "hot" school at the moment. There is not doubt in my mind, follow your passion. The money will works itself out. That is your parent's issue, not yours. (I am a parent) if THEY say no to UCSD then so be it.</p>
<p>Do NOT back away from the right decision because of money or fickle prestige. Your degree and education will be with you for the rest of your life and the prestige of the schools will go up and down ... DOES NOT matter in the long run ... esp if you end up in your field surrounded by other like mindeds and a top program. </p>
<p>Stanford wants you and is throwing the kitchen sick at you trying to get you. Do not succumb to their bribery IF they do not have what you want.</p>
<p>Stanford reputation is newly found ... just look at Harvard undergraduate ... from my perspective kids go there because of the prestige not the education. Harvard UG is NOT the best education and attracts the kids for whom I suspect (over simplification) grades are more important than education. </p>
<p>Do they right thing ... you will NEVER regret it ... though ... you may have second thoughts on occasion (such is all in life!)</p>
<p>^lol do you know what you are actually talking about??
once you said "Follow your passion" and later on, "Do not succumb to their bribery IF they do not have what you want." lol, is that what you meant by "follow your passion"</p>
<p>"The money will works itself out. That is your parent's issue, not yours. (I am a parent)."</p>
<p>The level of entitlement in this statement is just amazing. It shows you really have no regard for anyone else, and to be quite honest speaks volumes about the kind of person you are. </p>
<p>If you'd really consider putting an unnecessary financial burden on your parents, when Stanford is willing to pay for you to attend, that right there speaks volumes about the type of son/daughter you are...</p>
<p>Look... the truth about BioE is that most of the experts in the field are not or were BioE majors. Outside of academia, I don't think anyone even knows what it is. I do not think the degree will help you get a career in the biotech industry over someone who majored in another engineering field or biology etc..
So my answer to your question is if you're looking to work in industry, UCSD would not be worth it for you. Now on the other hand if you want to work in academia, you'd be fine coming here. As far as I can tell, at least a few of the bioeng professors did their undergrads at ucsd. However, again, most of them came from another engineering fields or biology/chemistry.</p>
<p>Do some research, figure it out. Get to students who graduated from both programs and see how they did. Find out from the department how their graduates did and where they ended up going. Don't get caught up in the hype. As someone in this thread said already, you think you know what you want now, but that will likely change. When I hear someone say that something is their dream before they've actually gotten into it I can already see the disappointment on the horizon when they get there and realize "this isn't what I thought it was."</p>
<p>And also, the college you go to shouldn't be just about the major you choose but also the environment you want. UCSD is a lonely place. What I mean is there is nobody to set things up for you, nobody that will just hand you things. You have to go get them yourself. Some like it, some don't. It is not how most places are though, as far as I know.
This is what I know about UCSD, I don't know anything about Stanford. Good luck.</p>