UCSD vs Northeastern

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! I have a friend who’s deciding between UCSD and Northeastern. He got into both schools as a biology major. He’s very conflicted about where to go because every school has its pros and cons and he doesn’t know where he would really fit. UCSD is definitely his top choice, and the cheaper choice, however, they’re known to be known as “UC Socially Dead” and he’s afraid that he would fall behind with their competitive academics. I believe this is also his top choice because of the location because we’re from the east coast. With Northeastern, he also was accepted into the study abroad program. He likes how for Northeastern, it’s easy to switch programs in case he doesn’t like what he’s in.

What school would be a better fit for him, academically and socially?

2

@slew2910 I think UCSD is a better choice for him. The “socially dead” moniker is untrue, it’s 30K college kids, if he doesn’t find a party he’s not looking. A lot of people study abroad, and critically, there are a ton of biotech companies and research institutes in the surrounding area (meaning he’ll be able to pad his resume without having to compete directly with Harvard and MIT kids). If he did well enough to get in and keeps working hard, he’ll be able to keep up with UCSD academics. Finally, unless he wants to switch to engineering, math or Econ, he can switch to any major at UCSD freely.