<p>I've had many friends ask me whether they should go to UCX(X) over UCSD because they would have a chance of a much higher GPA at those colleges. For some reason, people tend to think that if they would have got a 2.7 in SD, they would get a 3.7 or so in Irvine (I use Irvine as an example since my friend actually said this to me). Don't kid yourselves people. There is no way going to UCI, UCSB, UC Whatever over SD will let you have that much higher of a gpa. It's possible that there might be a .1-.2 gpa difference, but mainly basing your decision on the "knowledge" of being able to attain a much higher GPA in a different UC is a foolish choice. On the same note, don't assume going you're going to have a significantly higher GPA in UCSD than in UCLA or UCB.</p>
<p>Going to a different UC isn’t going to significantly alter your GPA by 0.5. That’s ridiculous. If that were the case, you’d see every student rushing to Riverside (nothing against the place, just saying) to complete their premed/prelaw/pre-whatever requirements. Your GPA represents your hard work, determination, ability and a bit of luck and is not heavily dependent upon the quality of your peers. Colleges have an incentive to not have too high of a GPA difference between colleges (esp. within the same UC system), otherwise the degree would be watered down and meaningless, leading to a bad reputation. College admissions may have been structured in a way that favored upper-middle class suburban elites over slums because of the quality of the high school, but this is not the case in college.</p>
<p>^a bit of luck, indeed. ;]</p>
<p>^^ Borderline Grades Ftw :d</p>
<p>haha, i was so guilty of that GPA myth when i was debating UCD vs UCSD for myself. then it turns out i chose a field where GPA doesn’t actually matter all that much :)</p>
<p>thank you prdonut, that needed to be addressed</p>
<p>The school that matters the most is the school that you’ll be happiest at, and if you can’t pay for that one take the next best thing, because of opportunity cost. I lol @ economics.</p>
<p>“The school that matters the most is the school that you’ll be happiest at, and if you can’t pay for that one take the next best thing, because of opportunity cost.”</p>
<p>you clearly don’t understand the concept of opportunity cost. I lol @ your lack of knowledge in economics</p>
<p>^^ Burned!!!</p>
<p>uh, yeah, as I said, I lol @ economics, I’m just having some fun with it.</p>
<p>Chill, no need to get all serious.</p>
<p>^ i think economics lols @ you</p>
<p>^This thread is almost two years old.</p>
<p>Hey OP! Thanks for clearing up the GPA myth! Wow now I know instead of choosing UCR for undergrad because I’ll get 4.0, I should just go to UCB instead and get 3.9 just as easily! You know…especially since there’s only a .1 deviation, regardless of school.</p>
<p>Why did this thread dissolve into an argument over the definition of opportunity cost by people that took Econ 1.</p>
<p>^^ it’s like a blast from the opportunity cost past for Sedna</p>
<p>why do you say gpa in ucsd will be higher than ucla, many majors in ucsd are better than ucla</p>
<p>I know people at UCSD who took classes at UCLA, about 75% of them claim its actually easier there because of all the athletes. 2 were chem classes, 1 was bio and I think the other 1 was humanities or something. Apparently the humanities class was harder than the UCSD ones.</p>
<p>Overall, not much of a difference as far as difficulty goes between the two schools. </p>
<p>A 3.8-4.0 at UCR is definitely at MOST a 3.0 at berkeley, which I even think is pushing it. Some of the brightest science kids in the nation go to UC Berkeley so the curve is insane there.</p>
<p>i think its easier to argue that different PROFESSORS are harder/ easier. those different profs. just happen to be at different UC’s. no UC is easy, get over it</p>
<p>a UC is easy if your competition is easy. Since UC’s grade on a curve, your grades depend on the people in the class and the averages. Therefore a UC is easy if you’re competing against people who couldn’t break 1800 on the SAT and had a 3.2 High School GPA versus people where they were able to get 2200+ and a 4.0 HS gpa.</p>
<p>^ and seeing as admissions are based on the GPA/SAT, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that the top-tier UCs are going to be harder (read: harder curve) than the lower-tier ones.</p>
<p>“No UC is easy, get over it?” Get over what? I think the last two posts just demolished whatever weak argument you had.</p>
<p>All that’s left is for you to get over the fact that there’s easy UCs.</p>