I got into UCLA regents today and UCSD regents last week. I live in San Diego and am a bit torn as to where to attend. I love UCLA and its prestige but my family is low income and they would like to keep me close so that I will be able to help out. Could someone give me the pros of being a regents scholar at each school and ultimately, which is the better choice for me? FYI, I’m a Biophysics major who will some day be a med student.
@dfury0618 Hi, first of all, I would love to congratulate you! I’m sure that you have worked super super hard to get to the point you are today. I believe you can call UCLA and talk to them about your situation, and work things out Definitely talk to parents though. Even though both schools are great, I would suggest that you go with UCLA.
Thanks for your input!
@dfury0618 Can’t tell you about what it’s like to be a regents scholar at either school, but one thing you might want to consider is the housing guarantee. UCLA guarantees three years of housing and UCSD only guarantees two, but since you live near campus, you might be able to commute in your last two years of undergrad (therefore saving money, since apartments in the Westwood area don’t come cheap!).
Have you look in-detail at both schools’ biophysics programs? I remember when I visited UCSD that they mentioned that UCSD is at the forefront of interdisciplinary fields like biophysics.
Wish I could help more, but good luck. 
@mintchipmagic Regents at both schools guarantees 4 years of housing. UCSD’s is a little hard to find because it’s on a housing page, not the Regents scholarship page.
You seem to know a bit about regents. Do you know if the honorarium is on top of the financial aid package or included in it?
If I were in your place I would go ahead and do ucla regents. Go with your dream school. The perks are great and you don’t want to live in regret. I am also a regents scholar!
do what u want, it’s not like you will be able to help out a lot when you have to deal with class and other things you might have
college is for going to new places and exploring, not just an extension of hs or whatever
What about housing and meal plans? Would I get to choose or do they just offer the triple dorm and most basic meal plan? (I qualify for full ride)
The most important aspect of Regents (from my daughter prospective, who is a UCLA Regents in her second year), is priority registration. It is allowing her to finish in 3 years (of course with a little hard work), whereas otherwise, it would have taken her 5 to 6 years! I assume it is the same in UCSD, but my daughter feels great in UCLA and the UCLA Regents RSS club is fun with a lot of activities and she enjoys mingling among other Regents in the club who are all very talented.
I have no reason to believe the UCSD Regents is any less. As a mather of fact the two Regents clubs share activities and meet occasionally.
If you like surfing or scuba diving, go to UCSD. Also, if you are interested in a particular program at UCSD which is ranked higher than UCLA, consider going to UCSD. Otherwise, I would go to UCLA just in case you want to go catch some BB games etc. Oh, weather is somewhat better at UCSD imo, cooler and less smog.