<p>A lot of folks would love to trade places with you, Personally I would not give up on UCSD unless I have severe financial issues. Commuting is hard for freshman year. also did you apply to any privates?</p>
<p>I didn’t apply to privates…but another thing, my AP test scores earn me some credit at UCR, while at UCSD, I get pretty much nothing…My english score is useless because of this mandatory MMW. I didn’t see chemistry or ap us history helping me out either…</p>
<p>i think you are hung up on MMW, other than GE, ap credits should be same across UCs. I get the feeling you will be happy at UCR, and you are ok with commuting. Then just go for it, also UCSD will be more competetive to get to med school.</p>
<p>So will my ap credits count somewhere at ucsd? or were they useless? To be honest, ucsd was my dream school, but I think these ge’s are ridiculous…</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/pdf/APC-chart-11-12.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/pdf/APC-chart-11-12.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks, but one question. Where do elective college credits apply exactly? That’s where I’m confused.</p>
<p>First off, as others have emphasized, DO NOT GO TO A SCHOOL FOR REPUTATION. Many people every year turn down Cal to go to other UCs simply because it is in the dumpiest most unfriendly city of all the UCs. Visit both, and without thinking about money, determine which you would be happier at. That would be my initial response. </p>
<p>Secondly, don’t get hung up on ERC’s GEs and MMW. Sure it’s a long class, and it may seem like a waste of time, but that’s no reason to not attend a college you favor. Having to do more GEs is also not a waste of money, unless you get caught up in class registration and have to take a fifth year. That scenario could happen at UCR or UCSD.</p>
<p>AP credits do usually count to get rid of many gen eds at all the UCs. The only course than cannot be taken away is MMW.</p>
<p>Commuting can also be extremely difficult. People don’t realize just how hard it is to live off-campus, especially as a freshman. </p>
<p>Overall, I would say you need to visit both and determine which one fits you better. Unless you got a mega amount of scholarships at UCR, their cost is roughly the same. If you live off campus, though, tuition is more expensive at UCSD than at UCR, but UCR’s room and board is more expensive than UCSD’s.</p>
<p>You have to remember as well that you may not be challenged as much at UCR as you would be at UCSD. UCSD also has a well established medical school and, while Riverside’s MAY be up in the next 4 years, it won’t be worth nearly the same amount degree-wise. UCSD also offers many MANY more opportunities outside of education. Taking part in research programs at UCSD might end up doing you a world of good when it comes to applying to medical school. If you like UCSD better, even if slightly, and your parents can come up with the money, then you may regret not making that choice. Though, as others have said, undergrad really doesn’t matter if you plan on going to grad school. </p>
<p>It should be easy for you to succeed at UCR, and I am confident that regardless of which one you go to, you’ll end up where you’re supposed to be education and career-wise. Just make sure you take into account every little factor. You’ll be spending the next 4 years of your life there.</p>
<p>Also, an elective is anything outside of your major reqs and GE that you need to take to fulfill your credit requirements. Just as a randomly chosen example, say you need 120 credits to graduate. You get 60 from your major requirements and 30 from your gen ed. You then need to take another 30 (of which you can choose, hence “elective”) to fulfill your graduation requirements. This is often where people apply for a minor.</p>
<p>I would should UCR too because money is important and where you go does not really matter it’s still a good school and it depends more on you whether or not you will succeed.</p>
<p>@dyno, thanks you really helped me out. In all honesty, I think I wanted to go to UCSD just because it had the reputation and the campus was beautiful. But I don’t take stress easily, I feel like I might just perish over there. I mean I lost 15 pounds my junior year due to AP stress. I just don’t think I would be entirely happy over there. and I’m pretty dependent…the thought of being away from family so suddenly is a huge hit for me. Sure it’s beautiful and one of the best schools in the nation, but I would never be at ease knowing I’m making my parents struggle and taking money away from them. Plus MMW just seems like a class that would turn me off. I would probably have no interest in it at all. I like english on its own. Integrated with history sounds gross…But yeah, my mom’s whole yearly paycheck would be dedicated only to me. It just seems unfair, and I would hate to live with that guilt…</p>
