<p>Look wherever you go…YOU are the one that is going to make the best of your college experience. Obviously if you dread it there then your experience will be bad but if you go in with a positive attitute then you never know maybe you’ll end up loving UCR or UCSC.</p>
<p>But yeah, go visit both campuses and ask THEM abt the programs.</p>
<p>Also, I personally think Riverside is pretty darn great! I choose it over UCSD, UCD and UCSC(I went to visit all the colleges). Yup:D I loved UCR right from the beginning… I could see myself more there than the other UC’s. So you see… UCR is not all that of a reject school. </p>
<p>I didn’t like UCSC… too woodsy for me and yeah well everyone looked all hippy-ish.</p>
<p>However, a close friend of mine is going to UCSC and she’s super excited. She loved it there! </p>
<p>It just all depends on the person.
Everyone has different opinions.</p>
<p>In the end, after you visit both… just go wherever you feel more comfortable at and
where you see yourself more.</p>
<p>both UCR and UCSC have nice campuses. (Actually, every college has nice campus.) The difference is that UCR might not have much things to do, but there is always something going on on campus since the social life is huge. UCSC, on the other hands, is surrounded by the woods and the environment itself is beutiful. UCSC also has a huge social life.
UCR is better for pre-medical program and UCSC is better for Health Science program. So the choice is yours.</p>
I understand that this thread is a bit old but I thought I would like to put in my 2 cents for UCR. As ddiaz920 stated, she chose UCR over all those other higher ranked UC’s and loves it there. I am an incoming freshman at UCR but I do have a brother there who has finished his 1st year there and I finished my orientation a week ago so I feel I have enough knowledge to speak on the matter. Firstly, no matter where you go, you will receive a great education at UCR and UCSC. In fact, you will receive an amazing education at ALL the UC schools. From UCM to UC Berkeley, all the UCs are held to the same general academic standards and employers know this. Don’t think that the lower UC schools will damper your chances of getting into a great graduate school or finding a good job. Now onto UCR. UCR is very hot during the summer, the beginning of fall quarter, and the end of spring quarter. The majority of the school year will have great weather, usually between 60 and 75. I have lived in Riverside county for 12 years and I am about 20 minutes away from UCR itself. Now onto UCR being a commuter school. There is no denying that the majority of students are commuters. I believe around 65% of students are commuters and the other 35% live in dorms or apartments. But the majority of freshman actually dorm. The school can be a bit lonely during breaks and weekends but as long as you make friends that are dorming with you it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Onto the next stereotype that UCR and Riverside have nothing to do. This is mostly false. I believe that us Californians are spoiled by the large amount of high ranked schools that are within a very short drive to the beach or are literally right next to it like UCSB. UCR has over 400 clubs that will fit your interests. There are clubs that go snowboarding and skiing to Big Bear or others that go to beaches to surf. Riverside has some nice clubs if you’re into that but I will agree that the city isn’t much fun at all. The new Rec center at UCR is very nice though. There is an Olympic sized swimming pool, an indoor track, a very large gym, a lazy river, and rock climbing walls. These are all a part of your tuition so it’s best to use them and take advantage of them! We also have 3 huge concerts that many other college students are jealous of! Now the biggest stereotype: that UCR has nothing but bitter rejects from other colleges. That may have been true when UCR’s acceptance rate was horrible and in the 80% range but this isn’t 2005 anymore. UCR is no longer a referral school and has the freedom to accept less students which in turn leads to a more academically prepared incoming class. The acceptance rate for 2015 was 56% and the average accepted GPA was 3.78 http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/riverside/freshman-profile/index.html The acceptance rate for next year will most likely be lower and the average GPA will at least be 3.8. During my orientation, I had the chance to talk to many different students, whether they were freshman, sophomores, or juniors. The majority all had 1 thing in common, they were accepted to higher ranked UC schools and still chose UCR. ddiaz920 is an example of that. An alumni I know chose UCR over UCB, UCLA, and UCSD. An orientation leader I met chose UCR over UCLA nd UCB. Many of the freshman I met chose UCR over UCD, UCSB, and UCI. UCR is not a reject school. The funny thing is that I fit the UC Reject stereotype. I was waitlisted to UCSC and UCSD and was denied to both. The only UC that accepted me was UCR. I was not bitter though. In fact I was grateful. I was still given the chance to go to a UC that I know will guarantee success to everyone as long as they truly worked for it. As for pre-meds, UCR is a great school for that. There are alumni that get accepted to Ivy League and high-tier UC med schools all the time. There are many pre-med programs to aid you and UCR’s new med school is bound to help the school name since rich alumni tend to donate a lot to their alma mater and doctors obviously make a great deal of money. Also note to any biology/biochemistry majors interested in UCR. The student to faculty ratio for Bio majors is 54/1 and Biochem was 32/1. I’m sure many of you don’t want to fight against a sea of students for office hours and classes. Majors like Microbiology at UCR have a 1/1 student to faculty ratio so you may want to specialize in the biological sciences since UCR Bio alumnus are telling me that having a specialty in a major makes it easier to find a job within that field since Biology on its own is more general. Just some thought in case you don’t get into med school. All the UCs are amazing and many students there are telling me UCR is the most underrated UC and so far, I’m inclined to agree with them!