<p>As the UC school system expands, it would seem that there might be a need for another flagship campus like Cal or UCLA. The only campus that I found that mentions the potential as the next “flagship”, is UCI. </p>
<p>“UCI, a relatively young research institution compared to other universities, plans on improving rankings and status to become a flagship UC campus like UCLA and UC Berkeley. Such a ranking not only will attract prospective students, but will improve funding to the university and the overall quality of research at UCI.”</p>
<p>“According to Wendell Brase, vice president of administrative affairs, UC-Irvines goal is to achieve flagship status in the University of California Systemlike that enjoyed by UCLA and UC-Berkeleyby 2015. In reaching for that goal, the university has a complex set of challenges to address: significant housing demand, financing constraints, physical planning challenges, community planning concerns, and a complex business model.”</p>
<p>I am curious if other UCs have mentioned this aspiration.</p>
<p>I think UCI really wants to accomplish that goal... I know they are gonna start up a Law School soon. I think UCI is gonna get there... it's just a matter of time...</p>
<p>If any other UC campus is going to reach flagship status in the next 5-10 years it will be UCSD. Compared to Irvine, SD has More applicants ( 2nd in applications recieved this year, behind UCLA) , better academics, better "rankings" ( 32 vs 40 national university; 7 vs 10 public university, and it is more selective. Plus, while its not much, UCSD has been around 5 years longer (1960) than UCI (1965).</p>
<p>I dont think there is anyway that UCI or any other UC will become a flagship like Cal anytime in the next 50 years. Cal was built in 1858...Thats more than 100 years older than UCI. Cal has established itself as one of the best school in the country by attracting high-quality applicants, obtaining world renowned professors, and offering an unbelievable education to it's students. UCI has a LONG way to go.</p>
<p>UCSD is the obvious superior after UCLA and CAL. I don't disagree with you, though, la_demolition. UCI really has the ambition to expand and publicize their school. When I visited the campus, a lot of students said UCI is trying hard to expand, including the massive construction and determination to be less of a commuter school. It seems like UCI's ambition is becoming really strong compared to other UCs. I could be misled, however, so it would be awesome if someone can show some determination in UCSD or another school.</p>
<p>BTW, an increase in admissions has occurred in other schools. UC Davis also admitted around 3,500 more applicants this year. It is possible other schools, except maybe UCB and UCLA due to their high demand, have also.</p>
<p>Yes, UCSD is more difficult to get into than UCI - no question about that. The issue with UCSD ever attaining flagship status is that the school is not as well-rounded as either UCI and UCD. </p>
<p>One example - funding for athletics for UCSD pales in comparison to UCI and UCD and their athletic department will probably never change.</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but I think "flagship" has more to do with the strength of the "wholeness" of a campus as opposed to just one aspect of a campus. If that is the case, UCI or UCD has a much better chance of attaining that status.</p>
<p>Again, all very speculative and hopeful on UCI's part, but it is a darn good way to try to push the campus forward by announcing they would like to become a flagship campus.</p>
<p>uci is not going to be a flagship uc anytime soon, if ever. ucsd is the obvious next choice. cal and as of recently ucla clearly are the two flagships and uci is nowhere close to ucsd, especially academically speaking. i love uci, and almost chose to attend their, but mentioning it with cal, ucla, or ucsd is absolutely ridiculous. i believe it is the 4th best uc, but not in the same league as the top tier uc's and will not be in the same league academically anytime soon. uci pales next to the sheer number of highly ranked departments and programs at cal, ucla, and ucsd. however, i visited uci just two days ago to see a friend and the campus looked beautiful. they have really beautified the school. i was awestruck at some of their new signs and buildings. uci is deffiantly an up and coming school, but in the league of berkeley la and sd, not likely anytime soon.</p>
<p>I agree with ucchris somewhat in that academcially UCSD is obviously the 3rd UC. I don't agree that Irvine is 4th. I really think UCD, UCI and UCSB are all too close to call. The truth is that you can't have a flagship campus without a super stong sports program. (football is essential) The only UC on this road is UCD. It will take a few years to build, but the program will bring lots of money and recognition to the school thereby building its profile. No football, no flagship that is a given. Don't beat the tired drum about UCD football being D1AA. Everyone knows it will move up once the stadium is built. The students voted to fully fund all sports, this will bring both money and recognition in due time. Like it or not, strong sports programs attract students.</p>
