<p>Would a current UCSD student kindly provide some details on Pros and Cons of Thurgood Marshall College? My D has just been admitted with a Biological Science Major and it would help getting to know the college better from an insider's view point.</p>
<p>Personally, I was sixth college (graduated fall 2012), however I had plenty of friends in Marshall.</p>
<p>Pros:
- Marshall is fairly centrally located. It is probably the best located college on campus about 5-10 minutes from everything (gym, price center, lecture halls).
- The DOC writing program (every college has one, Sixth’s was CAT) is 3 quarters which is much shorter than others like ERC’s MMW which is 6 quarters, and Revelle’s HUM which is 5 quarters
-OVT, the dining hall is the best on campus, add that with Goody’s a small supermarket that is open late night and you have the best dining experience on campus. Not to say that students from other colleges can’t eat there, it is just that it is close by.
-Dorms are older, they aren’t the ERC dorms, but its nice because they have a pretty nice layout 4 singles to 2 triples per suite, 2 suites per floor (one male/one female). - 2nd year apartments are again old, but you cannot beat the location. Despite being old they are actually really nice.</p>
<p>Finally, this is the only “con” I could think of, but its in the middle of a pro and a con:
- This is a bit hard to explain, but bare with me. Sixth had a more open res hall set up in that on one floor there were 2 suites of 5 rooms connected by a shared bathroom. It was 14 people on each side, sharing 4 showers, 3-4 toilets. Marshall’s res hall is set up is better with 10 people in a suite, sharing 2 showers, 2 toilets. However, each suite is separated from each other. So instead of meeting 27 other people, in Marshall you meet 9 (if you don’t include your kid). In the grand scheme of things, probably not a big deal, but for those first few weeks as a freshman its nice to meet as many people as you possibly can. Again, its not like you won’t meet people across the hall its just not as open.
- You always have to walk up hill coming home.</p>
<p>I hope this helps, again I wasn’t a Marshall student, but having spent 4 years there I never really heard anyone complain about Marshall. You hear plenty of complaints about the other colleges, but Warren and Marshall are rarely mentioned.</p>
<p>@abc002 Nicely done. Thank you</p>
<p>I would like to add that I really liked Marshall’s dorm system and didn’t have a problem meeting people 
there is such a rush to meet people in the beginning, and as the year winds down I was glad for the "dis"connect to have some time to myself and my suite.</p>
<p>I do think the oldness of the dorms, but the apartments especially, is a con 
I live in the lowers and I call maintanence at least once a month about my leaky/clogged pipes, my malfunctioning locks, my broken doorbell…</p>
<p>abc002 – You shared a bathroom area with 27 people in Sixth?! O__O My brother was just admitted into UCSD in Sixth and was asking me for info, haha. Was that ever difficult in any way?</p>
<p>its not bad at all. everyone has their own schedule, does their own thing. it was hardly ever an issue.</p>
<p>i agree with the closed-offness of marshall’s dorms.
