<p>I was walking with a friend today, and we were talking about a mutual friend's child who's a senior this year. The kid is choosing between UC Santa Cruz and the University of Oregon. Both of us felt that it was no contest - UCSC. It's a little cheaper, closer to home (possibly important for this child, as there have been issues this year), and we felt had a stronger reputation. But the kid's mom is adamant that UO is more prestigious. This really took me by surprise, as back in my day UO was a place where the California kids who couldn't get into UC went. But back then UCSC was the most selective of the campuses, so I'm a dinosaur, I admit. Without going into the financial end of it, what do CC parents think? Is UO a better known quantity than UC Santa Cruz? I know that UO has some great programs - architecture among them - but this kid will probably major in business, economics, psychology... not anything math or science oriented.</p>
<p>You’ll have to ask the kid what he/she thought of the quality of his/her education after graduation.</p>
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<p>I think she may be the only one out there with that opinion.</p>
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<p>As we all know, generalizations are a little unfair and don’t give credit for specific strengths, but yes, as a generalization I think that’s a common view.</p>
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<p>I believe that even in the Paleolithic Era, Berkeley and UCLA trumped all the other UCs. But the UCs trump UO (except perhaps not Riverside or Merced).</p>
<p>Economics is math-oriented.</p>
<p>I looked at the US News peer assessment ratings for these two schools and found that in the current edition, OU gets a 3.2 and UCSC a 3.1, so that may be what the friend was referring to. There’s no definitive difference in those ratings - it’s unlikely that that any rater would give either school anything but a 3 or a 4 on a scale of 1-5 - so this just means that one more rater out of two gave UO an extra 4.</p>
<p>But it still strikes me as inaccurate, and I think the reason may have to do with Oregon’s recent football success. In America, many people - even college administrators - are influenced in their opinions of a university by that school’s football program, though they may not even realize that it is playing that role. If you think of a university as a product that’s marketed, a Top 25 football team provides an extraordinary amount of product placement in the market. UO is on TV every week, it’s all over the media, and its most prominent alumnus - the CEO of Nike - has made them the models for Nike’s cutting edge uniform designs. Without realizing it, peer assessors may be responding to that constant flow of brand-name reinforcement. But across the board, I’d still say that UCSC has a stronger academic reputation.</p>
<p>This discussion is confirming my view that UO and UCSC are about the same, as far as prestige. Some might rank one higher, some the other, but I doubt that many people are thinking that one of them is hugely more prestigious than the other. It’s not like the kid is choosing between Oregon and Berkeley, or something like that. He’s choosing between two schools that are more or less the same level.</p>
<p>That being the case, if I were MarinMom I’d tactfully suggest to the student’s mother to think hard about location, especially for a student who might need more parental help than the usual student. Despite complaints about helicoptering, some students need their parents to help them start out in college, and some other students need to be on a short leash so they don’t waste tens of thousands of their parents’ tuition dollars.</p>
<p>I think Oregon’s star is rising, they’re doing the four things that improve a university, buying top professors, buying top students, building excellent facilities, and producing a winning football (or basketball) team. It’s the same game plan Stanford used in 1891, Duke in the 50’s, and USC in the 90’s. UCSC is not doing any of these things (including profs and facilities now that the state is broke).</p>
<p>and UCSC was never select, it was always behind Cal, UCLA, UCSB, and Davis. I’d say it’s behind Irvine as well. Cal Poly SLO trumps UCSC as well. And I know UCSC gets a bad rap as a stoner school, but why is it that all my friends that went there are stoners:)</p>
<p>If those were my only two choices I’d take Oregon</p>
<p>pacheight, the choice is not UCSC or Oregon. The choice is UCSC plus $80K (or whatever) or Oregon. Is Oregon worth the extra bucks? That’s for the family to decide, but it should not be ignored.</p>
<p>The OP is right that when UCSC first opened, it was indeed a top choice for UC students. Things have changed since then. </p>
<p>Transportation can make the price difference even greater. A SoCal friend with a D at UO says that flights home from Eugene are REALLY expensive. Prices go way up during spring and winter break. Friend ended up buying the D a car to do the drive home in order to save money. </p>
<p>The OU honors college is more selective than UCSC admissions as a whole. OU as a whole auto-admits when (weighted) GPA is 3.5 or over. D1, who has visited OU but not yet UCSC, is tentatively planning on using OU as her uber-safety, since she can have an rolling admissions auto-admit in hand early.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang, OOS COA for UO last year was around $34k, maybe a bit less. UO would be more akin to UCSC + $24k, keeping in mind the possibility of significant UC fee hikes. $24k is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s no $80k difference.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. In 1968, UCSC was the most selective campus in the UC system. I recall this well, because I chose UCSC over Berkeley back in the day. With a degree from UCSC back then, it was easy to go on to grad school at Berkeley.</p>
