<p>I was wondering what people thought of UC Riverside. It is apparently the least popular UC, and I hear the city of Riverside is kinda dumpy. But did UCR just get the short end of the stick when it came to UC rank? (because not all of the schools can be "the best") Or is it really as flaky and depressing as some people make it out to be?</p>
<p>college is what you make of it. meaning, yes, the city of Riverside does suck, but just make sure you bring a car.</p>
<p>riverside is out in the middle of nowhere but the immediate area around the campus is not so bad. there's just nothing to do there, and a lot of the students tend to go home on the weekend which sort of kills the social side of the school. it really is perceived as the last choice school for kids interested in uc's. i know many that have chosen to go to a JC over attending UCR. it might sound like i'm bashing the school, but i've lived in so cal almost my entire life and that's the honest perception around here.</p>
<p>A UC education is good wherever you can get it, but the area of Riverside isn't so great or exciting. It's inland, so you aren't close to the beach or anything. I'd take UCR over all of the Cal State schools except maybe SLO and Pomona.</p>
<p>I agree with alicantekid. :p</p>
<p>Santa Cruz (and Merced) are also at the bottom of the UC scale, but for different reasons.</p>
<p>um..riverside is probably not so bad I mean the education is the same..anyway I have heard that it will become more competitive in the future.</p>
<p>maybe you should try visiting UC Riverside, checking out their dorms (nice new ones), how college life is, their facilities (relatively new), the environment/atmosphere. if it came down to personal fit for me, UC Riverside wouldve been my 2nd choice below UCLA but above UC Berkeley, USC, UCI, among others. but thats just me. i seriously think you should take a personal campus visit because you'll discover UCR is much better than the "trash" that ppl call it. its also not as competitive, they boast that they offer more personal attention, i heard the kids know how to party too haha. its low in the rankings because its relatively new and the best resources just arent there yet. big downer: horrible food.</p>
<p>remember, USNWR ranking of UCR can be VERY misleading. because UCR is a (relatively new) public, its alumni giving rate is going to be low. also, because many kids just check off UCR as a safety on their UC app, its selectivity rate has ballooned. so yea UCR gets crushed by USNWR's ranking criteria</p>
<p>if you can get into a school of UCLA or UCSD caliber, you'll probably get offered a regent's scholarship in efforts to pull in good students to riverside.</p>
<p>UCR is also the UC that accepts you if you are UC eligible</p>
<p>not anymore, that honor now goes to Merced...</p>
<p>UC Riveside is getting better. Considering that it is pretty young, its not that bad. There are many universities that are older than UCR and are not rated that high either. I just wanted to pass this information to all the students who applied to UCR, my friend is a coordinator for admission there, and she told me that UCR starting with this year's apps. is going with a selective admissions criteria. UC Merced will now be the only school that will accept all eligible students into the UC system. The selective admission will only help enhance UCR rep. in the future.</p>
<p>It has excellent Ph.D programs in English and Economics.</p>
<p>Once again, VISIT the CAMPUS.</p>
<p>I live thirty minutes outside of UCR, and so my school does several things down at UCR throughout the year. I have a Model United Nations conference to go to this weekend down there. I visited most of the UCs and they never had what I really wanted: an urban environment. This led to me applying and getting accepted to Boston University. </p>
<p>Seriously though, there is no such thing as a "bad" college. It all depends on what you want out of it. UCR is really laid back, but the campus itself isn't bad at all.</p>