Hi! I’m a prospective student from Washington who was accepted to UCSD, UCSB, and UCSC. I’m looking to study marine biology, primarily to focus on conservation efforts. I’m deeply conflicted, as my in-state, UW, is much cheaper with a prestigious program, however I deeply want to return to California, and my dream school has fluctuated between UCSB and UCSC (I also have parents willing to pay majority of OOS tuition).
I’ve only found conflicting information on rankings, outcome, and value, and was hoping on some possible clarity on the situation. For further info, I am also planning on attending graduate school for a Masters.
Meaning that you will have debt at UCSB or UCSC but not at UW?
Better to stay debt-free due to economic uncertainty and because any kind of biology is not generally a high-paying field.
At Washington, marine biology is not a restricted major, unlike biology and many other majors there that have competitive secondary admission processes, so you would not have to worry about being outcompeted for a spot in your major at Washington.
You state that your parents are willing to pay the majority of the OOS UC tuition so how much is that? As a student, you can only take out a total of $27K of federal student loans for the 4 years ($5500 Freshman year, $6500 Sophomore year and $7500 Junior/Senior year), so your parents will pay around $60K/year for you to attend one of these schools?
Save your money, although the UC’s would love to have it and come to California for your Graduate degree.
I agree that UW sounds like a better option. It’s prestigious and part of the same region as CA, so you would have still job prospects in CA. Seattle is very cool. The UCs are impacted and hyper competitive, especially in biological sciences. UCSC has serious problems with housing shortages.