Is UCSB the third best UC and how good is their engineering school
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Best and Rankings are in the eye of the beholder (not a fan of rankings)
All UC Engineering departments are great.
Here is the overall rankings for the UC’s from US News. UC nabs top spots in 2022-23 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings | University of California
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-california-santa-barbara-1320/overall-rankings
For Engineering, you also want to look at ABET accreditation. https://amspub.abet.org/aps/name-search?searchType=institution&keyword=Santa%20barbara
UCSB has one of the smaller Engineering colleges within the UC System which could be an advantage or disadvantage based on your interests.
UCSB ENGINEERING AT A GLANCE:
- 5 undergraduate majors leading to the Bachelor of Science degree
- Combined 5-year BS/MS programs
- Academic programs to enhance your degree
- 1,550 undergraduates
- 150+ full-time faculty members
- 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio
Compare that to UCLA which had 4,057 undergraduates with 11 Undergraduate majors.
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So my DD decided to commit to UCSB, 
and she SIR’d today. Her major is Pre-Financial Mathematics & Statistics (quite a mouthful). Thanks to everybody’s help and support through the journey of application through acceptance to SIR. See you at the parents Facebook page I suppose. . .
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Thank you for all your recommendations Edward!! We checked them all out and son has SIRed to UCSB! Appreciate you taking time to post pics and so much info! Have another question, do you have any information about FSSP? Is it worth doing or should he just enjoy this summer before college?
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Son was admitted yesterday off waitlist for Pre-Stats and Data Science. Currently committed to USC for similar major, Spring admit. We’re in-state and would pay full tuition at both so clearly UCSB has the advantage for cost, but I think son is drawn by prestige and alumni network of USC. We’re wondering about housing at UCSB - is there guaranteed housing for freshmen at least? And what are the dorms like - is there a sense of community in the dorms? Any thoughts to share as we consider these two great schools?
The Waitlist FAQ states once the waitlisted student SIR’s, they will have access to the housing application so it appears to be guaranteed but I would contact housing to confirm.
I see no specific updates for Fall 2023.
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Here is the FAQ link: https://admissions.sa.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/2023-03/WaitlistFAQF23%20.pdf
Congratulations!
Prestige wise, I wouldn’t put one above the other. What is it about the alumni network that appeals to him? Is it being a part of the Trojan Family and a large active alumni association or is it a potential for job connections? Is he interested in football games and having a team to root for?
Very, very different settings. The area around USC is not the safest. Does he like urban grunge?
Edit: Did you see this from 2020?
Thanks for the reply! I think he’s mostly focused on name recognition, in particular outside of California, and yes the “Trojan Family” concept as it could help in the future with job prospects and networking. I think he’s also attracted by the geographic diversity of the USC student body (i.e., more out of state and international students).
My question regarding housing is more general (not specific for waitlist admits) – do most freshman live in dorms at UCSB, and is there a sense of community, “residential learning”, and/or organized fun social activities that happen within the dorms?
Congratulations on your son for becoming a Gaucho!
I would honestly say that FSSP really isn’t worth doing. As someone who didn’t do it, but knows a lot of people who did participate, there’s honestly not that much point. You mostly take GEs which are often covered by AP credits, and there aren’t that many people on campus.
He should just enjoy his last summer before college. That’s what I did - the summer after senior year is a very important part of a person’s life!
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Since you’re paying full tuition for both, my inclination is that it’s not worth it under any circumstances to pay for USC, despite the “higher prestige,” especially since we have a pretty good data science program here.
USC’s sticker price is around 90k per year, vs 36k per year at UCSB.
That means across 4 years, USC costs more than $216k MORE than UCSB.
The total cost of UCSB across 4 years is ~140k.
The total cost of USC across 4 years is $360k
In my opinion, there is no “difference in prestige” that is worth 200 thousand dollars.
Perhaps tellingly, USC doesn’t release any data as to how much their graduates make, at least separated by major.
UCSB doesn’t have an official guarantee for housing for Freshmen, but Freshmen do have priority. I don’t know a single person who didn’t get housing as a Freshman. Your son should have no problems.
There’s a very tight sense of community among the UCSB dorms! I think that’s what we’re really good at lol
The best dorms are the Channel Island 5 dorms, where I live. They’re full of some really fun and sociable people - I know a ton of people in my building.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
UCSB definitely has very strong name recognition outside of the country! I attended a Robotics competition in Washington, D.C. after I committed to UCSB with some college students from across the world. There are very few of them who have NOT heard of UCSB. We have a very good reputation outside of California.
As a current resident of on campus housing, the RHA staff do hold a lot of social events that I attend often.
Thank you so much for the responses! We drove down to UCSB today and my son really liked the feel of the campus and the Isla Vista community. We chatted with a few random students and everyone was so friendly. I think he’s leaning towards UCSB after visiting and reading your responses and doing some more online research.
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That’s great to hear! Please let me know if you have any questions We do have some really friendly students here in my experience.
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My daughter was admitted off the waitlist today- I see the priority deadline for housing is May 15 - is housing first come first served?
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Housing is not first come first serve if you make the priority deadline. Be sure to not miss any deadlines.
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My daughter is opting to take the FSSP program, for this main reason: she graduates from high school May 26th (early!) and the UCSB Fall classes don’t start until Sept 28th. That’s 4 loooong months of summer, and she doesn’t yet have a summer job lined up. Way too long to wait, especially as many of her friends will be leaving town for college in mid Aug. She’s decided she might as well get a couple of classes under her belt and enjoy a “gentler” intro to college life before the hectic Fall quarter begins.
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Those are very valid reasons!
@gauchoengineering, your pics are amazing! I shared your comment with my colleagues who are managing the school pages and they said they’ll upload them there, too. 
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Does anyone know good ways to look for roommates at UCSB? The instagram pages are kind of dry and not very active. I’ve been admitted for econ and accounting but thinking of changing to statistics and data science. I just want to make some connections but I’m finding it hard…