UCSD vs. UCSB Pre-Med

Hi! I’m a high school senior and an incoming freshman in college as pre-med. I plan on my major being either in Biochemistry or around Neuroscience/Biopsychology. As a pre-med student, I want to be on a campus that provides opportunities to expose myself to the medical field. I’ve also considered joining clubs and what not. For financial status, both colleges leave me with about the same net cost. I live in San Diego which means I’m much closer to UCSD. Can I go wrong with either choice? Is there any advice out there that could help me choose? Is there something that I should consider? Students from either UCSD or UCSB, please tell me what the campus is like for you as students. I want to gain more perspective from students, instead of basic information on campus tours. I know that UCSB is considered a “party school” but that’s something I don’t mind. I will decide whether I want it to be a distraction or not. I just want to know about the environment, club opportunities, pre-med advising, and classes. Thanks, guys!

you cant go wrong with either choice, but id say the schools are kind of social opposites. While UCSD has the advantage of having a medical school, UCSB has pre-med frats/sororities, clubs, advising, etc. I believe our pre med students intern at goleta valley cottage hospital which isnt too far from the campus. If i was you I’d pick based on which school fits you better. I am a ucsb student so i can talk to you about that campus.

As far as party school goes, ucsb is not the school it used to be. We are no longer a playboy level school but the party scene is pretty active. Theres no official frat row or anything so party houses/streets change from year to year within IV. If you dont want to party it’s pretty easy to get away from it. As a first year, dorms wont be crazy so if you stay in you’re in the clear unless your roommates are loud. From second yr on if you live in IV, depending on where you live you might be by some loud houses. Noise ordinance is at 10pm on weekdays and 12am on weekends and it’s followed very strictly here. If you want quiet before the ordinance takes place, the library is open 24 hrs for students and there is the pardall center in iv to study at.

People here are generally pretty nice and laid back. Lots of surfers, greek life, international students, etc, etc. I was choosing between UCSD and UCSB as well and something that was a big factor was the reputation UCSD has for being a very cut throat competitive school. Of course UCSB is competitive as well but depending on your major you’re usually not working against each other (untrue for a pre econ major!).

Living in IV after your first year is really fun and im not sure if UCSD has something equivalent. Imagine a pretty small town (everything in walking distance) completely full of college students. IV does get heavily regulated during certain times of the year though. We dont really have a halloween weekend because of the mass amount of cops out/road blocks/etc thanks to previous riots and whatnot. It’s celebrated the week after/during the week though. Deltopia brings a lot of cops around as well.

Our campus itself i think is really pretty. I believe we are closer to the beach than UCSD, some freshman dorms are across the street from it. Weather is about the same for both.

If you want the ability to go out and party casually, laid back peers, college town life, etc, Id pick UCSB. Maybe someone from UCSD can compare the two based on what I’ve said! If you’re interested in something else just lemme know!

Also classes!!
your first two years will be full of giant classes here ~200-800 people in them. 200 in chem usually and around 800 in lower div bio. they try to weed as many people out as possible from bio majors because there are so many pre-bio’s here. This year they held the bio classes all at 8am (3-4 days a week) which sucked lol. It’s a little difficult to get into some highly desired GE’s because of the amount of students here (intro to ethics is a very popular one i havent been able to get into!) but as a junior/senior it’s easier because your registration is earlier.

Our gen chem professors here are all pretty awesome, ochem and bio profs are a little shaky.

