UCSD vs UCD vs Cal Poly SLO

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone! It’s literally only a week until SIRs are due and I STILL can’t decide where to go, so any opinions are appreciated! The prices for all three schools for me about the same, as all three are in-state- tuition, so money is not a factor.
Stuff like dorms, food, transportation, etc don’t really matter to me. I care about the reputation, grad school and job prospects, interships/ recruiting, fit for major, social scene, and classes not being too difficult so I can keep a good GPA.

UC San Diego: Major: International Business but I am thinking of changing to Business Economics or maybe something else
Pros:

  • Best reputation- for grad schools and jobs
  • Prestige of UCSD validates my efforts in high school, otherwise I kinda feel like it was all for nothing haha
  • Near the beach- good for surfing
    Cons:
  • Literally nicknamed UC Socially dead, that’s how bad it is (this is the biggest con by far for me- I was really looking forward to a fun, traditional college experience)
  • No traditional college experience and no football team
  • Heavily STEM focused, known for STEM majors
  • No college town, La Jolla is filled with older rich people
    *No pure business major, which I was considering. They have business economics. Their business program is not well established like the other programs such as engineering are.

UC Davis: Undecided- college of agriculture and Environmental Sciences but I am thinking of changing to Business Economics or maybe something else
Pros:

  • Chill, friendly people
  • Lots of trees
  • Has a college town
  • More social than UCSD, although I’m not sure how social it really is
    Cons:
  • It’s just hard to me to get excited about it, it seems almost, underwhelming?
  • Too close to home
  • Don’t like the surrounding area (Sacramento Area), and there isn’t much to do outside of Davis itself, which is pretty small
  • No pure business major, known for STEM

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo- Business Administration

Pros:

  • Learn by doing
  • Good business school and job prospects, companies recruit there because of the learn by doing
  • Lovely college town and a Beautiful campus near the beach
  • More Parties and more of a traditional College experience
  • School environment just fits me more
  • I get the most excited when I think about going here
    Cons:
  • I want to potentially move to Europe, and a UC would look much better applying to jobs over there. UC has international prestige, cal poly is unheard of past the west coast, as far as I know. Basically- poorer reputation.
  • I have no idea what I want to do with my life and I will probably change my major at some point. I heard its much harder to change majors here and you spend less time taking general ed classes. I would want to take more general ed classes because I want to have more time to explore different subjects.
  • It would not look nearly as good when applying to grad school as a UC school. I heard Cal Poly is more for people who want a job straight out of college, but I may want to go to grad school.
  • Apparently many people here are “fake” and image-obsessed.
  • Lack of Diversity

I am also considering San Diego State and University of Washington, but UW is out- of -state tuition so I probably shouldn’t go there.

2

EDIT: My major currently is Business/ and or economics but I have zero clue what I want to do with my life. I don’t think I should choose a school based on only one major because I’m so unsure, but choose a school that has many great majors to choose from.

3

Cal Poly students can and do go to grad schools with strong reputations. Most don’t as they get good jobs right out of school. In fact most students from most schools don’t go to grad school. The school will not be an impediment.

Now switching majors could be a bigger issue. Within the B School you’d probably be fine, but moving into engineering might not happen depending on your application stats.

As for students attitudes, my son is a grad and particularly attracted to genuine people an put off by facade. He never mentioned that was an issue at CP. He wasn’t in the Greek system though where, at any school, that tends to be a bigger deal.

As for Europe, get a job or two and you’ll be fine. The chances of landing a Euro job straight out of undergrad in the US are probably not very good.

Lastly, CP is more white than some of the UC schools, but it isn’t for lack per se of brown students. There are fewer Asian students. The total of Black and Latinx percentage at CP is the same as UCB.

Good luck with your choice.

4

Sounds like SLO is the winner both financially and socially.

5

I agree with @eyemgh and @lkg4answers . Cal Poly SLO is a great place to spend 4 years and it does have a very good reputation. Of the 15 schools we visited, UCSD had the worst vibe. Your observations seem dead on. I liked Davis, but DD did not. If it’s too close to home, then CP is better for you.

I work for a European company and this is my third. I was not hired for my undergraduate or even graduate school, even though both are highly ranked. Europeans rarely pay attention to rankings, especially in my field (tech sales). I was hired for my experience, contacts, and industry knowledge. That’s your best bet–getting a job and then moving over. You may want to study abroad and really learn the language too during undergrad, although business is conducted mostly in English these days.

To me, Cal Poly is a good fit for what you want, and it’s about $25K less over 4 years. I didn’t notice image being an issue here at all. Saw lots of people dressed in sweats, like they just rolled out of bed.

You may also consider the International Business program at SDSU. It is supposedly very good.