<p>At least at UCR, I’d have time to adapt and I wouldn’t have the guilt of driving my family broke.</p>
<p>I think if i had been admitted to muir or warren I’d probably go to UCSD without a doubt, but as it is now…I really just don’t see much good in it besides reputation.</p>
<p>I mean, I can always transfer to their med school or UCLA’s later on can’t I?</p>
<p>ERC’s GE’s are not that bad from what I hear. They shouldn’t detract you from going to UCSD. Of course, if you’re super dependent, UCR would be the right choice for you, but you should try to wean yourself off of that dependency. I mean, college is the time to become an adult. </p>
<p>Also, you’re supposed to try new things during college. You sound very closed minded when you say English integrated with history would be gross. If you give things a try, you might actually like them. I came into college with a bunch of prejudiced notions, and a lot of them have changed, because I took this time to go outside of my comfort zone. </p>
<p>If you feel this strongly about GE’s you should just give UCSD admissions a call and beg for a different college. I haven’t really heard anyone say anything too bad about the MMW series (unlike the HUM series for Revelle), but if you feel this strongly about it, you should do whatever it takes to get a change.</p>
<p>Sadly, they really won’t offer a change until after a year :(</p>
<p>Can I just take this chance to say that my primary debates are</p>
<p>-money (dorming at UCSD v commute at UCR)
-time (Having to take multiple GE’s at UCSD, taking time away from my core courses)</p>
<p>I don’t care as much about “name” or “prestige.”
As long as I can do what I love and get to the career I dream of (OB-GYN or pediatrician), without causing trouble for my family and wasting time and $, I’ll be happy.</p>
<p>Sure I got into UCSD, but if I can do the same thing at UCR, I don’t see why it would be bad…</p>
<p>Given your situation, I would go to UCR. The only upside to UCSD is the reputation, and I personally don’t care about that much so I would definitely pick UCR. When I applied back in 2010, it was just easier to stay in SD for me, so I didn’t even bother to apply to Cal or UCLA (even though Cal is the #1 program in the country for my major). College is what you make out of it anyway :)</p>
<p>Just so you know, you’ll easily graduate within 4 years with a Biology major even with a heavy GE courseload, which ERC does not have (compared to Revelle). It’s pretty easy to graduate within 3 years without taking too heavy of a quarterly courseload at UCSD for a Bio major, since you don’t actually have to take as many classes as say an engineering major, so time shouldn’t be a deciding factor in your decision.</p>
<p>I get the feeling it is more than money, I think you really are more of UCR fit. It may be easier to get a higher GPA and easier to get to medschool. I really get the feeling you want to stay home and I checked your scores. You may have a hard time with the MMW and if you come with a preconcieved idea, you wont do as well. Honestly go to UCR, do well and focus on med school in 4 years.</p>
<p>@gaiou37: Yeah, the whole “reputation” thing is just a hype honestly.
@zeezibah: I guess it’s not just GE’s but getting pre-reqs done for med school…
@tryingfor college: I would tackle MMW, but yeah, history was one of my weaker points. I was pretty strong in english. But it really just doesn’t seem like my thing…</p>
<p>if only ucla would take me :(</p>
<p>UCLA’s reputation is just hype. LOL.</p>
<p>The reason why premeds take Bio majors is because it basically fulfills all med school prereq requirements. What I’m saying is that it won’t take you any extra time to graduate from UCSD rather than UCR (if you plan on taking an average courseload and graduating in 4 years). I was a transfer student, didn’t start taking premed coursework until my sophomore year, had no AP credit, most of my classes didn’t transfer when I came to UCSD, but at the end of my 3rd year (total), I’ll still be done with all premed requirements, and I could graduate with a bio major in 4 total years with two quarters of 12 unit courseloads next year.</p>
<p>Also, I’m no expert on med school admissions, but if you try very hard on MMW and get great grades, that would reflect well upon you in the admissions process. You need to have writing classes for med school anyways, so you would have to take some kind of writing at UCR too. And in most schools, you have to take a foreign language anyways. I’m guessing you have compared GE’s and UCR’s are more lax, but I doubt they are different enough to warrant going to UCR just because of GE’s.</p>
<p>The money issue is totally your call though; I’m just giving you insight on GE’s and stuff.</p>