UCLA or UCSB help!!!!!!

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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<p>Go where you can see yourself the happiest. We are only “young” once. I was actually just laying in bed thinking about how if I got into Cal I would still go to UCSB and how for the first time in my life I am making a decision based on my happiness and no one else’s happiness. It’s a pretty crazy thing.</p>

<p>People are right about Westwood. I lived in Santa Monica for a few years from when I was 18-21 and it absolutely blows. The traffic, the rudeness- it’s enough to make a happy person angry. </p>

<p>I Think someone made a really valid point about if you’re going to continue your education after your BA then UCSB is a good call but if you’re going to end it at a BA you should consider UCLA more heavily. I’m planning on going to law school which might be part of the reason it was an easy decision for me. But ANY WHO, I hope you make the right choice for YOU.</p>

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<p>As the Old Guy on this thread, I’d like to correct some entirely wrong perceptions and maybe some that might be correct, but not nec be correct wrt OP…</p>

<p>alexajam stated:</p>

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<p>I’m not necessarily picking on your posts, but if OP and others who xfer in stay in the dorms, then they won’t have to deal with the traffic as much. For those who will stay in apts adjacent to campus … traffic will indeed be bad during rush hour. But I don’t know many students that do things like go the beach or go to clubs, during rush hour. And a lot of people who stay in apts generally don’t start and drive their cars for many days (they are just instuments at one’s disposal in case one needs it). Btw, there are very good movie theaters and places to eat in WW, even if WW is generally depressed. </p>

<p>Further, you stated:</p>

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<p>This is generally but not entirely wrong…</p>

<p>If a pre-law student (within various majors, really, any major), attends UCLA, there will be a strong community of future attys. This will help feed and inspire the student to stay on track, give him/her some excellent advice in applying to L schools, help in his/her taking the LSAT, etc. </p>

<p>This is manifest in UCLA producing [20K+ attorneys](<a href=“Attorney Demographics”>http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/demographics.aspx&lt;/a&gt;), bar-certified in CA (page 1/3 of a way down), and UCSB producing < 7K. Not that UCSB is a bad pre-law school, but that UCLA is an excellent one.</p>

<p>Further, UCLA is a great pre-med school as witnessed by ~ 750 applying to med school in any year from the school (with, say, ~ 400 of these accepted in a year), and UCSB not even being listed. It’s hard to say how many apps UCSB has in a given year, but it probably has to be < 125. UCLA is an excellent pre-med school; UCSB not very good in this instance.</p>

<p>These trends would continue for B school and, say, engineering school.</p>

<p>I’m not trying to pick on your post Alex (Alexa?); I just wanted to clear the air. With this said, one can do anything one wants at UCSB that one can at UCLA and if one has the quals – SB is a great school, but I think SB students generally want a bac degree and UCLA students want more grad education and prof training. They are just two different shchools. And there are plenty of places for the outdoors types at UCLA also near campus.</p>

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<p>i dont even think ucsb has a med school :D</p>

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<p>Undergrads applying to med school…pre-med as I stated. ;)</p>

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<p>yeah deffs skimmed your beast of a post…whatever, were arguing the same side. bruins!</p>

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<p>Join us on the big board, College Choice and Search message board. Put in a good word for the UCs. My post is miniscule compared to some of the gigantic posts on that board.</p>

<p>One of the notions that is making its rounds there is can one gradute on time, vis-a=vis, UC budget cuts.</p>

<p>A lot of people on that board use this against the UCs and particularly UCLA and Cal.</p>

<p>But we know by Vu stating such, that graduations at UCLA are ahead of projections. I’m sure they haven’t been hurt as much at other UCs too, including Cal.</p>

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<p>honestly the title of this post doesn’t even make sense… i will most likely be attending ucsb but if I was admitted to ucla! hah! not even a comparison really… go to ucla dude it is a 100 times cooler in every facet: sports, people, education, everything</p>

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<p>As previously requested, I am not completely sure what I plan to accomplish after getting my BA. I’ve contemplated law school or even becoming a teacher. But I’ll most likely choose UCLA… unless I miraculously get into Cal. That would be cool, but then again it will present another tough decision.</p>

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<p>… wanted to expound the possible maybe minuscule notion that UCLA isn’t for outdoorsy types…and generally, those who want to be physically active.</p>

<p>Here are just a few:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Blue Bus to teh beach, spend a day there (parking is tough as someone noted)… beaches just west and south of UCLA, or even a bit north of these. Outdoor activities taking the bus s/b restricted to daytime. On the other hand, you’re not going to take the bus for nighttime activities. Palisades park, around San Vincented; Venice Beach, etc… Beautiful bluffs from Palisades Park, looking down onto PCH and Santa Monica… always go on these excursions w/friends of course.</p></li>
<li><p>Nightlife east of Campus, say, taking Sunset eastward to Strip, etc. You definitely need a car for this, but someone will definitely have one. Good thing about UCLA is the city of LA is so expansive, one doesn’t get an insular feedling, ie, the feeling of associating with only UCLA students.</p></li>
<li><p>Wonderful running areas on and around campus… You have the world famous Drake Stadium track with an “eclectic” group of people using it: old denizens of Bel Air, world-class track athletes who train with coaches, an occasional celeb or two, and the UCLA track team (watch them blow right by you). You can make the circuit around the campus, which isn’t so big that it’d be impossible. You can cross Sunset and run along the canyons of Bel Air, or east of campus, where the x-country and track teams often run.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-John Wooden Center. Play basketball, take aerobics, various other rec and intramural opss.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Sunset Rec Center - swimming, tennis, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Hiking, in Santa Monica Mountains…off of Malibu Canyon as this [gentleman did](<a href=“Chris Joseph's Big UCLA Moment - YouTube”>Chris Joseph's Big UCLA Moment - YouTube) – I’m assuming it was the SM mountains…obviously not as accessible as at SLO or maybe SB, but fairly close.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-Bike riding is not real conducive to UCLA campus or surrounding area. But as often people do, they have a bike rack on their cars and make a trip to Venice, or around the area and then ride their bikes.</p>