Thank you so much!!! This was EXTREMELY helpful. I appreciate your time and advice! @Merle123

I’ll chime in with a UCSD perspective—I think the other poster is understating the importance of having a med school on campus. Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital has 28 inpatient beds. On UCSD’s campus (not even counting Scripps Green Hospital and UCSD Medical Center Hillcrest, which are near campus):

Jacobs Medical Center - 364 beds
VA Medical Center San Diego - 296 beds
Scripps Memorial Hospital - 444 beds
Prebys Cardiovascular Institute
Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center
Moores Cancer Center
Shiley Eye Institute
Koman Outpatient Pavilion

Look these up on a map or on US News hospital rankings. I don’t doubt that there are many qualified premeds at UCSB as well, but smaller hospitals don’t have as much infrastructure for undergraduates to volunteer and participate. I imagine those few spots available are highly sought-after. As a premed at San Diego, I’ve volunteered at the VA and worked for Moores Cancer Center. These opportunities extend past the clinical setting as well. UCSD gets $1.1 billion in research funding, with around $750 million going to biological and biomedical research. UCSB’s campus gets around $200 million. It’s not that that $200 million isn’t high quality research, because it absolutely is. And UCSD does have a lot of competition for the “best” research labs, the ones with nationally recognized PIs and the like. But every single pre-health major I know has worked in a lab or easily landed a medical internship, whether on campus or at one of the hundreds of nearby companies or research institutes. The breadth of opportunities is something I can’t stress enough.

Of course, your resume isn’t everything, and you wanna be able to enjoy your four years. While UCSD isn’t “socially dead”, it’s definitely not a party school. You won’t just happen across parties and kickbacks—you need to talk to people and make friends, and if you do you won’t ever really get bored or lonely. We’re all here to have a good time, so while there’s no giant frat row, there’s plenty of spots people go to congregate and party.

I’ll concede that Isla Vista is just a better place to be as a student. UCSD doesn’t have a traditional student ghetto; it’s mostly suburbs and apartments around the campus (which, if you haven’t visited yet, is gigantic. Didn’t fully register that until I got here.) But I think what La Jolla lacks, San Diego more than makes up for. Going to Taco Tuesdays in North Park, Welfare Wednesdays in Hillcrest, Thirsty Thursdays in Pacific Beach and clubs or bars downtown on Friday and Saturday is an awesome set of options to have once you turn 21 and get bored of frat parties. In addition, it’s a beautiful city to explore during the day with perfect weather and gems like La Jolla Cove, Balboa Park, Seaport Village, and Coronado Island. My friend who visited a couple of times from Davis was always in awe at how much there was to do within twenty minutes of campus. There’s also great hiking, pristine beaches, caves and cliffs, and a hang glider airstrip on campus. Anyone who tells you you’ll get bored in San Diego is lying. Tl;dr I love this school the opportunities it offers and everyone here and you might love it too

To add on, academically, it’s really tough. I thought I was hot ish coming out of high school, and my bioengineering and biology classes smacked me across the face with some reality. I don’t think it’s cutthroat in the sense that the other poster made it out to be, though; I get the sense that we’re all collectively screwed so we also try to work together to help each other out. You don’t hear the horror stories of students sharing fake notes like you do at Berkeley and some other notoriously cutthroat schools. But it’s hard to get great grades, so keep that in mind.

There are a lot of resources, though, whether that’s TAs or tutors or office hours. Professors aren’t always the best lecturers, because they’re here to do research. I’ve found that the bio department has a lot more lecturers who aren’t professors, and they tend to be better at their jobs. Upper division chem and biochemistry are more hit or miss.

I have to say, I’ve lived in SD all my life and I’ve never gained this perspective of SD. Thank you for your thoughts! After hearing your experience, UCSD doesn’t seem that bad anymore. I always believed that UCSD was cutthroat. Pre-med opportunities such as volunteer work at a hospital are very important to me too. I’m currently volunteering at the VA with a surgical podiatrist and have at least 400 hours with them. You’re right about the wide opportunities with the hospitals in SD. Thank you for your time! @DoctorP

@tina6614 maaaaan I totally missed the part where you mentioned you already live here my bad! as someone who moved here from San Jose this city’s amazing and so are all the biotech opportunities and hospitals around

@DoctorP that is so funny. I was born in San Jose! I visit there all the time and yeah I agree. San Diego compared to San Jose, makes this city seem better haha!