<p>But things have changed over the years, and UCSC is now one of the lower-ranked schools in the UC system. Right now, UCSC is ranked in the 90s (USNews) and Oregon is at 108 – very little difference. I’d pick the school that offers the best programs in the field of interest and that provide the most appealing place to live. And if there were little difference on those terms, I’d definitely pick UCSC on cost alone, saving some money for possible graduate study.</p>
<p>Away from CA & OR many folks have not heard of UCSC, but most have heard of OU and know it is the state flagship. So, in one sense, it may be a more acknowledged school than UCSC. Quality wise, I’m sure they are both fine. UCSC does have a very slight SAT edge in terms of the student body, but not by much, so per groups will be similar.</p>
<p>UCSC
SAT CR: …510 - 630
SAT Math: …520 - 640</p>
<p>OU
SAT CR: …490 - 610
SAT Math: …500 - 620</p>
<p>I think they’re similar academically. I have a good friend who is a professor at UCSC and a child at UO. I hear about both schools through those different lenses. They both have reputations as stoner schools, and in both cases of course that’s true about a certain segment of the student population, but completely untrue about most students.</p>
<p>I agree with Fang that in this case I’d probably go with which was cheaper to attend and closer to home.</p>
<p>That said, having spent time on both campuses, I think UO is more … well, more cheerful for lack of a better word. Also the state of Oregon has been hit with the budget crisis like everyone else, but because the funding is structured differently the colleges aren’t getting hammered to the extent they are in CA. Also there is an edginess to Santa Cruz these days, while Eugene is a very pleasant little city.</p>
<p>Both schools have strong programs for kids interested in all things environmental and other kinds of activism, both have a progressive+ political tilt. In some ways they are almost sister schools – I just think there is a feeling that UO is rising and UCSC is … not. At least that’s my professor friend’s perception of UCSC.</p>
<p>Still, close enough choice that I’d go with cheaper and closer if there are money issues or the student would benefit from family proximity.</p>
<p>Neither is anything to sneeze at – both are wonderful opportunities and, frankly, both beautiful universities.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, for what it’s worth, Chancellor Block attended University of Oregon for his masters AND Ph.D after attending Stanford for his undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>University of Oregon is easier to get into than UCSC; except if the student is applying for the Honor’s program. U of O does give decent merit based scholarships to those who apply for it. So generally speaking, California residents can end up paying about the same for tuition, fees, room & board at U of O as they would for a UC (the amount of which differs depending on the UC).</p>
<p>Depending on where the student lives in California, consideration should also be given to travel costs. While there are direct flights from San Francisco to Eugene, there aren’t from L.A., and the round trip difference may be as much as $200.00. Then there’s the costs of moving stuff up to the dorms and back at the end of the year.</p>
<p>calalum, i can understand it was a top pick for you in 68, but UCSC in 68 or any other year was never considered the top UC, not by anyone…except you:)</p>
<p>It’s always been: Cal, UCLA, UCSD, Davis (passed UCSB recently), USCB, then UCSC. maybe UCSC was above Davis and UCSB back in the day, but never UCLA or Cal.</p>
<p>And I’m not exactly a Cal or UCLA fan, but they have always been significantly better (facilities, students, profs, athletics, etc.) than UCSC</p>
<p>All I remember about UCSC was that when I graduated high school in 1974 they didn’t give grades. Since it was the tail end of the hippie days, a lot of kids found that appealing.</p>
<p>^Indeed, my mother graduated high school around the same time and chose UCSC over many other great options, including Stanford. She has said the same thing about UCSC being the “top UC” at the time.</p>
<p>^^you guys are smokin’ something if you think UCSC was ever considered the top UC in California:)</p>
<p>Academics aside, there is a lot more to choose in these two schools from an environmental standpoint–UO has a real sports-oriented supportive vibe and “feels” like a big University. I haven’t heard of it referred as a “stoner” school, though I’ve heard it about other Oregon schools. If a student is interested in the marketing program, UO’s is one of the tops in the country, due to its not modest support from Phil knight (Nike). It’s a great school in a small college town, and I know a lot of kids who are very happy there–and many California alums who proudly supported them in the Rose Bowl. The student should look at programs and the environment and make a choice–but I don’t think there’s a clear “wrong answer” between UO and UCSC.</p>
<p>I am from Oregon and I know that in Portland, U of O is very well respected for its Business programs. Personally, I feel that UO has a stronger reputation than UCSC, but that’s coming from someone who lives in state and knows a ton of successful people who graduated from Oregon. It depends on where this person wants to live after they graduate. If they want to stay in California, choose UCSC. They will have far more success and connections in Portland after graduation, however, if they choose U of O. In general, I would say definitely choose U of O. But I am biased.</p>