What do you think about these schools? A lot of my friends put down UCR, saying its just an expensive community college or whatever. Does anyone go here or know how good these schools are, academic-wise?
<p>Irvine is coming into its own now, given the pressures (overflow) on UCLA & Berkeley admissions. Students not being accepted to those are sometimes choosing Irvine, which is heightening UCI's freshman profile. UCI definitely better than Riverside in quality of program & student. Santa Barbara is also a respectable choice academically. Just be aware that it's known as THE party school among all the UC's, & that therefore it also attracts major party types. A student who knows that he or she is prone to those distractions,should not choose UCSB because you need some discipline to avoid that. It also has a gorgeous environment which is a distraction.
Santa Cruz has some good programs. It has a diff. character than the other UC's, because of its nongraded markings (written evaluations only, unless that's been changed recently). It also has a residential college system. However, it was recently infested with rodents (!). It definitely has a strong campus culture, bec. of the res. thing & because of relative isolation. It never interested my daughter because of its liberal campus culture, its laidback atmosphere, & because it is not as selective as UCB or UCLA. For someone who really wants a selective graduate school, it tends not to be the favorite. (Many grad schools prefer to see grades.)</p>
<p>UCSB is increasing in selectivity and prestige. It is a beautiful oceanfront campus; still has a strong party element that is related to the adjacent square-mile Isla Vista that is 90% student apartments. UCI is also improving in prestige; it has more of a commuter feel on weekends as many students head home. UCSC feels more isolated with the different residential colleges tucked in the redwoods and the Santa Cruz (post hippie) culture, but many students profess a closer connection to faculty and their college community. UCR does not have the reputation of UCI or UCSB, but does have many excellent profs who emphasize teaching, not just research.</p>
<p>UCSB: Gorgeous campus that is gaining in reputation. Their English program and classical languages program is quite strong.</p>
<p>UCI: This year's UC guarenteed admission. Definitely a good school with strong programs in the sciences. </p>
<p>UCSC: DON'T GO THERE! If you're thinking about graduate school, law school, medical school, etc. you will screw yourself by attending there. They do not give out letter grades but evaluations.</p>
<p>UCR: The bastard child of the UC re-welcomed to the family with UC Merced's opening. It's often overlooked but UCR has great programs in the humanities and social sciences. Their honors college offers a great program. It's a great school to go if you want to stay low-key for your undergraduate school and go big your graduate school.</p>
<p>No matter which school you select, rest assured that the University of California system is an excellent institution of higher education.</p>
<p>what about UCSD?</p>
<p>UCSD is excellent. In terms of UC rankings, it follows after Cal and UCLA. UCSD is number one in research money and has a strong program in the sciences. It's political science department is also noteworthy, but doesn't quite compare to Cal's of course.</p>
<p>La Jolla is a nice place to be as well.</p>
<p>UCSD's six college system provides an atmospher of a small college but large university.</p>
<p>FYI - UCSC does give grades now.</p>
<p>Well, since UCSC does give grades now, I rescind my comments about UCSC. </p>
<p>My friend had to leave UCSC and go to community college when she found out that UCSC did not give grades and she was a pre-med student. She's happily attending UCI right now. Another friend, a current applicant, said that UCSC still didn't give letter grades, but evalutions still.</p>
<p>"UCI: This year's UC guarenteed admission. Definitely a good school with strong programs in the sciences." </p>
<p>What do you mean by this? Maybe they guarantee if you are ELC(top 4 percent of high school). But certainly not just everyone UC eligible is going to get in to UCI.</p>
<p>I should have elaborated on that. UCI is guaranteed admission for those in ELC.</p>
<p>UCSC doesn't give out letter grades but evaluations? what does that mean?</p>
<p>I think that that any of the UC schools is better than many state colleges in other states...even the low tier ones like UCI, UCR, UCSC and UCSB. If you get in GO!</p>
<p>There was point at which UCSC did not give you letter grades, but an evaluation of how you did in the class with professors comments (how you faired in the class, where you need to improve on, etc.)</p>
<p>hopefully anxious,
(like your screen name!): You're getting a lot of consistency here in reply to your question, which tends to validate the information, so "hopefully" (!) this will help guide you.
