Questions for a 1st Year Warren student

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
21

<p>ucsd is pretty good in social sciences in terms of international studies, anthropology, and political science. specifically for lit/english major, i don't believe ucsd's is that strong.</p>

<p>personally i think undergrad education is important for grad school and career afterall college is the new high school. also, i'd go to a less prestigious school with a better humanities program. of course, visit the campuses and see which you can imagine yourself happy at for the next couple of years.</p>

<p>you can take infamy's pov of erc's social life (i dont go over to erc that much)...although i think my ceiling is going break one day instead of my window. the guys living above me are like acrobats, constantly jumping off furniture or the top bunk. =P</p>

22

<p>fak all triples? buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu........this is not what i imagined.</p>

23

<p>postalxservice:
im sorry you're regretting your decision. if you decide to go to ucsd, still give it a try. </p>

<p>In my opinion, parties are really the students' decisions; it's not the school's fault. If you want to have a party, start one, invite all your friends, tell them to bring their friends, join a frat/club, or go to another part of campus,etc. during weekends, a lot of the students are gone, so you may like to travel farther south with a few friends. :D </p>

<p>and you don't have to eat greasy/fried stuff. i also like eat healthy: low in oil, sodium, etc. at cv, you can make your own sandwiches/salads, order non deep fried items like burgers and quesadillas (which is served at The Grill) and whatever lunch/dinner they're serving that day. I've only had stir fry twice, but it was ok...a bit too salty. i have a few friends that work at cv, and they would agree that the sandwiches are good. sometimes, they also have pretty interesting pizzas that are a tiny bit spicy with nuts and chicken on them. the student workers make the pizza (my friend made a happy face once :P)</p>

<p>you don't have to be an engineering major; i'm not. nonengineering majors just do PofC's instead of Area Studies. PofC's have 6 more classes than Area studies, but my recommendation is to take the broadest PofCs, so you're not just stuck taking classes in one field (unless you're really interested in a specific PofC :P).
Warren divides majors into three sections (as you can see in the warren handbook from the link i gave earlier). whichever section your major falls under, you have to pick a PofC from each of the other two sections.
Ex: I'm a biochem/chem major, so I fall under "Natural Science, Math and Engineering." I get to pick one PofC from the list under "Humanities and Fine Arts" and one from the list under "Social Sciences." Instead of going for specific PofC's like "History" and "Anthropology," I picked "Humanities" (which lets me choose any 6 courses from history, lit, phil, music, theatre, or vis arts) and "Perspectives in Social Sciences" (any 6 classes in anthro, communications, econ, ethnic studies, linguistics/general, poli sci, psych, sociology, and urban studies&planning).
taking 6 more classes than engineering majors may sound like a lot, but you get to pick the classes/professors (which you can read reviews on ratemyprofessor). also, some ap scores can knock away some PofC classes or you may choose to double major or minor.</p>

<p>warren doesn't have that many parking spaces. make sure when you go off campus, come back on campus during a time when not a lot of students are parked(ie 8 in the morning to about 5 in the evening)...otherwise, you should be able to find parking. the closest student parking areas are justice lane and P502 (refer to map <a href="http://campusmap.michaelkelly.org/map.cgi%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://campusmap.michaelkelly.org/map.cgi&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p>

24

<p>runpunk:
triples are fine if you like your roommates. i like my roommates, so i don't mind my triple at all. i had originally applied for a double and was upset and shocked when i found out i got a triple. now, i really don't care. at least they're bigger than the triples at ucla (according to my brother who went to college at ucla) and there's a/c and heating.
my friend's triple had someone move off campus and no one else occupied the extra space, so they turned the bottom bunk into a couch. don't know what they did with the extra closet...storage cabinet?</p>

25

<p>but yeah...definitely the students make the parties not the school. i think it's true in general that engineering/science majors are probably less likely to party than liberal arts majors...but it's not that Warren is THAT dead, if you know the right people there you can definitely find one. but in general, it is pretty quiet...</p>

26

<p>yeah at first if you're stuck in a plus-1 or triple, your reaction might be "mehh, booo!", but seriously, you get used to it really quickly.</p>

