<p>US News rankings are generally a good way to gauge average student quality, amongst other things. ninohnine909, please don't speak for me, please? Don't do it. And as for US News, and better ranking would be the average over at least the past couple years (as they fluctuate so much).</p>
<p>They're different, they're different schools. You don't have to play(?) dumb. The available programs are a bit different. The locations are different. The demographics are a bit different. There's more that is different. But they aren't, on the whole, that different. Do you have trouble understanding things that aren't absolute? Similar, but different.</p>
<p>The difference between #85 and #40 is extraordinary. That is even bigger than the diference between UCI and Harvard by 5. UCI can be compared more to Harvard than it can be to UCR. The 40 minute commute isn't that bad.... I live close to Irvine and I am going to have to commute 25 minutes... UCR will be the biggest mistake of your life and you will regret it: Evidence.... I have never met a UCR grad who said that they enjoyed the UCR experience... never... and i've talked to at least 30 people. Everyone who goes to Irvine enjoys it... it is wiser for you to go to a community college than UCR because at least you will have the opportunity to transfer...</p>
<p>wow! so UCR is THAT bad that hardly anyone enjoys it?this is unbelievable... you see...i was also accepted to UC San Diego in the John Muir college for molecular biology but i sadly ruled that one out simply because it would be impossible to commute every single day. if i had no duties to attend to in Riverside, i would go to UCSD in a heartbeat! but i wish i knew that before i even sent in my applications. but unfortunately, life has its twists and turns and now im stuck between Irvine and Riverside. Also another issue that came up while i was talking with fellow students is that UCR standards tend to be lower than UCI, enabling the students at UCR to earn a higher GPA than those at UCI. and the higher the GPA, the better your chances are of getting into dental school. a friend of mine who goes to UCLA told me that in high school u are the big fish in a relativily small pond, but once in college, ur a small fish in a huge pond. if u can, please give me your input as to these issues i am having it will be greatly appreciated. and thanks to everyone who has given their opinion on this thread, these last couple days of disputing this problem has really opened my eyes. the SIR is due by May 1st and time is just flying by and it will be a life changing decision i will have to make in a week, and once again i cannot stress just how helpful everyones' opinions are!</p>
<p>What does that even mean, amiradaprincess? Saying that UCI is closer to Harvard than UCR would get a laugh out of most anyone familiar with the three schools.</p>
<p>Hi, Sharkbay. I've actually heard that reason at least several times as to why one should go to a school with dumber students so you can "get the A's." We all know that grad schools weigh your GPA heavily. However, what people don't necessarily know is that your GPA gets weighted based on the academic rigor of your university. Obviously, a 3.8 at UCR does not represent the same level of achievement as a 3.8 from UCLA. This has been mentioned on these forums, but check out the dental forums on studendoctor.net and other professional-level forums and they can talk more about the process. For competitive grad schools (i.e. dental/medicine/law), it is generally agreed that GPA's are "scaled" based on where you came from. So you may have a higher "GPA," but you get the SAME number of "points" in your file as you would have received if you had a lower GPA from a better institution. The exact scaling will differ among different grad programs and isn't something that's released.</p>
<p>Here's something you also might not know either. The education is dumbed-down. Numerous people who were excellent high school students can tell you that their AP classes were harder or just as rigorous as the equivalent courses at UCR. UCR's freshmen core classes were designed for students who had never taken AP's before - they're that dumbed down. If you want a more challenging and stimulating education, you're going to have to look elsewhere. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if you were perhaps a mediocre high school student, and you think you'd have to work really hard to scrape a 3.5 at UCR, you should go to UCR. Reason is, competitive grad/professional programs don't wanna see less than a 3.5 REGARDLESS of where you went for undergrad. If you're not that sharp and/or not that motivated then I would definitely recommend UCR. You would definitely fit in really well too if this were the case. Let me know if you have any more questions.</p>
<p>I think you underestimate the difficulty of the competitive academic professional programs (when you do things such as distinguish "For competitive grad schools (i.e. dental/medicine/law)," from the academic disciplines), as well as the other factors these things care about (for instance, letters of rec, writing sample, and statement of intent). And certainly graduate/professional some schools rate different GPAs from different school in different ways, and many professional schools say that they adjust for school or major, but the claim often seem unsupported, at least insofar as they adjust for "grade deflation" in general, but perhaps it's more clear that they adjust negatively.</p>