UCSD vs. SDSU

Applying to College
1

<p>Where would you go? And why?</p>

<p>This is what I've heard of the schools, so correct me if I'm wrong!</p>

<p>UCSD - strong academics, amazing campus and location, great beaches, perfect weather, laid-back attitude but classes can get pretty competitive, lacking social life, sports aren't on everyone's mind, school spirit....not so much.</p>

<p>SDSU - academics are on the rise, great business and communication programs, sports are big but not the best, people are happy at SDSU, close to beaches, perfect weather, beautiful campus, amazing social life, crazy frat parties, students are laid-back.</p>

<p>It seems to me that SDSU may be a more desirable school, but does UCSD's academic dominance make up for its problems?</p>

2

<p>UCSD>SDSU. </p>

<p>There is no comparison academically. It is like comparing Cornell with Chico State. SDSU is just a party school.</p>

3

<p>It's probably more like comparing Cornell to UCSB...but when people argue certain points they always like to choose the extremes. If only people would study and remember the words of Socrates. He could change the mind of anyone, purely by asking questions, not giving extreme answers.</p>

<p>as Cornell is viewed as more prestigious than UCSD and SDSU is considered a better school than Chico State. </p>

<p>Although ironically, i would choose UCSB over Cornell any day. Beaches or Ithaca, New York. Point, set, match.</p>

4

<p>data source is mostly the Common Data Set (CDS):
<a href="http://ugr8.ucsd.edu/sriweb/cds/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ugr8.ucsd.edu/sriweb/cds/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://asir.sdsu.edu/app/cds0506.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://asir.sdsu.edu/app/cds0506.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>UCSD:
- located in suburban, affluent La Jolla
- 3 quarter terms</p>

<ul>
<li>20,339 undergraduate + 4,324 graduate students</li>
<li>267 of 20,339 undergrads are Black (1%)</li>
<li>7,757 are Asian (38%)</li>
<li>2,110 are Hispanic (10%)</li>
<li><p>6,824 are White (34%)</p></li>
<li><p>78% graduation rate within 6 years</p></li>
<li><p>41,330 applied</p></li>
<li><p>17,269 admitted (42% admit rate)</p></li>
<li><p>3,874 enrolled (F/T + P/T)</p></li>
<li><p>55% SAT Verbal >= 600</p></li>
<li><p>75% SAT Math >= 600</p></li>
<li><p>3.98 Avg. HS GPA</p></li>
<li><p>99% in top 10% of HS graduating class </p></li>
<li><p>05% out of state (excl. internationals)</p></li>
<li><p>40% join fraternaties/sororities</p></li>
<li><p>95% of freshmen live on campus</p></li>
<li><p>33% of soph/jr/seniors live on campus</p></li>
</ul>

<p>SDSU:
- located in urban, lower-income East San Diego
- 2 semester terms</p>

<ul>
<li>26,850 undergraduate + 5,843 graduate students</li>
<li>1,079 of 26,850 undergrads are Black (4%)</li>
<li>2,402 are Asian (9%)</li>
<li>5,825 are Hispanic (22%)</li>
<li><p>12,091 are White (45%)</p></li>
<li><p>53% graduate within 6 years</p></li>
<li><p>36,718 applied</p></li>
<li><p>16,266 admitted (44% admit rate)</p></li>
<li><p>4,105 enrolled (F/T + P/T)</p></li>
<li><p>18% SAT Verbal >= 600</p></li>
<li><p>29% SAT Math >= 600</p></li>
<li><p>3.49 Avg. HS GPA</p></li>
<li><p>no data provided for top 10% pct.</p></li>
<li><p>10% out of state (excl. internationals)</p></li>
<li><p>38% join fraternaties/sororities</p></li>
<li><p>63% of freshmen live on campus</p></li>
<li><p>13% of soph/jr/seniors live on campus</p></li>
</ul>