27

<p>i asked for a SINGLE and got a TRIPLE! well technically i'm ina plus-1, which means i get paid 2 dollars and some cents everday.</p>

<p>however, you do get used to it so it's not a problem.</p>

28

<p>ooh thanks cali45. wait so.. parking is bad for warren? ahh. that's going to be a problem :(</p>

<p>can freshmen bring cars?</p>

<p>oh and would you say ucsd is particularily weak in economics, etc?</p>

<p>i want to major in business and ucsb and ucsd are my backups because neither are particulary well know for the major. well actually i don't know too much about sb... that was like a MAJOR backup and i don't really wanna go there but i got into the honors program there.</p>

<p>basically.... is ucsd strong/weak/mediocre in econ?</p>

<p>thanks again :)</p>

<p>edit: oh and i didn't really CHOOSE anything... it was more like.. guessing? ahahaha i knew a cute guy named warren so i just put warren as my number 1. LOL. what i regret is not thinking more about the 6 schools.</p>

29

<p>postalxservice:
parking is average; i think i've run into 0 parking spaces three times so far (both during the packed parking space times), and i go off campus fairly often. freshman can bring cars.</p>

<p>I know ucsd graduate program for econ is pretty strong. I'm not as clear about the undergrad program. It can't be bad since it's the second most popular major at ucsd. According to a thread from last year, "UCSD has an excellent undergrad program in econ, and easily a top 15 graduate program." -UCLAri
Here's the link to the thread (there are undergrad rankings at the very last post):
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=201381&page=2%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=201381&page=2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>and seeing that ucsd is your backup, i hope you get into your #1 school. :)</p>

<p>btw nice decision making on colleges. lol. i did my college order (warren as 1st) based on the list made by someone i trust to have done his homework. haha </p>

<p>and where is oyama. mr. "econ & math" major should be able to tell you something.</p>

30

<p>thanks a lot cali. that cleared up most of my questions :)</p>

<p>i still want to know a little more about ucsd's standing though on econ.. because honestly i want to major in business :(</p>

31

<p>What do you do in your down time? Are there any super awesome Warren specific activities?</p>

32

<p>postalxservice:
my best recommendations for you are to come to admit day and ask an current student with an econ major on cc. I actually still have the brochure from admit last year, so I took a peek, and there was a faculty and student seminar in economics. If they have it this year as well, get some more information there :)</p>

33

<p>cbf88:
I don't believe there are many specific warren activies. There's a newsletter that comes out each week with activities in warren and around campus. Your RA will also plan some activities. Of course, Welcome Week is full of things to do. College restaurants will also have little ads on events</p>

<p>Personally, I hang out with friends (running around with my roommates to other warren halls to visit friends at 1am when we're procrastinating :P), go to the movies at the amc near school, shopping (UTC and Fashion Valley..yay!), beach, etc. I've also been exploring restaurants around la jolla and have covered quite a bit: chain restaurants like cpk and non chain restaurants like georges at the cove and tajima (yummy ramen)
This isn't really down time, but I went to disneyland and sea world and am planning to take another disneyland trip during spring quarter. :P I went with friends, but I believe there were a few ads for amusement park trips. I definitely remember seeing one about swimming with and touching a whale. (sounds cool hm? :) )
You can also go to club events, join a frat, take a trip to the south, etc.
(note: it is very good to know people with a car or you may bring your own)</p>

34

<p>Okay, I have a question.
Where exactly can you house your visiting friends and family?
Is it necessary for them to get a hotel, because that's expensive...
I'm pretty sure I'm going to be forced into a triple...
Well, is it possible to keep people in the suite lounge?
OH! And does Warren have a kitchenette? and how clean/ big is it?</p>

35

<p>no it's not necessary to get a hotel if your suitemates don't mind your family crashing on the couches. i'm pretty sure your family would rather sleep in a hotel bed then on a couch. plus there's only two couches. </p>

<p>basicly you're allowed to have people sleep over as long as your suitemates are ok with it.</p>

