UCSB vs. UCD vs. UCI

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Santa Barbara
1

<p>Hello, I got admitted to UCSB and will be going next year. However I am feeling that it is not one of the top UCs. Which of these three are the best and why? Should I be proud of myself for going to ucsb?</p>

2

<p>Depends on what you are majoring on, but in general i think UCI is ranked the highest out of those three.</p>

3

<p>It definitely depends on what you’re majoring in. I think that all 3 are pretty equal, actually. All 3 are ranked as #44 on the National Universities Rankings of 2009.</p>

<p>[National</a> Universities Rankings - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/national-search/page+2]National”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/national-search/page+2)</p>

4

<p>They’re all about equal. If you want to go by NRC rankings, among the three you list, UCSB is the highest ranked overall in the 41 areas of Ph.D. research.</p>

<p>Let’s just say my preference for weather, scenery, and vibe is UCLA/Santa Barbara/Santa Cruz. It’s all a matter of personal taste.</p>

5

<p>Anyone know which one of these three is best for accounting and/or Managerial/Business Economics?</p>

6

<p>im pretty sure it is ucsb… the big 4 accounting firms consider ucsb as a big recruiting hub for them</p>

7

<p>UCD has a good Managerial Economics department.</p>

8

<p>Which one is better for pre-med … or is that a silly question?</p>

9

<p>It seems to me that UCI and UCD were on a rejection rampage this year (which included me and my 4.2 GPA…haha) while UCSB accepted most everyone I know. I’ve heard that acception stats shouldn’t affect a school’s reputation too much, but this does concern me just a bit.</p>

10

<p>GoBlue - UCI obviously
I was going to be premed too -_-</p>

11

<p>For pre-med, Davis. Less competition with a great education, and it’s near a great/cheap medical school as well where it is easy to get internships, etc.</p>

12

<p>tommybarsett,
Why is UCI better than UCSB for pre-med?</p>

13

<p>

Sh-t, that’s not what I wanted to hear. I got into all three, but I want to go to UCSB. But to hear that UCSB accepted everyone makes me feel like I should take advantage of having been accepted into UCD and UCI. =/</p>

<p>Can anyone clarify the admission ratios for these three?</p>

14

<p>Heh sorry for causing any turmoil. It’s not based on any statistics, just what I’ve noticed around my high school and on these forums is that UCI and UCD seem to be getting more competitive while UCSB is falling a bit behind. I personally don’t know anyone at my school who was rejected from UCSB, and know 3 or 4 people who were counting on UCI or UCD but had to “settle” for UCSB instead. These forums seem to tell the same story; the UCSB section does not seem to have outraged rejects like the UCI and UCD forums do. Not meaning to put down UCSB or cause any doom and gloom… I just hope someone here can prove me wrong!</p>

15

<p>stop being so asian…</p>

<p>just because uci and davis has been rejecting smart people, or so you think, does not make a university better. you guys are just considering not going to ucsb because you think that it will ruin ur reputation/ the way people see you. if riverside started rejecting 4.0gpas with 2000+sat, does it instantly jump them up to the elite in rankings?</p>

16

<p>*Can anyone clarify the admission ratios for these three? *</p>

<p>If you are choosing colleges based on acceptance rate, you are not choosing colleges correctly.</p>

<p>Sh-t, that’s not what I wanted to hear.</p>

<p>If you are choosing colleges based on WCF’s anecdotal evidence (though there is some truth to it), you are not choosing colleges correctly.</p>

<p>I got into all three, but I want to go to UCSB.</p>

<p>Now you’re choosing colleges correctly. Acceptance rates do not get released till mid April, but if you still want to know what they are, you can see my estimates in this thread between UC Davis and UCSB (I didn’t estimate UC Irvine’s)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/673058-what-acceptance-rate-ucsb.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/673058-what-acceptance-rate-ucsb.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

17

<p>Sorry, I meant to say post #154 and #156 here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/658298-ask-current-ucsb-student-anything.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/658298-ask-current-ucsb-student-anything.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

18

<p>GoBlue - I dont know the rankings for the premed programs, I just know the rankings for the medical schools, and UCSB doesn’t have one. I’ve never heard of UCSB having a good reputation in that field but if they do please share.</p>

19

<p>To yawn: Obviously this doesn’t matter to you now, but this time around, UCSB only accepted 11% of all applicants. Hope that makes you happy for all of a minute.</p>

20

<p>Let’s not use ethnicity as an insult now…</p>

<p>UCI, UCSB, and UCD are all considered “mid-tier” UC’s. If you use [CollegeBoard’s</a> College Comparison Tool](<a href=“https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/compare-colleges"]CollegeBoard’s”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board), and you compare each of them, you can see that the IQR of the SAT scores are incredibly similar - UCSB edges ahead by about 10 points.</p>

<p>What do those 10 points mean? Absolutely nothing. It means that they’re all incredibly similar regarding general academics. USNWR puts each UC within one UC rank of each other, again, basically stating that all three are incredibly similar.</p>

<p>However, regarding research impacted rankings, UCSB seems to rank a fair amount higher than the other UC’s. This could hint at UCSB possibly having more research opportunities than the other two UC’s.</p>

<p>But how “good” each UC is indeed dependent on the major. I do know that UCSB, within the mid-tiers, is the best regarding Engineering. Davis is noted for its Agricultural program, and, I believe, it’s medical program. Irvine, I’ve not much information on, but I believe it’s medical program is also quite good.</p>

<p>Remember, college is what you make of it. Ironically, which undergraduate school you go to means very little in the grand scheme of things if you plan to pursue a higher education - it’s all about your GPA within that school. So, no matter where you head, it’s best to have as good a time as you can, all the while ensuring that your studies never fall behind. If UCSB is your optimal environment between the three mid-tiers, then it’s best if you head there.</p>

<p>Regarding the acceptance rate battle that seems to be going on, here’s my theory: I think UCI attempted to admit as little people as possible this year in an attempt to increase academic perception about the school. For some reason, there seems to be this thought that the more selective a school is, the better it is (which is wrong - if that was true, then CSU East Bay is better than UCSB (36% to 46% as by CollegeBoard). However, this plan ended up backfiring, because a majority of people who were accepted ended up going to “better ranked” schools. As a result, UCI ended up having to accept a ton of people from waitlist and appeals (only 3-7 people from my school were initially accepted; after waitlist acceptances, it increased to about 20-30 - that just doesn’t happen regularly).</p>

<p>Ehh, again, it’s just a theory.</p>