Okay so the SIR deadline is coming up and I need help.
I’m an Econ major and I am debating on where to finalize my decision and submit my SIR.
- I understand that UCSD is basically the #3 go to UC behind Cal and UCLA, but I fear that I might not be able to make it over there. For the Econ major you need to complete up to Calc 3, and at the moment I have only Calc 1 and BusCalc finished (i can still attend the school though according to my counselor). I feel like I'm going to have to switch majors if it becomes too hard. And I would have to take out loans to live there.
- Now UCI is about 40 mins away from home and if I were to go there, I would basically be getting payed FAFSA money to attend there if I decided to commute 3-4 days a week. But I haven't really heard anything about job prospects for Econ majors that come out of UCI.
- UCSB is a great school and I've visited there multiple times and I have friends that go there. I am a party person myself, but seeing what the outcome has been for some of my friends, I don't know if it is the right place because I feel as if I will get distracted. Also, my fear is going there and not being able to pass their competitive Econ10A course which is meant to weed people out and ban them from the Econ Major. Plus I would have to take out some loans to live there.
Can anyone give me some advice on this please?
I’m in the same exact position.
- If you're not sure exactly what you want to do yet, and you're willing to put in the work (calc 3 isn't THAT tough of a class) I would consider SD. The rankings are high, but they are most a STEM school and most of your job prospects will be biotech in SD (there are stats available online if you care to look) Also very theoretically and you'll be well prepared for grad school.
- Again not sure what your career interests are but to my understanding, this has the best ocr and people do okay in finance/consulting. With that being said, I was just talking to someone in another thread who is a current student and said that majority of students have to go out of their way to secure a comfy job.
- I wouldn't let other people's success or or lack there of dictate your performance at a school. I have two friends who went there, both econ majors, both partied and enjoyed the relaxed environment. One is doing finance in SF and the other is in banking in LA. Also, from anecdotes from my friends, econ10A isn't THAT tough of a class and your gpa in micro/macro from cc will be calculated into your gpa http://www.econ.ucsb.edu/undergraduate/pre_major_gpa_policy.html
For all three of the schools you’ll probably have to grind a little harder and network a little more to secure a job, but at the end of the day, you’ll have to do that after your first job anyway so why not start sooner than later. Just my two cents and hopefully other people chime in with other opinions.
FWIW I’m still unsure where to go but have almost ruled out SD, but will post where I choose on tuesday
Good luck!
If you’re leaning away from SB, it seems like UCI is the best for you. I’m sure the job prospects are at least decent, as UCI is a fairly up and coming school (at least from what my UCI friend has told me).
You can also join a fraternity if you’re interested in partying - as far as I’m aware, all of the parties at UCI are through Greek orgs. My friend is in a frat and really enjoys it, regardless of the stigma.
If you’re leaning away from SB, it seems like UCI is the best for you. I’m sure the job prospects are at least decent, as UCI is a fairly up and coming school (at least from what my UCI friend has told me).
You can also join a fraternity if you’re interested in partying - as far as I’m aware, all of the parties at UCI are through Greek orgs. My friend is in a frat and really enjoys it, regardless of the stigma.
@travelabroad I’m looking towards the finance area. So from what you’re saying UCI is not too great when it comes to job prospects right…?
I would totally choose UCSB, the thing that I’m a little worried about is the horror stories I’ve heard regarding Econ 10A and people getting banned from the Econ major for not reaching the pass with B or above requirement.
The GPA thing is not a problem since I got A’s in all my prereqs.
Since you’re choosing mostly between UCI and UCSB what are you leaning towards?
UCI doesn’t do too bad. I’m in two of their business groups on facebook and they’ve had decent recruiting. There was even one guy organizing a trip to tahoe? for a PE summit although @fncrane would be able to offer better insight on UCI.
In my opinion, if econ10A is the ONLY thing holding you back, then I’d say go for it. No two students will have the same experience, and for all the students who don’t make it, there are still plenty that do. The final is what gets everyone, the curve is disgusting, but it’s definitely possible to do well in that class.
