<p>I was accepted to UCSD and UCSC as a transfer student, Sociology as a major. I live in San Diego and so am familiar with La Jolla and the beach there and have visited the campus and such. My family def wants me to go to UCSD for obvious reasons. However, I am worried about UCSD because I hear its socially unbearable, and I would consider myself more of a social person as opposed to studying all the time. Anyone have any pros/cons on the two schools? Some things Im interested in is:</p>
<p>Social Life (is UCSD THAT bad?)
Sociology Department
Housing (on campus)
Attitudes of the Students
Parties
Which UC has more difficult classes?</p>
<p>Also from what I hear is that people at UCSD usually stick to their ethnic background. Is that true? </p>
<p>I want to go to UCSD to please my family and its a great school, but I don't want to be miserable and such. My ultimate goal is to go to grad school, so would a 3.3 at UCSC be better than a 3.0 at UCSD for grad school acceptance purposes? I got accepted to Muir College and would probably be staying at the Village. </p>
<p>Thanks guys! first post so please be friendly :D</p>
<p>Best thing to do is visit both schools during a regular weekday, and compare them side by side. Go to the school you think you’d have the most fun at. Have you visited Santa Cruz, yet?</p>
<p>No I have not visited Santa Cruz yet. I think they have some day in April for transfer students where you get to visit the halls, classes,etc. I intend to go to that and finally visit the campus at that point. I hope whatever decision I make its the best one haha! I am leaning towards UCSC but my family def wants me to attend UCSD. I did get my answer about grad school and the different gpa’s by my Sociology professor who attended UCSD. He said that it really doesnt matter about the different GPA’s between really any 2nd teir UC school (UCSD, UCI, UCD, UCSC,etc) in order to have a better chance to get into grad school. It would only matter if you were at a teir 1 UC (BERKLEY and UCLA). It would matter between a CSU and a UC however. He said he got into grad school with a 3.3gpa for UCSD in ethnic studies and his friend got denied with a 3.8 from some CSU, I forgot which one. And thats because grad schools feel like UC, which are reasearch 1, better prepare you for grad school. But now im ranting!</p>
<p>I was sort of in your position as well. I got accepted to UCSB and UCSC. My parents wanted me to go to UcSB because its ranked higher and closer to home ( I live in LA). I visited both schools and I fell in live with Santa Cruz. It’s really beautiful, really close to the city, the people are amazing, I heard the teachers and staff are really helpful, and it has a great balance between social ans academic experiences. Santa Cruz is filled with openminded students that are very friendly, liberal, and down to earth. I was told that UcSC gives the most opportubitied for undergrads to help professors with research and studies. Also, I really think you should get out of your home time and experience college somewhere new. You already know whats in San Diego whereas Santa Cruz will be an exciting new adventure. They are both really great schools so you should make your decision based on which school you think will provide you with the best experience.</p>
<p>Yes thank you catchret I visited Santa Cruz yesterday and as you said absolutely fell in love with it. Im going to wait until I go to UCSD transfer admit on may 12th and for UCSC to give the financial aid reward, but if all goes well ill be a bananaslug!</p>
<p>UCSC gave me 25k in gift award so looks like its santa cruz (ucsd gave 20k and UCR also gave around 20k)</p>