<p>There is a lot more data available in the CDS, but the quality of academic programs is not addressed.</p>

<p>The general consensus is that students go the UCSD to study and to SDSU to party. (probably an unfair assessment) </p>

<p>No California state college (CSU) can compare academically to a UC, not even Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which may have the best academic rep among CSUs.</p>

<p>SDSU is not a bad school; it may actually be one of the better urban CSUs.</p>

5

<p>there has been a mountain of data and discussion on these and other boards that refutes the contention that cal poly is inferior to any campus in the UC system.</p>

6

<p>these two schools are rarely compared as they are not generally considered in the same league. for academics and prestige, clearly choose ucsd. i believe ucsd is the 6th or 7th ranked public university in the nation, while sdsu is a fourth tier university i believe. for fun and parties choose sdsu. choose whatever is more important to you.</p>

<p>In general UCSD is thought to be a far superior University to SDSU. This doesnt meen SDSU doesnt have some great programs such as undergrad business, but SDSU isnt usually considered by the same kids who choose UCSD, UCLA, Berkeley, UCI ect.</p>

<p>UCSD>>>>SDSU</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
there has been a mountain of data and discussion on these and other boards that refutes the contention that cal poly is inferior to any campus in the UC system.

[/quote]
haha, I know that.</p>

8

<p>"there has been a mountain of data and discussion on these and other boards that refutes the contention that cal poly is inferior to any campus in the UC system."</p>

<p>The general consensus in these and other posts is that Cal Poly SLO is not academically inferior to the uc's other than UCSD, UCLA, UC Berkeley. Cal Poly SLO's freshman admit stats are just below the likes of UCI, UCSB, UCD, and just above the averages of UCSC and UCR. However, Cal Poly has some very very strong programs. I generally think the consensus is that Cal Poly SLO is viewed around the same level as UCI, UCSB, UCD.</p>

9

<p>I would choose UCSD over SDSU. :rolleyes:</p>

10

<p>Ucsd > Sdsu</p>

11

<p>i believe ucsd is in the top 5 for public universities in the nation.</p>

12

<p>to support previous posts UCSD is typically placed third among state universities behind UCB and UCLA. can anybody name any other place in the world where the third best public university is this elite? and what a location to boot!</p>

<p>but to call SDSU "fourth tier" is a bit of a slap. it has many outstanding programs. one poll does not a university make.</p>

13

<p>In CA, you can often judge how competitive a school is by the asian population. However, this is not an abosolute because UCI and UCR have a significant asian population but they are often the under achieving that couldn't get into a top 3 UC (Berkeley, SD, or LA).</p>

14

<p>let's put another spin on this. suppose the university of california system did not exist. i wonder then how observers might view the best units within the CSU. there is endless chatter here comparing davis or irvine to san diego or san luis. from personal experience on the faculties of carnegie research one (ie, big ten schools) institutions and that of the better CSUs, i and many other professors who have been in both see far fewer differences than those posted on these boards. as more private dollars are raised by the better CSUs (ie, like the $10 million san jose business just got) the lines continue to blur.</p>

<p>as suggested elsewhere the CSU is the largest state university system in the world. its campuses are incredibly different and diverse, and some--such as san diego, san jose, long beach and the two cal polys--stack up very nicely against many so called "flagship" publics in other states.</p>

<p>that said, i too would pick UCSD over SDSU almost across the board based purely on academics. a possible exception might be in communications but no longer in business given the type of faculty our triton friends are attracting to la jolla from places like yale.</p>

15

<p>Sorry, but UCSD Communication program is ranked #2 in media. SDSU didn’t even make the top 10 in any of the fields. So even though SDSU may have more concentrations I still would choose UCSD. SDSU is on the same level as CSUF and CSUN when it comes to Comm and none of these shools made the top 10 in Comm rankings.</p>

<p>Communication top 10 has UPENN, USC, , Cornell, UCSD, etc…</p>