Honestly, I really don’t know. I mentioned in another thread that I feel like UCI is the safer bet but I’d get a better overall experience at SB. SB gets the bad party rep that it has but I feel like it’s a little over blown, kind of like how Berkeley is nothing but a bunch of hippie liberals, and I can’t imagine SD,SB, or Irvine’s ocr be much different from each other. Also, you seem to be interested in the party environment, I’ve PARTIED in IV and I’ve “partied” in Irvine and there is no comparison.
I’m interested in hearing @luckie1367 choice for UCI
From reading the original post, my mental pros and cons list for the OP:
UCSD: +‘more’ prestigious, -too far, -to expensive, -not as may pre reqs completed, -might have to change major.
So, if the only thing keeping UCSD in the running is the perceived prestigious factor, eliminate UCSD.
UCSB: +likes campus, +has friends there, -loans, -might have to switch major, +/- partying.
OP seems to know that going to UCSB and partying to hard like his friends might make it more difficult to get the grades he wants. That, coupled with the competitive major and the fact that he has to take out loans = eliminated.
So, while UCI is left, there is still some pros/cons to discuss:
- living at home and commuting. I know, its not the ideal college experience. I commute, and it is not fun. HOWEVER, living at home saves a significant amount of money. Student loans should not be taken lightly. Plus, the money OP saves could be put to something useful like a nice small car (about the equivalent of 1 year of housing) that will last for 5+years. That's a really good investment.
- unsure of job prospects. In another thread, someone was discussing that econ majors at UCI generally have internships by the end of their Junior year. If OP is unsure, he should call the econ department tomorrow and ask them what their graduates go on to do.
So, after this lengthy post (hopefully my reasoning was clear) UCI seems like the only option.
You could also live on campus your last year, if you’re looking for a “college experience” or find friends to rent an apartment (which will still be cheaper than the dorms).
@travelabroad What do you think you’re going to choose? Today is basically the last day…
and @luckie1367 You pretty much got everything spot on. Honestly I’m not going to college to party and stuff like yeah thats fun but the important thing is JOBS.
All I care about is graduating with a job ready to go.
I just wanted to put my opinion here since I was in the same exact situation. It was between UCI and UCSB but for engineering. I was accepted to UCI for Aerospace Engineering(Dream Major) and UCSB for Mechanical Engineering. I visited UCI with high hopes of loving it but at the end of the day it was not what I expected. I took a tour of UCI and it was okay, the tour guides were really into the fact that you can take selfies in aldrich park because there was wifi instead of the more academic side of UCI. Yes they talked about the buildings but it was a very dry tour and when I asked one of them( who was a mechanical engineering major) what kind of job prospects, internships or opportunities were available to students he had no idea and I even asked him about Space X and he didn’t know what that was. That was a red flag for me. After the tour, I decided to go to the career center and inquire about job prospects, internships and opportunities. The worker at the front desk asked me if I was a student, I told her that I was admitted and was visiting the campus to make my decision. She flat out told me that since I wasn’t a student she couldn’t tell me anything and once I have committed to the school then to go on my Zotportal and find them there. I asked her if I could ask about companies that graduates get hired from and she said no because I wasn’t a student. That was a real turn off and I found their lack of help really killed my image of the school.
I proceeded to the engineering building and I went to the student affairs office and the guy at the front desk told me I couldn’t meet with anyone who could answer my questions. He said that once I SIR to the school a DETAILED email will go out and then it will go from there. Honestly I just wanted to know the basics and nobody would help me.
On the other hand, when I visited UCSB I met with an Engineering adviser and she outlined my schedule of classes, she told me what the major entailed, answered all my questions including traveling abroad. I almost felt like buying her flowers because she took time out of her day to talk to me, and that is something that UCI couldnt provide. I love the transparency of the staff and faculty at UCSB because they are proud of their graduates who go on to Boeing, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. Their caring nature for their students is amazing and even though UCI had my dream major and they offered me more aid, I chose UCSB because they want to help aid you through the process. I was fine with Mechanical Engineering since the classes are basically the same and it is a good foundation for grad school in which I want to pursue Aerospace. I got in contact with a professor there about my ambitions into Aerospace and he told me everything I needed to do and that there were various students who go mechanical first then aerospace for grad school and outlined the classes and concentrations that would be great for grad school. It was amazing how different UCSB was to UCI.
