<p>Yeah, UC Santa Barbara isn't as prestigious as UCLA and CAL, but is it a really big deal?</p>
<p>I mean, UCSB is ranked #13 in the nation. So, is it still a very respectable university?</p>
<p>My problem is that I can see myself attending UCSB more because of the balanced lifestyle I can acquire. I can work hard, and play hard if I choose too anytime.</p>
<p>Is it just me, or does UCSB just doesn't sound as good, because it is in california and California just has the best universities around.</p>
<p>But if you were to compare UCSB so all the Universities in the nation, does it still stand out?</p>
<p>do a search and see what successful alumni UCSB has if that will make you feel better. dude you could graduate from cal state la and still become a billionaire. its much more about the individual drive, though attending an established and respected university (which ucsb is) can only improve the opportunities which will be open to you. whether or not you actively pursue those opportunities is entirely up to you.</p>
<p>But #13 in the nation? When did this happen? lol. Nationally, Cal is ranked 21. Or are you disregarding all the private universities? But even so, UCSD is above UCSB as far as ranking goes. However, I only point this out because ranking seems to be of concern to you.</p>
<p>But disregarding ranking, because it's really what some stupid magazine editors say, you go where you want to go. Just go there and do really well.</p>
<p>Internationally (and to some extent nationally), UCB and UCLA are seen to be far above UCSB in terms of prestige; but, as far as success concerned, the emphasis lies upon the individual not the institution.</p>
<p>And to echo what others have said, that ranking is ********.</p>
<p>i could not possible agree more with your sentiments re: california. i think you are on the right track for wanting SB because you can study, but you can also go out and party it up on one of the prettiest beach cities in ca.</p>
<p>go where you feel you will do best and have the best experience.</p>
<p>There are so many kids attending unranked universities and doing well in their lives that all this ranking crapolla you see college confidential being dominated by is quite unrealistic. The only reason so many people here talk about rankings is because in most cases you are dealing with the top 4.0 type students and when it comes to california community college transfers most that are on here are also the 4.0 students that only want the best UC... but it is a quite unfair comparision with reality because if there was not such a great prefrence given to CC students in CA you wouldnt even see so many community college kids going on to UCB and UCLA.</p>
<p>/\ True that..
Isnt it extremely hard to transfer to the UCs out from out of state anyway? We are just lucky living in Cali.... we easily get to transfer into top schools.
Im in UCSD, and still waiting on an decision from USC, which would be cool, but wouldnt it be harder to transfer into UCSD or even UCSB from out of state than to transfer to USC? or am I wrong?
Anyway, either way, what it comes down to is where you will enjoy yourself. As Malishka said, this board is just smothered with "prestige only" oriented people. It has even messed up my train of thought a few times....</p>
<p>Yes it is harder to transfer as an out of stater, but not THAT much harder if you look at the stats.</p>
<p>Also, we live in Cali and mostly want to stay in cali. There are people in Iowa, Kansas, etc, that have no plans of ever leaving their state, and chose their respective state school- some of those state schools are either way down on the rankings list or are not even ranked, but does that mean those kids are getting a bad education? probably not, at least not relative to the other people they will compete for employment with in their home state. </p>
<p>It is just that as California residents and likely future residents we really take for granted that the UCs are our STATE schools, meaning that there is a huge huge preference given to us residents regardless of where we come from. </p>
<p>All states have state schools, but UC is the creme de la crop on all rankings, so it really doesnt matter what UC one would go to, aside from Merced because it is unraked so far.</p>
<p>To be honest UCSB is a great school and you will get a world class education attending there. </p>
<p>FWIW, my wife's cousin is a UCSB alum and finished law school a few years back. His wife, whom he met at UCSB, just got her doctorate in some field of biology from UC San Diego a few months ago.</p>
<p>If UCSB is where you'll be happy, go for it. I actually had a bit of a hard time deciding on Cal over UC Irvine for various good reasons. </p>
<p>user_anton...there probably isn't that much of a difference btw ucla/ucb and ucsb. personally, i think that going to a more prestigious school will open doors much easier for you in the future. people hear you graduated from berkeley or like harvard and they will probably give you a chance to interview for the job much easier. but if you think you would feel much happier at ucsb, then go there because opportunities can be earned if you just work harder than other people for it. just don't party tooo hard at ucsb and forget about working hard as well</p>
<p>i second evo's last sentence. for about a week, this forum had me thinkin ucla would be a piece of cake. luckily, reality hit me before i sent my SIR there.</p>