i’m a particularly…quiet person, so it made it more difficult for me. but for my more outgoing dorm mates, it wasn’t an issue for them.</p>
<p>also, i really liked DOC. i thought it wasn’t too difficult either.</p>
<p>i’m in the lowers too but havent really had any problems though. it is rather old, but the rooms are ok? the bathrooms are… yeah. just…no. i really liked the bathrooms in the dorms though haha.</p>
<p>What about the GE’s at Marshall? It’s a HUGE list. Is it viable for premeds to be in this college at all?</p>
<p>As a chem e. major, would I be overloaded with GEs? I heard that it’s easier to be an engineer in Warren, but I specifically avoided Warren for this reason, as I wanted to be around humanities/fine arts people more often. (Nothing against other engineers, I just want diversity…)</p>
<p>Was this assumption correct or are the majors balanced in all of the different colleges?</p>
<p>Why don’t we set up a group for Class of 2016 UCSD TMC at Facebook and then exchange our ideas and make friends with each other? Just a suggestion…</p>
<p>@ucsdlee: Yes, the bathrooms @__@ I had a crazy flood in my kitchen once too because of clogged pipes, and my friends have had pipe-related problems throughout the year. But yes, I loved the dorm bathrooms and my room is quite cozy.</p>
<p>@AceAites: I am a premed, and haven’t had any problems - Marshall is on the low end of number of GEs, in my opinion. Have you seen Revelle’s list? If you are premed you should be taking all the required science and humanities classes at Marshall anyway.</p>
<p>@1x612nt13: I think there are a lot of science and engineering majors at UCSD, period. I am not an engineer major myself, but I have friends in all the colleges that are engineer majors. I haven’t really heard them complain about GE overload – I have heard them complain about writing sequences, which shouldn’t be a problem with DOC 
– I hear them complain a lot about not being able to get into major-specific classes.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot momosky! so the Marshall college’s GE’s actually are part of the premed requirements?</p>
<p>The science/math requirements are definitely covered by premed reqs… I just took my fine arts course and humanities p/np (zero interest there) and passed out of the LD breadth with my AP Euro credit. The breadths are kind of out there in that they have to be outside your major, but my friends that did end up taking them enjoyed the classes they chose. One of my premed friends chose to take sign language for his breadth, and another is currently taking classes on pirates and mummies. </p>
<p>There isn’t a lot of extensive overlap, but GEs at Marshall will not keep anyone from graduating on time.</p>
<p>Actually, it is very unlikely that anyone in Marshall ResHalls will get a triple. Almost all the suites are 4 singles and 2 doubles, meaning 8 people a suite. The bathroom situation is 2 showers, 2 stalls, and 3 sinks and it is rare that anyone has a problem using it when needed due to different schedules and preferred shower times. The worst thing that has needed maintenance was a clogged shower and it was fixed quickly. </p>
<p>The suite also has a shared living room and balcony, which is very nice. Every building has a common room which are often used for studying and on the top floor near the R.A. The bedrooms are bigger than some others for freshman and I really love the suite set-up and having a single! </p>
<p>The dining hall, OVT, is probably the best on campus, especially for breakfast! And you are near Goody’s, a burrito/sandwhich shop with a “market” underneath that is like a somewhat healthy convenience store. You get “dining dollars” as part of your housing plan and for me they have been way more than enough. I do buy groceries at Ralphs though. </p>
<p>Marshall is in a really good location relative to classes, I usually leave for class 10 minutes ahead of time, 15 if it is particularly far. The GEs are not hard, the “writing” class, DOC, only takes one year (3 quarters) to complete and the others are usually not too difficult or boring, as you have choices.</p>
<p>I suggest you visit the campus if possible! It’s best to see if your kid gets a good vibe from the school. Sit in on a couple of classes and definitely tour the ResHalls, go in OVT, and explore all around. Last year on Admit Day they had llamas so look out to see if they have them again. Also I really really suggest visiting the area AROUND the school, such as the beach, checking out how far the grocery store, mall, etc. I find that things are more spaced out from the school than I expected and it’s kind of annoying, but hey I brought my car.</p>
<p>Don’t med school adcoms look down on you for taking classes P/F? But I certainly hope I can fit all of it. Can I take psychology as a class to fill in any of the GE’s? They don’t seem to have any that fits it.</p>
<p>^ <a href=“http://marshall.ucsd.edu/pdfs/GE_SHEET.pdf[/url]”>http://marshall.ucsd.edu/pdfs/GE_SHEET.pdf</a></p>
<p>yeah. under disciplinary breadth as long as you aren’t a social science major (so if you’re a science major then you can take a lower/upper division psych course to fulfill DB).</p>
<p>It’s great to see everyone fretting about dorm rooms when only a few days ago it was all about if you even got in or not! 
(BTW, my son was accepted as an econ major and TMC was his top choice.) I hope he elected to go to UCSD!</p>
<p>Thank you ucsfdlee. :o</p>
<p>bump
I got into Marshall too and want to know some more info</p>