<p>Thanks, Dooplizz for confirming my post. You hit the nail on the head.</p>
<p>Yes but the point is if you have two students who both have 4.0s and job/internship/research experience, but one went to Harvard and one went to UCR…what would graduate schools or employers think of that? Honestly, I would argue that for most employers, school reputation is more important than GPA (I don’t know many employers that ask for your GPA). For graduate schools, GPA is of course important.</p>
<p>And of course being successful at any school “looks good” regardless of its reputation. But I’m not sure why you both keep citing the fact that some people at top-tier schools can’t find jobs is proof that reputation doesn’t matter. You are going to find unsuccessful students at all schools. Sure, *maybe<a href=“doubtful”>/i</a> a UCR grad with a “stellar” record (see next paragraph on why it might be hard to actually be stellar at UCR) might look better than a Harvard grad with a low GPA and little experience…but how about a Harvard grad with a high GPA? Why not attend a school (if you’re accepted, of course) where you can maximize your opportunities?</p>
<p>And anyways, outside of reputation, there are far more research and internship opportunities offered at schools like Cornell, Harvard, UCLA, or Cal than schools like UC Riverside…A student who is accepted to both UC Riverside and UCLA should choose UCLA because they will be provided with more opportunities to be successful. I think the same holds true for UCLA or Cal vs. UC Davis, Santa Barbara, or Irvine, although of course not to quite the same extreme (all of these schools are leagues better than UCR).</p>
<p>You guys are all right. Graduating from a renowned school isn’t enough; you need to achieve there as well! But, then again, graduating with a high GPA from a no-name school sometimes isn’t enough either, especially in this economy :(</p>
<p>But, then again, UCSB may be no-name nationwide, but it is among the most highly-ranked in California.</p>
<p>Yes while I can agree that if the two applicants have very similar credentials but the only difference is the school they went to, then of course the person who went to a much more reputable school would get the position. However that is not always the case, as usually most applicants always have something to bring to the table that never makes it come down to which school they went to. Although yes some employers do have their biases.</p>
<p>My point is that, attending one University of California over another UC that is higher ranked does not limit you very much opportunity-wise. I cannot agree with you that a person who attends UCR is limited opportunity-wise as opposed to someone who goes to UCLA for example. I brought up the UCR anecdote because I have an actual friend who attends UCR who is currently a senior. She did 3 years undergraduate research starting as a freshman. She worked at industry for 2 summers, and she has a job lined up for her when she graduates. Sure that is just one example, however it shows that it is possible to be engaged with many opportunities at lower ranked university like UCR. You can definitely do the same at UCLA. However again, you can do the same at UCR. </p>
<p>I go to UCSB. I started off as undeclared. I ended up doing engineering. I currently do undergraduate research which I started winter quarter my freshman year. I have an internship lined up for me this summer as a sophomore. Can I say that attending UCSB limited me opportunity-wise as opposed to if I went to UCB, or UCLA? At this rate, I highly doubt it. </p>
<p>The fact of the matter is, college is what YOU make of it, and I think that any research institution, especially a UC, offers a high class education and prime opportunities no matter which UC you choose to go to. I think the saying “A UC education is a UC education” holds true. Just because someone goes to UCB does not make them able to be any more successful as opposed to someone who goes to like, UCI.</p>
<p>So if you’re a brilliant professor, where would you want to live:</p>
<p>A) Foggy bay area
B) Los Angeles
C) Santa Barbara, the American Riviera</p>
<p>I know it’s been a good 4 months already since this post but I’ve been researching universities nonstop (am a high school senior now) and I was just wondering, after all this debate, Diana3 what school did you end up choosing?</p>
<p>Might we want to look at the rankings of something important, say like, scientific research?
[Leiden</a> Ranking - Leiden Ranking 2011/2012](<a href=“http://www.leidenranking.com/ranking.aspx]Leiden”>http://www.leidenranking.com/ranking.aspx)</p>
<p>You know what is laughable? All the posts about UCSB not being known across the atlantic. Did some of our faculty not just help discover the Higgs Boson (god particle)?
Are we not a part of a multinational research team at the forefront of quantum computing?</p>
<p>mmash, from subsequent posts it is clear Diana chose UCSB Honors.</p>
<p>Yeah that’s what I thought, just making sure.</p>
Clearly the opinions on UCLA are biased. These are all “Public Ivy” schools, each with a different benefit. UCLA is like a city within a city - very urban campus. The others are not. UCSB is on the ocean, but Isla Vista is grubby at best. UCD is very clean, but may be overly remote. UCI is a commuter school. Of course, I would recommend USC as the place to go if possible, it’s amazing how many resources they have.
@diana3 just came upon this thread - you must be graduating from wherever you chose this year! Would love it if you see this and came back to tell us about your experience!