UCSD or CC Route?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi Guys,</p>

<p>As of right now, I plan on attending UCSD as a General Biology Major. I live in San Diego and I plan to live on campus the first year. My parents are okay with me living on campus; however, financially it may better to live at home and stuff, but they want me to get the college experience. I thank them for that. Furthermore, I am beginning to have second thoughts on attending UCSD and possibly attending a local CC instead. The reasons are:</p>

<p>-Financially it would cut down on my debt and the amount my parents would have to pay. (They are okay with me attending UCSD.) Yes I am getting financial aid. </p>

<p>-It might be less stressful to attend a CC than UCSD. There may be more professor interaction at a CC than UCSD. But UCSD has a lot of tutoring services. Stress is a big factor, I recently had to go to urgent care because of constant migraine's from stress and I know if I attend UCSD it will continue to recur. </p>

<p>-I want to play baseball...professionally. I have the potential to be drafted. UCSD is not known for their baseball team so it is difficult to get drafted from there. If I attend CC, I could play for the team then transfer out to a D1 school and possibly be drafted higher.</p>

<p>Sorry if it's not making sense. I just want some advice on the situation. Career wise, I want to go to medical school. if things don't work out in the first cycle, then I will go to PA, PT, or Nursing route and continue to try again. I know one of you may say or think this, "Well you need to learn how to handle stress if you want to be a doctor." Yes, but I am young, I want to enjoy college not push through it with stress and stuff. </p>

<p>If you have any questions to clarify please post. Thank you, any advice will be greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Not sure what to advise you. If you think you should go to CC, go to CC, but pre-med is very stressful, you know yourselves better. Which school do you think eventually you want to transfer to from CC?</p>

3

<p>Preferably a D1 school in athletics & in-state, unless I get enough money elsewhere. As of right now, UCLA or SDSU. I’m still researching just incase. But what do you think of the situation?</p>

4

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<p>Be realistic about your chances of reaching the major leagues, as opposed to playing professionally in the A or AA leagues but not getting any further. Of course, pre-med is also a highly competitive path.</p>

5

<p>How good if your local CC? I’ve gone to SMC and UCI and out of the two I preferred SMC over the UCI. </p>

<p>Bang for the buck, a (good) CC cannot be beat. NO UC is worth 10x the cost of a nice CC like SMC. 2? maybe 3? but definitely not 10. </p>

<p>People, so this is where it gets kinda tricky. You’ll find a good number of older students at CC BUT at the sometime you’ll find a good number really outgoing social people who quite frankly won’t get into a UC / will goto a CSU. So if you’re looking to meet interesting people you might find a better student body at a CC than a competitive UC. </p>

<p>Social Life, okay so this is the biggest problem. It sucks, everyone goes to school then goes home to be with their HS friends. Biggest downside IMO.</p>

<p>Overall, since money is an issue, I would recommend going to CC and going to the best CC in SD. </p>

6

<p>@theLefty, I remember you were deciding between UCLA and UCSD, would UCLA been a better decision?</p>

7

<p>@ucbalumnus‌, it is fairly easy to climb through the minor league system. It’s easy to climb, but hard to stay in tbe MLB. Either way AA - AAA make 40k+ so enough to live on. What I am trying to get at is that it’s a fun experience that I would look forward too everyday. If things don’t work out, then I will go the Nursing route and climb back up. </p>

<p>@bomerr, I don’t think my parents would be okay with me to SMC rather than a local CC. I think I want the college experience that’s why I am leaning towards UCSD. </p>

<p>@DrGoogle‌, Possibly…</p>

<p>I feel like I should give UCSD a shot, if I don’t like it, then I’d transfer out?</p>

8

<p>@‌TheLefty</p>

<p>I am just using SMC as an example. I am sure there are great local CC in SD although I am not aware of them. </p>

<p>As for college experience, idk you should probably goto UCSB or one of the less commuter college for that. </p>

