Hi. I am undeclared and am considering UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and UC San Diego. I am not sure which to choose. I am leaning towards doing engineering or a science major, but have not decided yet. Can anyone tell me the differences in academics, social life, and the general aspects of each school? Thanks.
It’s very, very difficult to give you any advice without knowing more about what you want to major in and what you want to do in the future. If you have no idea at all (as opposed to say, “something in biology”), it might be a good idea to spend a year at community college or interning. I believe some campuses allow you to defer admission.
It is basically impossible to switch into engineering at UCSD, so if that is an option you want drop SD from your choices. UCSB and UCI require a year’s worth of math, physics, chemistry and (for some engineering majors) engineering coursework with a 2.7-3.5 minimum GPA to switch. Because these classes are in series, not starting them in freshman year means delaying graduation by a year or more.
So basically it sounds like if I want to do engineering I will not graduate in 4 years?
You can at UCSB and UCI, if you start the series your first year - or take summer classes (which amount to another year in school anyway in time and cost, and deprives you of internship opportunities). Of course, if you do well in an engineering major the salaries are well worth the extra time and effort so I wouldn’t worry much. Assume you won’t be able to be an engineer at UCSD.
Bio salaries are pretty low, so you’d want to ensure a quick graduation in those majors. Chem has generally higher salaries, but typically more series classes so you’d want to start earlier.
When I say series classes, btw, I mean classes like Chem 1 - Chem 2 - Chem 3, where you need the whole series to move on (say, to Ochem 1/2/3) and usually need to take the classes in order (i.e., Chem 2 requires passing Chem 1).
Do you know anything about physics majors? I’ve heard that getting a job with a physics major is not that easy and that you will pretty much need to teach. Also, Is the engineering program at Irvine any good?
Physics is a great major. There aren’t a lot of jobs specifically looking for physics majors, but there are a lot looking for the math and analytical skills that physics majors have. With the appropriate coursework, a physics major can work in engineering or attend any graduate school. If you major in computational or applied physics, I see no reason to worry about graduating late.
But again, you face the challenge of lots and lots of series coursework as a physics major. At UCI, I see six math courses and twelve physics courses that probably need to be taken in order, not counting electives.
Again, if you don’t know what you want to study, go to community college and investigate. Science and math classes are hard and offer little guidance at public universities, where classes are giant and professors are often terrible teachers (after all, teaching isn’t their real job).
If you definitely want to go to a university next year, start freshman year by at least taking chemistry, physics, and math to avoid being too far behind. Make sure to choose the hardest level - universities often offer a “easy” series, a “medium” series, and a “hard” series.
I want to go to UC San Diego, but all these other schools have good qualities about them too. As well, at UC Santa Cruz, I got into the honors program and got the $20,000 Regents Scholarship and am in for engineering. However, since I don’t know if I really want to do engineering, I’m not sure if I should pick this over UC San Diego. Is it better to go there with the scholarship even though it is much lower ranked and because I prefer UCSD?
All the UC’s have strong science programs, and grades/recommendations/internships are worth more than school name in the hard sciences. UCSC is probably the easiest school to switch majors at, and their CS, Game Design, Bioinformatics, and EE programs range from good to great. It’s also an easy commute from there to Silicon Valley internships. Physics, astronomy, and chem are great there too. But their engineering school is small, and if you don’t want one of the majors they offer (say, mechanical or civil) you’re out of luck.
If you definitely want engineering as an option, yes, pick UCSC over UCSD. Whether you should pick UCSC over UCI or UCSB is up to what major you do want.