socmom,
thanks for the update on UCSC. I had heard a rumor about that, too. I think they got pressure because of the very graduate school prospects some of us have mentioned.<br>
Still though ("h.a."), do remember that UCSC remains a somewhat "less traditional" campus than the other UC's, so you should only choose it if you like that kind of atmosphere. I would definitely visit before I apply, if you're thinking of applying in the future (I don't remember if you stated your grade/age). That's because UC is very fond of shuffling students around the chessboard, so to speak, based on the particular campuses (campi!) applied to, the enrollment demand on those, & the balances that the administration is seeking. My advice always, to anyone applying to UC (including ELC's): only apply to those locations you feel comfortable with, or you may discover that your preferred, or only acceptable, locations are "full" (so they claim). You may end up with choice #2 or 3 when you may have been accepted to #1 if it was your only choice. Obviously that's fine if any of the 3 is a choice you can live with, and/or you believe you're marginally qualified for one or two of those locations.</p>
<p>epiphany-
I'm interested in your comment about the UCs 'shuffling' students and sending them to the school where they need students rather than where you might prefer going. This is a widely held belief, but our HS counselor says it's a myth, and not true. According to her (very knowledgeable and many years on both sides of the business), Each UC's admissions is separate, and you can get into all or some, depending on your qualifications. Since the myth persists, I would be very interested in any evidence you have that they make acceptance decisions based on which campuses you've applied to, as that would indeed make it wise to only put the ones you really want. On the other hand, if they don't, then there would be no harm in applying to one or two less desirable ones in case you don't get into your #1-#3 choice. Evidence?</p>
<p>Each UC does not correspond with each other; that is, Berkeley doesn't tell UCLA to reject an applicant because they've already been accepted to Berkeley. They follow the comprehensive review, but each university is allowed to tailor that comprehensive review policy to their own needs.</p>
<p>To clarify:</p>
<p>UCSC only graded with written evaluations (that is, no A-F, just professor/TA narrative evaluations on your performance that may or may not give anyone reading them an idea of how you did in the class compared to a letter grade) until the 1997-1998 school year. They now include letter grades (though the P/NP option is there), but ALL classes still give evaluations as well. There was a lot of pressure from outside sources to induce this change, partially because they failed to attract ambitious (ie, "i want a selective college") students who aimed at graduate school, because graduate schools very much appreciate concrete numbers.</p>
<p>That aside, UCSC is very much a hippie campus, and it's very liberal (no joke). If you're looking for any kind of grassroots organizations, I'll bet you can find it on campus. If not, you'll get a ton of support in starting it. It's a pretty campus -- with lots of ocean views -- but this is not a decision to make lightly. Many people will have to succeed /despite/ their education at UCSC, not because of it. (What amuses me is the number of top 25 schools the faculty graduated from. My lecturer for core class was a Dartmouth grad, for example.)</p>
<p>It is a good school, but its acceptance rate is pretty reflective of the attitudes on campus (which isn't always true). To me, it feels like an extension of high school -- lots of parties, LOTS of drugs, very laid-back, etc. The good part about this is that you can usually get to know your professors really well. The bad part is that it's not a very productive learning environment. </p>
<p>I would agree with fei in that the UC system overall is much better (value, education wise) than some of the other sets of state schools out there. BUT! If you are interested in graduate school, professional school, or a challenge, you are better advised to attend one of the CCCs the UC system has an agreement with and transfer to one of the others.</p>
<p>I'll only discuss UCI, since that's the only school I know rather well. UCI will be a very good school in the nearcoming future (it's a rather good school now), I live in Orange County, about 20 minutes from Irvine, and many people do not want to go to UCI because it's "too close" or "too asian" (both asians and non-asians say that, although I feel that the campus is actually rather diverse). What UCI lacks is a college-town like Berkeley, or Westwood (in LA). UCI is also contemplating to add a law school and a medical center in the future, and the support it gets from the Bren Family (aka the Irvine Company), will keep it growing despite the budget crisis in California. I wouldn't be surprised if the campus will grow significantly area-wise, while Cal and UCLA can't really grow at all. As far as it's academics, it's Henry Samueli School of Engineering seems to be quite strong, perhaps it's behind UCLA and Berkely in many of the engineering fields (except for Bio-engineering of course which is dominated by UCSD, as far as the UCs go). I have heard many good things about it's political science and history programs. And US News rates UCI as bein the number one school in literary criticism and theory. I used their humanities library once to do research on literary criticism on James Joyce's Ulysses, and I could easily find everything I needed, even though their library doesn't boast as many volumes as say, UCLA's or Berkeley's renowned library system. I've also heard by several others that they have an awesome Science Library, I've never used it msyelf. From my own experiences however, it seems like UCI is a nice quiet setting, which is preferable for graduate school, and may not deliver any type of spectacular undergraduate education. On the whole however, I'd say it's a very good school, and will probably surpass SD one day (for non-bio/no-medical type things).</p>
<p>Sherwin: Though I don't doubt that UCI will develop its reputation as time moves on, I disagree with you that it will pass UCSD because (of):</p>
<p>1) Location: UCSD is located in La Jolla, very close to San Diego. San Diego is a major metropolitan city that the city of Irvine can never compete with</p>
<p>2) As UCI will grow more reputable as time moves on, so will UCSD in all areas.</p>
<p>I go to UCI and I heart it :) UCSD is chill too.</p>
<p>ASAP & others,
My statement was too broad -- although it is my understanding that in the past there had been shuffling. Yes, now one does apply to an individual campus, or more than one. However, let's say you are ELC & assume that you are equally qualified for every campus. Unless you have an adjusted UC GPA of 4.2 or above, you will not necessarily get into Berkeley. You may get into a 2nd choice, etc. campus. So just be careful & know that ahead of time.</p>
<p>Definitely agree with everything said by a poster above (Undecided) about UCSC. Know one's campus.</p>