<p>I don’t know which one to choose, can any one help me. My major is Computer Science AND Engineering, and it is only offered at UC Merced, UCR only offers Computer Science OR Computer Engineering (i prefer to be in CS and Eng). But UC Merced is a really small school, and i think it might be like doing high school all over again(because so few people attend and isn’t it surrounded by farms and cows, and there really isn’t that big of a college town, it more rural), but then again UC Merced could become one of the great UC’s in 15 years. And how good is UC Merced in Computer Science And engineering, (They are not accredited yet either though). And does UCR have a good computer science department, whose is better? So my main question is should i choose UCR or UC Merced (considering my major for both). Thanks</p>
<p>I think Uc merced is the better choice. Its a brand new campus, and it actually looks like its gonna have a good sized freshman class this year. UCR is in a terrible enviroment. Extremely smoggy.</p>
<p>Is the smog the only reason you're recommending that Arian doesn't go to UCR? If so, then I would avoid most regions in southern California.</p>
<p>i live in southern California (orange county) anyway</p>
<p>Oh.. come on. Enough with speculation. My friend went down there a couple weeks ago and the smog did not bother her at all. She was very pleased with the school and thought it looked very nice. </p>
<p>BTW, we live in San Diego. I do not think the smog at UCR should be the 'end all' reason to not go to there.</p>
<p>UCM- Lots of professor attention. Get a private school education, with the cost of a public. New buildings, the dorms are awsome. Not far from the bay area. Near skiing, in a retro Cali town, similar to San Luis Obispo. Close to Yosemite. The UC system is trying to make it top tier.</p>
<p>UCR- Terrible smog. Its the worst polluted place in the continental U.S. Its the toilet of the UC system, and the overall place is depressing. The diversity is overwhelmingly international and asian.</p>
<p>UCM is a long way off from being a top tier. maybe once they get their population higher than that of a california high school... You are going to college NOW, not in 10-20 years when UCM (hopefully) rises through the ranks.</p>
<p>UCR is a lovely campus, I was pleasantly surprised. You have the beach, the mountains, and the sky. If you want the real pit of society go visit UCLA or UCB, where the school is nice but the community is a bit uncertain... </p>
<p>Major is a prominent factor, I believe, in your decision. This is what you are (potentially) going to do with the rest of your life. I'm not sure I quite see the difference between the UCR major and the UCM one other than the "and", but if you are certain that is the major you want then I would suggest you take UCM.</p>
<p>UCR is predominantly asian? are you sure about that? just curious...</p>
<p>According to College</a> Search - University of California: Riverside - UCR - At a Glance</p>
<p><1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
*44% Asian/Pacific Islander *
8% Black/Non-Hispanic
27% Hispanic
15% White/Non-Hispanic
2% Non-Resident Alien
4% Race/ethnicity unreported</p>
<p>Due to certain circumstances I had to move to a town which is about 45 minutes away from Merced. This whole valley just sucks. There is absolutely nothing in Merced except for cholos and migrant farm workers. You have to drive about two hours to get to regular civilization. I know that Riverside isn't that great, but it's better than here.</p>
<p>Riverside is truly under rated.
If you really want to be a Computer Science and Computer Engineer, even if you can’t just pick one, you should still go to UCR.
I’m currently majoring in Computer Engineering at UCR and they have a wonderful program.
Everything is prepared for you, it’s called BCOE (Bourns College of Engineering).
For your first year at UCR, you get every class that you need to start off with. No matter what, they guarantee you a spot in the class every starting quarter, so all you have to do is sign up for your breadth classes like English, History etc. You also get access to computer labs in the Bourns building 24/7, and free printing! I did not know this until my third quarter which is sad because I spent a lot of my printings at other labs. :\ But yeah, being in BCOE gives you a lot of oppurtunities and extra stuff other majors don’t get. So if you really want to be an engineer/cs major then pick UCR because I know you will get a good education there, no matter what people say.</p>
<p>Old thread is uber old.</p>
<p>Also, UCLA (I’m a little biased) is nowhere near the hole in the wall that Riverside is, curious that Cutie called the community of Westwood “uncertain” because I’m quite certain it is much nicer than Riverside/Merced in most respects…</p>
<p>You guys just brought this debate back to life. Ill pick UCR over UCM any day. BCOE kick ass is one of the newest and top ranked engineering schools in the country. Merced is 1/6 the size of Riverside and the pollution in the Central valley isn’t that much better than the IE Merced pop 50,000 Rside pop 300,000 Merced nearest city over 1 mil is SF at 4 hours. Rside nearest city over 1 mil LA 45 minutes away of 8 bucks via metro or SD 1.5 hours or $14 via metro/amtrak.</p>
<p>I would probably rather go to JC then go to UC Merced or UC Riverside… They are garbage schools. Try to get into UCSC instead.</p>
<p>I would call it garbage school specially Rside we are ranked higher than many state flagship and higher than SC</p>
<p>BestIndaWest- you’re probably not going to get a degree at UCM or UCR. haha</p>
<p>Seriously? Smog? I’m just laughing at how idiotic you have to be to reject a college solely based on the fact that the pollution is a little worse in that area. Oh and by the way, I’m from the greater area of Los Angeles, and the smog here is exactly the same. Would you say that UCLA is a garbage school based on that? </p>
<p>I think that going to UCR is a good decision if you can afford it. If you need to take out loans, then I would suggest going to a CC for two years to get your general classes done then transfer over. It really does save up a lot of money. I really don’t think that the english or math that they teach at a UC is much better than the kind they teach at a CC. This from my own experience anyway. I am an electrical engineer at UCR and I regularly do research with the CS department, and I have to say that the CS department is really solid. You get a lot of perks as an engineer at this school. I think the EE department is a lot more relaxed as opposed to the CS and ME because they are really strict with maintaining your GPA and doing well in all of your classes.</p>
<p>For me, it’s just research and whatevers to classes. All that really matters in the end is that you graduate and find a job right? Hahaha.</p>
<p>‘Garbage school’ is not only mean, but is simply wrong. If we were to compare UCR to the other 2,000 or so universities in the US, we would see that UCR easily beats 1,900 of them. Not to mention, its grads get a nice diploma with the words ‘University of California’ displayed prominently on it. This is a brand name that is known literally around the world, in every country. The problem is that UCR always gets compared to Berk and LA in this state (as do other UC’s) which makes it look bad in the eyes of most applicants (of course, its relatively poor location is also a factor). If we were to lift UCR and plant it in Idaho, it would no doubt get far more respect. The good news is that UCR’s prestige will go up, due to its up and coming medical center (which is significant, because it will be responsible for serving the entire Inland Empire, a region that is growing population-wise at a very rapid pace).</p>
<p>There is a college in Idaho?</p>
<p>There are people in Idaho?</p>