9

<p>I can’t go to UCSB anymore unless I transfer from UCSD if it’s possible.</p>

10

<p>Bump, more advice please.</p>

11

<p>How are you doing Lefty…</p>

<p>I have a pretty good memory of those with whom I “speak,” but your situation was one I especially remember because of your baseball background.</p>

<p>Let me see if I remember your situation without looking at your main past posts:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>You were looking at about three UC’s including UCSD, UCLA, and UCSB as you listed here (also Cal?).</p></li>
<li><p>You hadn’t played your senior year of high school, because you were looking at TJ surgery if you wanted to extend your career? At your best you threw something like 80 on the gun, which I remarked was good for a lefty.</p></li>
<li><p>Dad’s a bigtime chef.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>I thought the last one was indicative of your ability not to have to take loans, but here you stated you’ll have to take FA. (You don’t have to elaborate on any of the above…)</p>

<p>I imagine you’d have to try out for UCSD’s baseball team if you wanted to stick with SD, since you didn’t play your senior year, and the coaches need to see your throwing ability. I’m sure that this would be tough proposition, to make the team, because they usually have an amount of kids who have preferred walkon status (all walkons in SD’s case because it’s definitely not D-I?), and you’d be competing against them.</p>

<p>Many baseball players do go to cc because of the three years that bind you to the U, if you choose it (but maybe not in SD’s case?). So the cc route is obviously done quite a bit because cc is only for two. I’m sure that many of these players were probably scholars as noted as yourself, but just had a dream of extending their playing careers at worst by attending cc.</p>

<p>If you’re looking for an out, because of the stress, I’m sure cc would be considerably less stressful. But on the other side of things, your motivation to do well may wane because I"m sure cc is incredibly less competitive. You do need some competition as a driving force to help you step up your study habits or at least maintain them.</p>

<p>The stress thing seems debilitating, but if things don’t go well at SD in bio/premed, you could always major in a social science and go into business, or be a nurse or the other things you stated. </p>

<p>Stress can be reduced while you’re at SD; you don’t necessarily have to go to cc to reduce it. Likewise cc probably isn’t a bad choice since you have athletic aspirations.</p>

<p>I don’t think there are any bad choices – just choose one, and everything will work out later.</p>

12

<p>First off, I would like to thank everybody for their input. Drax, your input has helped me feel more comfortable about my situation and the future. I agree that everything will eventually work out and I should just stop overthinking things. Thank you! I’ll give ucsd a try. </p>

<p>On the side note… I did not pass the analytical writing placement exam for ucsd so I would either have to take an English course over the summer or be behind a quarter which isn’t to bad. My question is if you recommend I do the course over the summer to get it out of the way? I really don’t have any plans at all for the summer too! I am interested in working part time as well, but idk where! Also, I plan on reviewing chemistry and math for fun. (: </p>

13

<p>Good luck in all your endeavors @TheLefty…</p>

14

<p>WAIT! I need a little bit more advice! I did not pass the analytical writing placement exam for ucsd so I would either have to take an English course over the summer or be behind a quarter when I start in the fall which isn’t too bad. My question is if you recommend I do the course over the summer to get it out of the way? I really don’t have any plans at all for the summer too! I am interested in working part time as well, but idk where! Also, I plan on reviewing chemistry and math for fun. (: OR should I just enjoy my summer!?</p>

15

<p>Why do you need convincing? I don’t know about SD’s summer programs, but if you do take the course, you should probably take it there. Maybe they have shortened classes that are only five weeks (but meet quite often), in which case you can have your cake and eat it too – fulfill the req and have some time during summer for work, play, etc. </p>

16

<p>You should be able to work part time and take the summer class. Taking that class this summer really is what you should do, you don’t want to start already behind!</p>

17

<p>Yeah, I looked at the schedule and it say’s 2 hours for twice a week, monday and wednesday. Starts June 30th - August 1st. </p>

18

<p>Good for you – get busy!</p>