<p>Off topic a bit, culturally, a lot of stuff to do also. Fowler, Hammer (make reservations now), etc.</p>

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<p>drax: Thanks for this. Super helpful and informative. You definitely make everything seem manageable.</p>

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<p>“If you’re a highly neurotic, road-raging, cutthroat ambitious type who can curse out the guy who just cut you off, while weaving in and out of traffic in your Mini Cooper without spilling your latte on your way to an indoor gym – like me – then by all means choose LA.”</p>

<p>Haha This sounds like me, go Bruins!!</p>

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<p>If you want to go to law school then UCLA vs. UCSB will only make a difference if you’re planning to get into the absolute best ones (Yale/Harvard/Stanford/Columbia/UChicago). Otherwise your best off wherever you will get the best GPA.</p>

<p>If you want to teach then it won’t matter much. Go where you will enjoy yourself the most.</p>

<p>Lol, if OP gets into UCB he’s probably gonna make another post called “UCLA or UCSB or UCB help!!!” ;)</p>

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<p>@drax12 Great post! UCLA really does have it all…hiking, beaches, and city life.</p>

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<p>SMCguy: Yay! Let’s be friends!</p>

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<p>@kyleskell - </p>

<p>man, i’m on the same boat as you. I’m debating between UCSB or UCLA. I was thinking on going to UCSB if rejected by UCLA, but I got into both. It’s so hard to decide. I’ve worked so hard to get into UCLA that letting go that admission would be stupid of me. On the other hand, I want to go UCSB because it’d be so cool to live in a small town by the beach and be in the outdoors. Then again, UCLA is where things are happening. Where you’ll find more opportunities and stuff.</p>

<p>It’s a tough decision. It’s good that you’ve visited UCSB. I’ve never been to either place before.</p>

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<p>Will you not have a chance to visit before deciding? UCLA is by the beach as well, depending on how you look at it. I drive everywhere so < 20 miles from a beach is “close” to me, whereas for a cyclist or pedestrian it might be < 2-6.</p>

<p>Need moar info</p>

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<p>I’m in the exact same situation as you right now. Except, if I were to go to UCSB I would live at home, since my house is here already. </p>

<p>I went to BruinDay and I absolutely hated the UCLA campus and area, totally unappealing. On the other hand, I’ve been in SB my entire life and I feel like I’d be bored going to UCSB. Although, the campus is SO much nicer and it really is so nice the have the beach right there and the lagoon. And Santa Barbara is a totally amazing city, I love it. But I don’t think I can handle living at home anymore. Plus UCLA is a better school.</p>

<p>I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO AHHHHHH!!!</p>

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<p>I don’t know how people can say the UCLA campus is unappealing. It makes several best-looking campus lists. Yeah, the south-campus buildings can be too modern-utilitarian in design. But all of the buildings at SB are essentially utilitarian, non-aesthetic structures (even if you consider the nicer structures at UCLA as pseudo-classical, beaux-arts? types). </p>

<p>What adds to the visual grandeur of UCLA, imo, is it’s hilly, and you can travel the winding road of Sunset and see the top of Powell from a few miles off, and know you’re getting close to campus. Cal is extremely hilly also with some nice buildings, which is why I like it better than fairly flat, uniform, cookie-cutter Stanford.</p>

<p>But with this said, by all means, if UCSB is more of a fit for you in things ancillary to straight scholastics, eg, it having a more laidback, better lifestyle in general for you, then by all means go there.</p>

<p>But, I disagree with others when they say, essentially, “Go to the least competitive of the UC’s, so you can maintain a high gpa, so you can go to grad school.”</p>

<p>This is wrong because higher competition will generally drive you to higher levels. Competition forces those with lesser academic credentials, to higher levels of study –> higher grades. The mean gpa of UCLA grads is ~ 3.30 and at SB it’s probably more like 3.10-3.15.</p>

<p>But if you’re immune to the possible laidback academic nature of SB – I did say “possible,” … and you study hard and put in the requisite time, you can indeed do ANYTHING at SB that you could’ve done at UCLA and have equal the grad choices as if you were at UCLA. Profs know the minimum standard of “competency” in a class (save for one prof, Mr. Electrical Engineering prof who doles out a lot of flunking grades at UCLA), and they aren’t going to curve grade the class if it isn’t there, but rather dole out majority mediocre grades.</p>

<p>In essence, go to SB if you’re feeling it. But by all means, VISIT all your choices beforehand. Don’t go on overhead pictures in brochures, etc.</p>

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<p>@ Kidkrasher</p>

<p>Yeah its a tough one. I’ve never checked out UCLA but I’m going on Sunday. What’s your major and future aspirations?</p>

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<p>@kyleskell</p>

<p>I’m a psych major, but I got in as philosophy major. What I’m really into is film & acting, so UCLA is perfect!!! for me. I’m thinking on doing the film stuff on my own. Perhaps go to graduate school for psychology or film. So I’m leaning towards UCLA and change my major once i’m there.</p>

<p>what about you?</p>

<p>hey let us know what you think about UCLA after you visit the campus on Sunday.</p>