<p>Hey i'm a graduating senior and i need advice! This is my first post and will probably be my most important one. The time for college decisions is coming fast and i've narrowed mine down to UCSB and Santa Clara. At first i was set on UCSB but since I've gotten my financial package from Santa Clara both have become equal options. I'm going to give pros and cons of each university through my understanding of each and i would like to see if anyone has there own views/personal experiences/ pros and cons to add to it.</p>
<p>Major: Economics </p>
<p>Santa Clara: I would only pay $5,500 in loans a year
PROS:
-Small class sizes (student/faculty ratio is 13/1)
-strong business program
-classes taught by professors who seem to be readily available
-In the heart of silicon valley = good business opportunities/internships. businesses are known to recruit from the school
-More likely to graduate in 4 years
-hour from San Fran, 4 from Tahoe, 3 from Yosemite, 30 min from beach
-New facilities
-Small community</p>
<p>CONS:
-Less resources than a UC
-Less recognition outside of Northern California
-when not traveling staying in the area itself seems slightly boring
-Nightlife seems lacking
-Can't see the beach from my house! haha half kidding</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara: I would pay $12,000 in loans a year (unless I live off campus, which would suck but drastically reduce cost)
PROS:
-Large, can always new people to meet
-right on the beach
-nice college town in SB
-good weather, hikes, beach, stuff to do immediately in town
-most majors are strong(in case i ever change my major)
-more recongnition
-fun nightlife
-many resources
-half an hour from home
-higher average GPA than Santa Clara by a small margin</p>
<p>CONS:<br>
-Huge, may feel like a number
-taught by TA's won't see professor for a while
-larger classes
-IV is very distracting
-wont have hand held, much more independent than Santa Clara
-Will most likely take longer than 4 years to graduate</p>
<p>Money is a huge issue but, I also want to get a good education, have fun, have opportunities to go places and have a "college experience" </p>
<p>I'm also concerned that the difference in recognition could affect graduate school in some way.</p>
<p>I suggest you visit both and talk to some current students as you walk around, drop in on a class or two (don’t know about UCSB, but they should be able to arrange this thru admissions at SCU), try to get a sense what it would be like to be a student at each.</p>
<p>Classes are not taught by TAs at UCs with perhaps the exception of the writing requirement class. They have large lectures, esp. for lower division, and then you meet 1x a week in a small class led by a TA. If you want to talk to a prof, go to office hours; every prof has them weekly. Also it won’t take more than 4 years to graduate unless you want it to. You may not get every class at the time you want, perhaps some breadth classes won’t be your 1st choice that quarter, but it is easy to get out in 4 years. According to <a href=“http://bap.ucsb.edu/IR/UCSB_Portrait.pdf[/url]”>http://bap.ucsb.edu/IR/UCSB_Portrait.pdf</a> the average time to degree is indeed 4 years. As for living, most students live in the dorms frosh year and off campus after that.</p>
<p>Santa Clara is a respected school, but much more homogenous. You need to have a sense that its right for you in terms of student, size, location, etc. People I know who went there were happy with it.</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much for your responses! Right now im visiting santa clara and seeing how i feel here. Ill definitely try attending a class like you suggested mikemac.
Any more personal experiences or information? this is very helpful.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Are you an out-of-state student? Will you be wanting to return to your home state/area after you graduate? If so, UCSB may be a better option. Everyone knows (and most people respect) University of California system; in some fields UCSB is world-class. So having the cachet of UofC on your resume may be really beneficial, since Santa Clara isn’t nearly as well known outside of CA. </p></li>
<li><p>The savings Santa Clara offers are significant. Graduating with a lot of debt can be crippling in terms of your post-grad options, and it’s not something I would advise for my own children.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>No i’m from ventura california and one thing im worried about is reputation. But visiting both campuses i felt way to comfortable and at home at ucsb (30mins away from ventura) and maybe what i need is to get away.
And yes the low debt is very appealing!
than you for your response!</p>
<p>Santa Clara is not in the same class as UCSB which is a top 50 University nationally. That said, it really depends what the cost difference is. If living off campus make the difference incremental than UCSB is the obvious choice. Maybe you can live on campus 1st year and do what most students do and live off campus the remainder.</p>
<p>santa clara is ranked 72 and ucsb is ranked 139 as far as post-graduate success and student satisfaction goes. but it is true that ucsb has the prestige and top notch sciences in their favor. But over all, looking at my pros and cons list and considering any that anyone else can gather, i’m wondering which seems like a smarter choice.</p>
<p>Personally, I would go to UCSB. I’m totally biased, as I love the UCSB campus, but to me Santa Clara didn’t have the same allure as UCSB. Really it all depends on how you felt at the campus; from what i’ve read, you seemed happier at the UCSB campus, and it is a more prestigious school. You have to decide if that’s worth the extra money.</p>
<p>they both have beautiful campuses but as you pointed out i do seem to favor ucsb’s a tad more. thanks knockaround, it gives me a serious factor to consider, one which is accompanied by cost and the type of education ill receive. out of curiosity did you visit or do you attend either?</p>
<p>A friend went to SCU, and he hated it because of its lack of social life according to him. He always says things like “at least you had fun in college,” even now, a good decade plus later. I don’t disbelieve him, but I think fun can be had anywhere; it’s all up to you, and also what you consider fun. And, I don’t think the Jesuits at SCU are all that much a damper on the idea of fun, but rather, they may encourage it up to a certain point. </p>
<p>On the other hand, SB would be more of an opposite pole compared to SCU, most definitely. Again, it’s all on you however.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info drax! i feel like i can make the most of my experience at either place but ill take that into account. was he talking about party fun or recreational fun? and did he ever speak of the academics?</p>
<p>To answer your question OP, I frequent the UCSB campus as many of my friends attend; I live near the SCU campus and have (a very limited) idea about campus life.</p>