UC Santa Barbara (Bio-psychology) vs. UC San Diego (Physiology and Neuroscience) 2016

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

Hey everyone long time reader first time poster here with a question for anyone with the time and experience to answer. I am a transfer student who was accepted into both UCSD and UCSB for the majors I have placed in the title. I have visited both campuses and find both of them beautiful, but am having a difficult time deciding which to attend. My end goal is medical school and I will place my academic career as my number 1 priority over any type of partying, however I do enjoy getting out and blowing off steam from time to time. Do both of these universities do well in terms of providing students with the tools to succeed on the MCAT? Additionally, is the generally superior prestige of UCSD worth trading away a bit of the socially vibrant community that resides in Santa Barbara? Or am I completely wrong about the social scene at San Diego? I apologize in advance if these questions come off as being opinion based or pointless, but I have had a bit of a rough road to get to this point and would like to make the next chapter of my life as smooth as possible. Thank you all very much for your time and I hope to hear from you soon! Cheers!

EDIT: Not sure why topic was posted twice. Sorry for the inconvenience.

2

If your end goal is medical school, I think UCSD will give you a clear advantage in terms of being able to pad your resume. In addition to the medical school, pharmacy school, $1billion of research labs and 4 hospitals on campus, there are a ton of famous biomedical research institutes and large and small biotech companies in the areas adjacent to the school. You wouldn’t necessarily be trading away prestige, but you’d be trading away a ton of opportunities to gain experience in your chosen field. Additionally, UCSD’s neuroscience graduate program is ranked second in the nation and its division of biological sciences is consistently in the top ten.

I’m not going to pretend our social scene is anywhere close to SB’s. But for “getting out from time to time and blowing off steam” I think UCSD would be perfect. It’s not impossible to find parties, you just have to talk to people and be social to make friends and have a good time. Also, when you get bored, the city of San Diego always has something for you to do.