<p>I have to decide within the next 24 hours if I wish to attend UChicago or UCSD...I'm extremely torn. I will be paying about 20,000$ more in Chicago and I will be majoring in physics. At UCSD, I will be majoring in Electrical Engineering. I love both subjects but I'm uncertain about the job prospects after majoring in physics. Any insight at this point will be helpful. Thanks,</p>
<p>flux</p>
<p>I’m assuming you meant about you’ll be paying $20,000 more PER YEAR. That turns into about $80,000 more to graduate, and that’s only if you graduate in four years - and that might be difficult if you really do plan on majoring in physics or E. Eng. </p>
<p>I personally don’t think it’s worth the extra $80,000 for a degree that really isn’t much more valuable, if it all. I say go to UCSD and buy a brand new BMW… You’ll still end up spending less money.</p>
<p>There’s obviously other aspects such as campus life and the distance from your home you should consider, but in this world… money’s king. </p>
<p>My two cents.</p>
<p>I would say UCSD, for 3 reasons 1. UCSD has an outstanding engineering dept., if you were going for economics I would say Chicago (there’s is one of the best in the world). 2. I just wouldn’t want to live in Chicago, it’s cold as can be in the winter and hot in the summer. San Diego is nice all year. 3. $$$, UCSD is a much better value and saving money is crucial.</p>
<p>Are you out of state for UCSD? COA in that case is over 43k. If Chicago offered you some FA, the difference would not be that great, and the special atmosphere at UChi might be worth it.</p>
<p>There is no Engineering at U of C so it would be “safer” to go to UCSD if you plan on switching majors down the road.</p>
<p>Physics at UChicago is pretty sweet.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses, guys. This board is certainly more responsive than the UofC board.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion, SDTriton, I meant $20,000 more per year. And I am a California resident, ignore whatever my username location says.</p>
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<p>That’s my main argument for SD. However, UofC will probably have smaller class sizes but no engineering. Is it possible to do a BS in physics and then do a masters in engineering? Also, since UofC is more prestigious than UCSD, wouldn’t that make it easier to get into upper tier graduate schools for me? Or am I placing far too much importance on the name of the college rather than the college itself?</p>
<p>Thanks once again,</p>
<p>flux</p>
<p>It is very possible to do a BS in physics and an MS in engineering.</p>
<p>It is very possible to get into top tier graduate schools from UCSD.</p>
<p>Despite what many people will say, a degree in physics and a degree in nearly any engineering discipline will be fairly different, especially electrical engineering. I am a physics major at UCSD, but i have taken the lower division physics series that engineers take (its pretty interchangeable here), and i would not worry too much about class sizes and if you still were worried the physics major series (the 4 series) usually has about 20 students in it. I have never felt that the size of a class has hindered my ability to learn. You can still talk to the professor after class and at office hours and the large classes usually have multiple TA’s. Office hours almost always have 3 or fewer students and many times no students at all, so i would not worry about having too many people your classes, plus most upper division classes are small(ish) so the large classes are for the beginning classes only (for the most part). </p>
<p>If your plan is to get a job in industry, as opposed to academia or basic science research, engineering is the way to go. I could tell you how a bunch of electronics work (the basic electromagnetic principles and theory behind the device) but i couldn’t tell you how to build the devices, so if you want to actually build things engineering should be your focus. I have friends who are EE majors and the kind of stuff they have to do is very different from what we do (once you get to upper division that is), not to mention all of the classes we have to take that do not apply to EE. Don’t get me wrong, i love physics, but if you want to be an engineer it is not the major you should use as a substitute.</p>
<p>There is also something to be said for actually having an engineering school and all of the resources and opportunities that having an engineering school brings. In engineering, the way to distinguish oneself is to get engineering experience, usually in the form of internships, and having a school that will help you get these (from engineering firms or professors) is a big boost in getting a job down the line. Between the military (BAE systems, lockheed martin etc), biotech, and telecom (qualcomm) San Diego is an engineering rich city so having a degree from a well respected and near-by school will really help. Plus then you set yourself up to live in San Diego. </p>
<p>UCSD’s overall undergrad prestige may not be as great as UChicago’s but UCSD certainly has a good engineering reputation. Even the east-coast-biased, prestige-obsessed usnews rankings recognize UCSD’s engineering school as number 12 [Rankings</a> - Best Engineering Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/rankings). The graduate rankings are indicative of where the undergrad rankings will be going in the future, plus UCSD has several BS/MS programs where you can spend one extra year and get your masters (which usually take 2 years) so there you can also save some time and money. </p>
