UCSB Regents (Honors) or UCSD?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am having such a tough time deciding between colleges... So here is what I got:</p>

<p>UCSB - Honors and 6000/year for Regents Scholarship, I plan on majoring in Chemical Engineering if I go here, and from what I have read, UCSB has one of the best ChE programs in the nation. However, I am not much of a party type of person, but I have also heard that there are many other people like me there. </p>

<p>UCSD - 6000/year more expensive than UCSB and without Honors, but I was admitted into their newly founded Nanoengineering program, a major that no other college in the nation offers, and a field (nanotechnology) that has the potential to expand A LOT, providing me with an advantage over many other students due to the Nanoengineering degree (note: it is not as general as it sounds, UCSD NanoE allows students to choose a specialization of Nano, such as Bio or Electrical or BioMed, after the first two years of Undergrad)</p>

<p>I would say that social life is kind of important, but it would not be a deciding factor. So, academically, which one seems like a better option? As a whole, which one seems like the better choice?</p>

2

<p>Just by reading what you have written, it seems like you want to go to UCSD more. Honestly, every person here will tell you the same thing. Go to the one you want to go to, not the one you feel like you should go to. If $6000 a year doesn’t place any financial burden on your parents, then it sounds like UCSD is the way to go.</p>

<p>And while UCSD may not be a party school, I recently stayed overnight there and there were 3 parties going on during that night, and those were just the ones that I, someone who doesn’t even go there, heard about. Social life is what you make of it. If you make an effort, you’ll find the party life you’re looking for.</p>

3

<p>I guess that partially resulted from my visit to UCSD (I liked UCSD when I went for Triton Day). I have yet to visit UCSB, so I will have to see what happens. I guess my question is not really directed toward the “college experience”, but more towards the academic prestige of UCSB Honors vs UCSD. I am trying to get peoples opinions more regarding that aspect. Thanks for the response!</p>

4

<p>Well I’ll go over everything completely objectively to try and help you think for yourself, though I may have a bit of bias because I recently chose UCSD regents over Berkeley (pretty much the same situation as you haha).</p>

<p>The most important factor is how much you enjoy the school. Visit both and determine at which one you would be happier. A happy student=good grades and good grades=grad school, employer, etc. Everyone underweights this factor, but it is literally THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you should look at when deciding on a college.</p>

<p>Academics will be better at UCSD. If you want to challenge yourself, this may be the way to go. It will also be easy for you to switch your major to chemical engineering at UCSD, while it will be impossible to switch to nanoengineering at UCSB, as it does not exist (in other words, you have more options and freedom to choose a major at UCSD).</p>

<p>The regents scholarship is a wonderful thing. Having it weights up to how much you enjoy the school, in my opinion. Look at the perks it offers and determine if they are worth it. It will be much easier for you to get classes at UCSB, though since the nanoengineering major is new, it may be easy to get those classes as well. Regardless, you have a much higher chance of risking a 5 year graduation at UCSD vs UCSB.</p>

<p>Research at UCSD is much better. It is ranked 3rd and 7th in two national rankings for research universities, though I forget which. If you plan on going to grad school, or are just generally interested in the sciences and research, UCSD should earn some points there.</p>

<p>Their environment is similar, so there really is no difference there. It’s easier to have a social life at UCSB, though that’s about it.</p>

<p>Depending on which college at UCSD you got into, you may have more or less GEs than UCSB. Warren and Muir tend to have really easy GEs for engineers, alleviating the worry of a 5 year graduation at UCSD. The college system, overall, also provides a much more intimate environment, while still offering the large college experience. </p>

<p>If I’m forgetting something, just let me know and I’ll give you my input. Overall, weight that regents scholarship and don’t decide until you’ve visited. It’s worth a lot of money and has a lot of priceless benefits.</p>

5

<p>Majors in nanotech are not available at most universities because it’s mainly a graduate discipline; it makes little sense to try to get an undergrad education in it, since you’ll probably have to go to grad school anyway. You also need to be cautious since it’s a new program at UCSD; for all you know, they might eventually scrap it if it fails to meet the standards of the university (e.g. in getting its graduates jobs).</p>

<p>I don’t think UCSD’s academics are all that ahead of UCSB’s. Look in the NRC rankings - UCSB does quite well, often ahead of UCSD. ChemE is pretty strong at UCSB. In my opinion UCSD is not worth $24,000 over UCSB. Having Regents will give you advantages there as well.</p>

6

<p>Thank you everyone for the opinions! I am going to visit UCSB this weekend, sp that will most likely become a determining factor. I guess that, since I am ultimately going to try and go into a nanotechnology career, if I go to UCSB, I could get ChE for undergrad, and if graduates from UCSD NanoE are doing well, I could try and get into grad school there. I think, as dyno said, it will ultimately be decided by how I feel at each campus.</p>