<p>who will you be forced into a triple by?</p>

<p>no there's no kitchenette in the res halls. only apartments have kitchens.
there's a kitchen in SAC (student activities center) where i guess you can just reserve it. i don't think people use it that much.</p>

<p>i love SAC. ping pong all the time haha. plus WCTV is in there. (i'm a crew member)</p>

36

<p>cali45,</p>

<p>Would you happen to know anyone in bioengineering? I'm having a very tough time deciding between UCSD bioengineering and Cal bioengineering. From what I hear, it is a very competitive and tough major to get into at both schools.</p>

<p>UCSD is especially good in bioengineering (I believe it is the top major at UCSD?), ranked #4 while Cal's bioengineering is relatively new, ranked around #14. However, Cal is basically "the" engineering school to go to besides MIT, and there's always the possibility that its bioengineering program will catch up to UCSD's within a few years. Which school would you suggest I attend for bioengineering?</p>

<p>Also, I hear there is a 5 year bioengineering masters program at SD - do you know anyone who has done that?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

37

<p>hydralisks,
I realize your question was directed at cali45 and he/she can still answer, but I am a 2nd year Warren student and am very familiar with the bioengineering program here, though I am not a bioengineer myself.
Unless for some reason you really like the vibe/atmosphere better at Berkeley, I would recommend going to UCSD for bioengineering. Yes, Berkeley has a better engineering school overall, but from what I have heard the environment for engineers there is very competitive/cut-throat, and while it is certainly a demanding and competitive major at UCSD I just think that it's probably worse at Berkeley....you can take my opinion with a grain of salt however because it's mainly based on anecdotal evidence.<br>
Also, if you decide you want to switch out of bioeng., and I personally know many many people at UCSD who have done this, it is very difficult to do so at Cal, since you have to switch out of the engineering college; in fact, I'm pretty sure you need to have some minimum GPA at Berkeley if you want to switch out of the school of engineering, which is sort of a Catch-22 b/c the people who want to switch out are probably the people with relatively low GPAs.<br>
Also, I'm sure there are great research opportunities at Cal, but at UCSD the bioeng. labs really are top-notch and I know that most if not all have undergrads doing research in them....not to mention that there are a plethora of biotech companies in the surrounding SD area.<br>
About the 5 year bioeng. masters program, I personally don't know anybody who has done it, but I hear it's pretty competitive, and that most people who get in have a 3.8+ gpa, but again this is based on anecdotal evidence and not on raw data.<br>
In short, unless you are really drawn to Berkeley for reasons other than the fact that they have a good engineering program, I would chose UCSD for bioeng.</p>

38

<p>as far as the competitiveness of engineering programs at UC Berk:</p>

<p>I have gone on tours there twice (I live relatively close), and the tour guides always like to point out that roof access in the engineering building is restricted.</p>

<p>that should give you some idea...</p>

39

<p>Thanks you, both TwylaBloo and team.katie. I greatly appreciate the advice.</p>

<p>However, there's just been one thing that has been nagging me.</p>

<p>UCLA bioengineering was THE hardest major to get into this year and Cal bioengineering was also TIED as the hardest major to get into this year (with EECS of course). I just feel that I'll regret getting into such hard programs and schools and reject them. Bioengineering is very new at both Cal and UCLA and at Cal, they have just finished constructing a new bioengineering building.</p>

<p>Although Cal bioengineering is not very strong right now - what if, in the near future, say 2-3 years, the Cal bioengineering department surpasses UCSD's - which, I think is highly possible seeing how Cal is tops in almost every other engineering field. If this were to happen, I couldn't go without regret that I hadn't chosen Cal in the first place.</p>

<p>Also, cali45, I wouldn't mind if you could still answer my original post :)</p>

<p>I'd love to get as many opinions as possible.</p>

40

<p>if bioe is all you care about, just come to ucsd. it is ranked 3rd in the nation, and you can't go wrong with that. UCLA and Cal aren't even in the top 10, I highly doubt that they could surpass UCSD in just 2-3 years. </p>

<p>if you care about other aspects though, like having a football team, frat row, overall prestige, social atmosphere, blah blah blah, cal and ucla will more than make up with such things for what they lack in bioengineering.</p>