<p>Okay I'm interested in the following schools and I want to know what others around the world think of them.</p>
<p>UCLA - Awesome school, great town, best in academics and athletics, seems like one of the best overall schools in the world.
UCSB - Amazing campus, booming social life and parties, everyone is chill, seems like you get a quality education in one of the most amazing places on earth.
UCSD - Campus is nice and modern, close beaches, amazing academics especially sciences, sports suck, social life is lacking, and campus tends to empty out on nights and weekends.
SDSU - Great business program, sports are pretty good, amazing parties, campus looks good, academics are lacking compared to the other schools.
UCI - Boring, campus is alright, close to the beach, dead on nights and weekends, no social life, academics are good, super asiany.
Cal Poly - Best csu, good at math/engineering/technical fields, good social life, town is nice, but gets old fast, sports are okay at best.
UCSC - Campus is cool and foresty, hippies and weed, sports suck like no other, academics are alright.
UCD - Can get hot, cow town, smelly, too far from the beach, good combo of academics and social life, rising sports program.</p>
<p>What I've wrote about them is the consensus of my peers, so does anyone want to argue it or dispel rumors.</p>
<p>Because Berkeley is nasty and I don't like northern California....I just put UCSC on their bc it is one of my safety schools and UCD bc it has some good stuff, but I would never go there.</p>
<p>haha, I wouldn't want to spend four years in Bezerkeley. I grew up much too close too it. Southern California is way better, warmer weather, more laid back, great beaches (that you can actually use, because its not cold and foggy all the time).</p>
<p>I live in San Diego (SoCal), and more people down here preferred Berkeley over UCLA. Maybe it's the Norcal natives who need to get a clue...</p>
<p>Interestingly, UCSD is not heavily preferred by most students down here, it's a pretty quiet campus compared to other UCs, and the consensus on being a commuter student to UCSD is strongly negative (second only to UCI).</p>
<p>When people say there is no social life at schools, does that mean there is no greek life or parties on campus. Atleast there has to be something going on off campus or students just chilling or going to the movies.</p>
<p>True, if you go to UCSD, having a car is a MUST if you even want to hope to have a good time outside the classroom, ie. going to Pacific Beach and hitting the clubs, going to the fabulous La Jolla malls, and if want to get wild, UCSD is a 45 minute trip from Tijuana, Mexico. Parties at UCSD are almost non-existent (alcohol has a heavy presence in some of the dorm areas however), and the Greek system is absent.</p>
<p>Here's the deal with UC Irvine...the reason it lacks in social life is because its location is remote from any sort of downtown area. But more than that, the campus itself mainly houses freshmen and sophomores, with only a handful of juniors and seniors. It's also got a large commuting population, as many of the people who are accepted live in LA and the surrounding areas. Since it focuses a lot on the sciences, especially computer science, there is a bit of a "geeky" element to it. All of these factors weakens the social scene at UC Irvine.</p>
<p>However, the day I visited the campus, there was a cultural week going on or something, with performers practicing. So it's not like the campus is totally dead; it's just not the most exciting place to be in the world of colleges, possibly one of the least exciting. But it's still a great school, and I'm pretty sure I personally still want to apply there, despite whatever bad social attributes it might have. :)</p>
<p>Oh, and to the people asking why anyone would turn down UCB -- it's one of the more overrated schools in the country. While it has great academics, the delivery is pretty poor as professors and faculty don't necessarily care about students unless you MAKE them care about students. That's true for most of the UCs, but I think UCB is the worst.</p>
<p>The description of UCD is more or less accurate except that it's smelly only if for some reason you are standing near a barn of some sort. The whole campus is not smelly. And I would also add:</p>
<p>Davis provides the true "college town" experience. Located half way between the bright lights of the Bay Area and the ski slopes of Tahoe.</p>
<p>keep in mind that the racial diversity varies substantially among these schools. Some have much lower/higher asian populations than others, for example.</p>
<p>i would say northern cali is definitely more chill and relaxed than southern. and its not as hot up here. and hello...green day is from northern cali. anyways i have a comment. many people hate davis for its location..but get over it. when you're in college, the beach isn't the only thing that's going to be on your mind. believe me...you won't be going down to the beach everyday even if you go to ucsb. and hello..ucb is one of the top universities. get over the fact that there are weirdos over there. all schools have freaks. just stop putting down certain colleges because of little things. the college experience is what you make it despite the location or whatever. i'm just saying that i wouldn't rule out a college because i think it's "smelly."</p>
<p>hellothere77 --- what is wrong with picking a college on location? I mean most of the schools I listed are on the same academic level so little things are all that's left. Davis is way to small and it gets too hot there. And with Santa Barbara I may not go to the beach everyday, but I still get to look at it.....and i would rather look at that than a cow. And Berkeley - too many liberals, people protest way too much, and the city of berkeley is nasty so why would I consider a school I would hate to be at.</p>