I am hoping to get some advice. My daughter was planning to attend UW as Bio major. She just got accepted to UCSB pre-bio yesterday and is now rethinking her decision. We are California residents and UW is very expensive ($49K per yer - no merit or aid received). We love the school but Santa Barbara is also a great choice. Is UW worth the extra money? Is their ranking in Bio that much better to justify the cost difference?
While I’m not very familiar with UW, my guess is that it is similar to UCSB. As a large public it is going to have large introductory classes, an impersonal environment, no assigned faculty advisor, etc. There is nothing that your extra money is going to buy her at UW academically.
At any large public the difference between a great college experience and a mediocre one rests on the student shoulders. Will your D sign up for tutoring that is often offered for intro classes? Will she go to office hours? Will she put in the work to get good grades? Will she look for research opportunities? Will she look for internships and volunteer work? Will she form or take part in study groups? Will she join major and career related clubs on campus?
Neither school is going to automatically provide or encourage these things. It is up to her. IMHO she can be equally successful at any large public, including these two. I don’t know what the “rankings” say for these two, but they can safely be ignored. Any college in the country can more than adequately teach undergrad bio. There may be advantages to going to an ultra-selective school such as MIT or Stanford, but I’d ask anyone who claims one of these pair is “better” than the other to explain exactly how the undergrad experience will differ. If you want a real difference in experience compared to a typical large public then a LAC would offer it, but that doesn’t seem to be on the table here.
Also, in case she doesn’t know, there is a glut of science grads as you can confirm with a little searching on the web. The degree to get a job of any importance or opportunity for advancement in the sciences is a PhD (followed by post-docs). The other option many Bio and similar majors have in mind is med school.
Ironically there is one option at UCSB that would be an incredible opportunity for anyone interested in a PhD, and that is the CCS Biology or BioChem majors. CCS is like a grad school for undergrads and if she was in it then she’d be on the fast-track for a PhD at a top program. It is easily one of the best programs available at a public university. However CCS is very competitive to get into, and also a PhD may not be her goal.
UCSB is rated #37 by US News World Report, University of Washington #52.
Washington has always been one of the leading universities in the biological sciences. For example:
http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area13
http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc1.html#RANKBYAREA
http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldLIFE2015.html
http://nturanking.lis.ntu.edu.tw/Default.aspx
http://nturanking.lis.ntu.edu.tw/DataPage/countries.aspx?query=LifeSciences&country=USA&y=2015
As mikemac notes, these “rankings” do not mean that the undergraduate experience for a biology student at one large research university will be that much different (let alone “better”) than at another large research university.
Although Washington emphasizes faculty-mentored undergraduate research and is making substantial capital expenditures in this area (http://www.biology.washington.edu/life-sciences-complex; https://artsci.washington.edu/campaign/life-sciences-complex), excellent facilities and similar opportunities for undergraduate research undoubtedly exist at UCSB.
If your daughter likes UCSB, it would save you about $17K per year (UW OOS tuition, room and board = $45K; UCSB instate tuition, room and board = $28K), which is a lot of money. For many students (if instate versus OOS tuition is not the controlling factor), choosing between UCSB (or other UCs) and UW comes down to personal fit, as they are all outstanding universities.
Good luck wherever she decides to attend, and perhaps she can keep the other one in mind for graduate school.
@bayarea7 UW is rated higher for the Bio major
@waitingpatiently2016 I was in your shoes back in March and I chose UCSB over UW, Biology major too. Although I fell in love with the UW campus, UCSB is much cheaper so I chose SB.
*TIP: visit SB! I wasn’t too hot about the school until I went to the Open House. It’s really a beautiful campus even though it isn’t as nice at UW. If you still have time, drive down (or up lol) to see the school, it might help you and your daughter decide.
If you’re planning on getting a graduate’s degree definitely go with SB, you might regret a higher student debt if you’re getting a second degree. Hope to see you at SB! 
Thank you all for your very thoughtful posts. It is amazing that people like you go to the trouble to respond in such a meaningful way. As you all have pointed out, it is a difficult choice based on many factors, some of which are purely emotional. Once you have made the decision to attend one university, it is hard to change course with just a week to think it over. She is still processing it all and we will see…I will show her all the posts and links (thanks UWfromCA) and I am sure it will be helpful to her. Thanks again!