I wracked my brain for 12 hours a day reading student reviews and anything I could find on the internet, but it wasn’t until I visited that I knew which school was for me. I checked Rate my professor to see how the instructors at UCSB compared to those of UCI and found that UCSB has professors who care about their students learning the material and that was important to me. They have smaller class sizes than UCI as well which also helps give you that individual attention if you need it.
I’m not a party person, I’m a Catholic girl born and raised in Los Angeles and I have worked too hard to let myself be consumed by the party atmosphere. I understood that UCSB was known for the parties but they are also known for their academics and a strong Engineering school with ties to industry. It comes down to the student and how they can balance both fun and play.
I’m sorry about the long post! But I hope this helps!
So it is today? I thought we had until the 1st. Idk, I’ve convinced myself of both schools in the last 48 hours. The thing that I’m stuck on is that UCI probably is the safer school and I don’t want SB’s reputation to hurt me, but I’m pretty confident I’d have a higher gpa at SB
How about you?
I was looking at this thread, it may provide some insight: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/912303-compare-the-job-opportunities-with-an-econ-degree-from-ucsd-ucd-ucsb-uci.html
just as i was starting to reconvince myself of uci… @ShuttlepilotND 
I’m sorry! It could be different for Econ :-/
I swear if it wasn’t for this damn Econ 10A course I would’ve been 100% set on UCSB.
But it’s just a nightmare thinking about what could happen.
I went from failing almost every class at CSU straight out of high school due to an illness to attending a community college for 2 yrs raising my gpa from 2.0 to 3.5
To have all that work and time go wasted because I couldn’t meet the B+ requirement for Econ 10A just scares me.
I’m going to visit UCSB one more time tomorrow.
@ShuttlepilotND I didn’t really like the feel for UCI either. But the fact that I would literally be payed to go to that school and not have to worry about a weeder course just makes me feel safer.
@travelabroad Any specific reason as to why you’ve completely ruled out UCSD?
@tonystark93, same thing with my daughter. At berkeley she cannot get into her major until she takes media studies 10 with a B- or above. It’s a weeder class and she emailed the dept who replied that it’s deliberately hard. While the odds are she would pass, it’s pressure, having never taken a class on the Cal campus and not knowing how the transition will go. She decided instead to do an interdisciplinary major, which in the end, is more to her liking anyway.
At UCLA last year when she got into Communications (she later withdrew), there was also a weeder. The difference was she was already accepted into the major and the major recommendation for transfers was to take the weeder second term or later so you can acclimate first. You can’t do that at Cal as you need the course to declare, so you need to get it out of the way. And what happens if you get a C+?
I consider that a BIG flaw.
In your case B+ is extremely intense.
@ShuttlepilotND you have nailed my experience exactly with the administration at UCI. Every time I’ve gone to an office with a question I’ve always felt like a major inconvenience for asking someone to DO THEIR JOB. Aside from academics and personal feelings about the campus, I’ve always been treated like a number and nothing more here, and that has been my main reason for wanting to leave.
@lindyk8 UCLA psych has some too. 100A (stats) isn’t that bad, but I’ve heard 100B can be a dealbraker
@fncrane I thought it was just me but now I’m glad that I didn’t choose UCI. I was afraid that I would just be another number instead of a student. I hope you get to where you want to go
@ShuttlepilotND haha that’s okay! the more perspectives the better!
@TonyStark93 I didn’t care for the environment/culture and I want to work in la and felt it was the least likely of the three to put me in a position to work there. not a bad school by any means though. Also, I may have glanced over it before but getting paid to go to uci is pretty tempting