<p>as for "flagship" status, la_demolition mentioned that uci has definate plans to become a flagship campus, but other UCs dont seem to have a plan of their own. I kind of disagree with this b/c what UC does NOT want to be a flagship campus. Im sure they all do, they probably just do not pubicly state what they are doing. Anyway, if we fastforward into the future, i think all UCs will become pretty hard to get accepted into and will all be a flagship campus to many. in fact the whole UC system may be considered a flagship system such as the hype about ivy league. Sure, ppl will rather want to go to Harvard and Yale which is kind of analogous to cal and ucla in this example, but schools such as brown and cornell which may not be as desirable are just as good and have something special to offer. i mean who cares its the ivy league..right?! so maybe 50 yrs down the road ppl will go like yeah i got into a UC, and be proud..cus they should be.</p>
<p>but in the near future, I see UCSD becoming the next flagship campus. I think part of what determines a campus to be a flagship campus is that the school has something unique to offer and ppl would debate between that school and another. For example, when ppl talk about premed UCSD is often brought up as a strong choice for those who also were accepted to ucla and cal. but i bet if UCSD remodeled all the dorms and made the food awesome..and maybe had some D1 sports it would def be a flagship campus..but i dont see D1 sports happening soon. UCSD is also in the works of adding a business and pharmacy school. </p>
<p>i think irvine will definately become a popular choice for many, as it is now..but becoming a flagship campus might take a while b/c im not sure if uci has something to offer that other UCs dont. (cal has reputation as #1 public school and good sports, ucla has top sports and academics in general, ucsd has the premed rep and bio research $$$). plus i think being a flagship campus has to do with its popularity. as of now, most ppl who dont get into cal and ucla tend to matriculate to UCSD..which kinda has this trickle down effect. granted maybe the ppl at ucsd arent as "smart" as the ppl who got into cal and ucla, but they sure work their butts off and this has helped ucsd rise in rankings. as admission rates get lower in a few decades more ppl will trickle down to the "lesser known" UCs..but still work hard and probably raise their schools' ranking too. anyway i also heard ucsd accepted too many ppl this yr (from 39% last yr to 49% this yr..whats up with that?! but i thnk this may make selection tougher for next yrs applicants making ucsd more desirable for many)</p>
<p>ya sports are why u of chicago is ranked so well....uhhhhh... yeah among common people sports is important when regarding schools they have heard of. but when choosing a school i personally do not believe sports are a good reason to choose a school. academics in my opinion should be more important, as should your personal feelings about a campus and its surroundings. if sports were the top criteria i dont believe most of the nations top students would choose ivy's and other top schools, they would be at u of oklahoma and u of kansas. and lets be honest, theres nothing wrong with those schools, but usually you dont think of them attracting the top students in the nation.</p>
<p>Voiceofreason... i also saw ucsd's admit rate was 39% last year and went up to 46% this year. That is strange how it went up quite a bit, although i dont believe the acceptance rate was as high as 49% this year as you thought.</p>
<p>Call me and the students who overwhelmingly prefer UCLA and CAL over UCSD common if you like. The truth is that the only reason UCSD ranks under these schools is because of the lack of strong sports which creates a quiet campus with a dull reputation. I don't think we are talking about Ivy quality students when we are talking about UC's. (of course there are exceptions to this so don't start on me) D1 sports with football will draw the majority of UC students and build the school's reputation.</p>
<p>i'm pulling for Merced haha -- i do hope they do well, they have potential.</p>
<p>i was recently looking into rankings for political science programs as i got into berkeley and ucla. i didnt know how to make a choice so i did some research and i was going to base it off reviews and rankings... i was dumbfounded when i saw ucsd was ranked higher than ucla in some categories. ucsb apparently has a great political science program as well.</p>
<p>i dont know how much this will increase ucsd's contention as the next flagship uc campus... but i honestly think, in terms of academics.. they outshadow uci by miles, just based on the students they accept. </p>
<p>i'm sure many students who go to uci would have much preferred to go to ucla.. as is the case with all my friends at UCI now--both transfers and those who were admitted as freshmen. just in that presumption, they were not the cream of the crop in the ucla admissions officers' eyes. dont get me wrong, they have bright students... but in general i'm sure there is a great disparity in the stats of ucla students compared to uci students </p>
<p>just my two cents. thrash me if you'd like.</p>
<p>No, the diparity is quite large. For example in the admissions data for 2003, Cal admitted only 47.9% of 4.0's and above while UCIadmited 90.1%...That is a HUGE diference. Also the average SAT score was over 100 points higher at Cal (BTW, this is based on the 1600 scale)...Again, 100 points on the old SAT if really big. Thus, the quality of Cal students is substantially higher than that of UCI.</p>
<p>I don't think their will be a new flagship campus for a long time. UCSD I believe is almost there academically, but until they go D1 they won't get any recognition. The next after UCSD will be UCSB.....UCSB attracts many top professors and top students bc of its location. I think in time it will become a tier 1 UC.</p>