Hi, so i got into ucsd for human biology and ucsb for pre biology and I’m trying to go down the premed route. Right now I’m leaning more towards ucsd since i heard that its bio department is really good and the school recieves alot of money for research. However, I also know that ucsb’s overall ranking is higher and that the campus life there is way better than ucsd, which many say is socially dead and boring. I’m really trying to prioritize not only the major and research resources at an university but also the social life. Anyone have any suggestions?
Also i got the honors thing for ucsb, dont know if that makes any difference
The socially dead rumor of UCSD is false. If you try, you can easily make friends. There is a FB group for incoming freshmen, where I made a lot of my friends. Many clubs and orgs on campus. UCSB is more of a party school, true. But if you try and look, you will be able to find them.
As for the online ranking, take that with a grain of salt. The rankings are very subjective and not reflective of everything the school has to offer. There are so many labs and research opportunities on and in close proximity of UCSD, as well as 3 major hospitals. You will be able to quickly get hours here. I am a human bio (premed) at UCSD as well, so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask
@j678jgpo hi, thank you so much for your reply! When I applied UCSD, they asked me to rank the colleges and at the time I really didn’t know much about them so I kind of randomly ranked them. However, upon researching them, I heard that Muir was the most preferred college as it has the least GEs and location is good. I got put into warren college which i don’t really know much about besides that it is apparently located in the worst location. I dont know if you know much about warren college or not but I was curious if it is ever possible to switch colleges. I know it is like extremely hard to but im thinking of graduating in 3 years and small number of GEs does sound enticing.
Also, do you know if you choose the suite you’re put in or is it random?
Thank you so much for your time!
It is possible, but very unlikely. Here is some info on switching: https://academicaffairs.ucsd.edu/_files/ug-ed/uaac/ICTCriteria.pdf
By the time you’re able to request to switch, you’ll already be done with quite a few of your GEs. My friends in warren say that the PofC courses you need to take are great for starting a minor, so that’s a plus.
In terms of housing, you can choose your roommates and apply for either an apartment or dorm. If you don’t get into the apartments, then you’re placed in the dorms. However, you don’t get to pick the specific suite.
@j678jgpo Hi, thank you for your reply! Kind of a stupid question but are most of the students satisfied with the college theyre in. Is there any significant difference between the colleges? Thanks!
@j678jgpo and i’m guessing you dont get to choose your suitemates right
No, they are randomly assigned. You might be able to when you’re a second year, which is what I’m trying to figure out right now as a current first year. In my personal experience, I choose both of my roommates because they were my friends, which was nice. But the random suitemates helped me expand outside of the social circle I was in before and definitely helped me make new friends