<p>I think the money saved will really help in the long run, and you can turn that money around and invest it in grad school (because you are going to have to pay for engineering grad school somehow). UChicago is a great school, especally for physics (i wish i had applied), but between the money and the academic fit (there are other fit criteria i am ignoring here becausei do know more about you) UCSD makes sense. If you wanted to study physics and the price difference was a bit smaller i would be singing a different tune, but despite UChicago being a really good school it sounds like UCSD has what you need and UChicago does not. Good Luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Thanks a ton, mathtastic, that helped a lot. I’m leaning heavily to SD right now.</p>
<p>Do you think I should still go to UCSD over UChicago if I intend to do physics at SD, rather than engineering?</p>
<p>UCSD has a pretty strong physics department as well, although not quite as good as some of the engineering departments (bioeng comes to mind). Because UCSD has a fairly large physics department but a small amount amount of undergrad students, the student-to-faculty ratio is very small. Supposedly, its less than 2:1 but i have a hard time believing it is that small. Most of the professors do not teach much so maybe its just that i do not see them much, but you do notice many more profs once you start looking for research. Many of the profs make you work harder than you should have to, but some are genuinely awesome. The math department makes it easy to double major so that is a plus and they have many good profs. There is a useful physics tutoring center so if you have any physics difficulties you know where you can go to get help with nearly any class. It is not too hard to find research and profs are usually very nice about talking to students who drop by. Overall the decision definitely gets harder, but i think i would still go for UCSD, then again that might be because of my bias and not haven’t been to UChicago. Many other factors come into play at this point that have to deal with personal fit and such. Nice name btw, Back to the Future is my favorite movie.</p>
<p>if your main goal is to attend grad school, prestige of the actual school is negligible. just do research with faculty with similar interests as you.</p>
<p>Short answer: UCSD.</p>
<p>Opposite from the majority of the response here, I’d go with UChicago if money is not a huge concern. I visited U of C the summer after graduating and it made regret my decision of not applying there when I was a high school senior. I took a look at your thread in the U of C forum and I have to agree with idad’s response. The education and social life at UCSD and UChicago are drastically different. At UCSD you’re less likely to get small classes like you would if you choose U of C instead, and that means you will likely have to make more effort to connect with faculty for research, rec letters, etc. Social life at UCSD <em>can</em> be pretty lacking as many people go home during weekends. I don’t know about Chicago’s social life though… Lastly, you might want to factor GE into your considerations too. Chicaco’s Core is much more difficult than any writing classes here judging from what I learned from my tour guide.</p>
<p>Have you visited both schools?</p>
<p>My best friend just finished his second year at U of C and he has a pretty active social life. He said he spent most of his time either smoking/drinking with his suitemates or venturing outside of the school, his grades are OKAY (3.02?) so obviously he isn’t being studious. The thing is, he changed a lot from his high school years. He became more concerned with prestige and became enveloped in “school spirit”, so much so that I cannot even comment on the downsides of U of C without hearing his almost-intuitive rebuttal. He makes bold claims about the “**** poor” public school systems (mainly the UC system) and even makes ridiculous claims about the lack of “academia feel” at the upper tier UC’s (Cal, UCLA, and UCSD). I’m just spewing nonsense right now but I hope you realize that $20,000 year is a lot for a school that lacks an Engineering department.</p>
<p>“…The education and social life at UCSD and UChicago are drastically different.”
“I don’t know about Chicago’s social life though…”</p>
<p>Heh.</p>
<p>Anyways,
To address your concern about prestige… While UChicago may be more prestigious as a whole, UCSD’s engineering and science departments are very highly respected by employers and graduate school admission boards. And let’s be honest, they’re the ones your going to be needing to impress, not some average Joe who probably isn’t very familiar with the barely 40 year old UCSD.</p>
<p>As I’m sure you’re aware, the stuff you are reading here is biased toward UCSD.</p>
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<p>Yes, I noticed. I posted the same thread in the UofC forums but their replies were far more neutral. They were also far less responsive.</p>
<p>i dont think you could make a wrong decision with either. Chicago is a wonderful city and so is La Jolla. Ucsd is a damn good school but u of c is pretty damn good itself. Good luck on your decision…</p>
<p>“Only do what your heart tells you”
– Princess Diana</p>