USC vs. UCSD

College Search & Selection
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<p>Enough, Chris. </p>

<p>In this thread, we have seen different education at work, and we have seen different horizons. We certainly diagree on a lot of things, but we agree each school has its selling point. Let students and their parents to make the decision. </p>

<p>To lump all science departments into one is not very appropriate, but it sounded a nice way to charaterize UCSD as a school. It is up to you to take Econometrics, Cognitive Psychology, Comparitive whatever, Experimental Psychology as a field, and then call School of Education, Communication, or even Business as a sub-field. We enjoy the different view from you.</p>

<p>Last, I hope students at UCSD enjoy their Nobel laureates, as we do at USC. Yes we have that too, and Turing, and Oscar, and Pulitzer, and etc.</p>

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<p>Flopsy,</p>

<p>That is the best piece I have ever seen from you:) I tried very hard to find negtive things about USC from it. Yeah there are something I don't like about, but it is mostly truth, fair assessment. Actually that makes me very nervous about you changing attack strategies towards USC from your old hit<em>n</em>run ways:)</p>

<p>Maybe you want to use USC to evelvate UCLA's profile??? I am so unsure about your UC people ...</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I don't really trust the reporting from UC, at least that 94% at UCSD are top 10% in high school is very suspicious.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>In order to be accepted to a UC, you generally have to be ranked top 12.4% of your high school. Most UC students are actually top 10%. UCSD is one of the better UCs, so most of their students should be in the top 10%</p>

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<p>UCSD
Students in top 10% of HS class: 99%</p>

<p>USC
Students in top 10% of HS class: 85%</p>

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<p>umm...i love how all you guys got completely side-tracked from the original question...you can spend hours arguing about which college is better than which, but each college has its strong point. I am from ucsd, and i am very proud of the fact that my school is one of the stronger ones in the sciences and engineering (bio-engineering for that matter). I'll juss give my take on ucsd/usc using flopsy's categories and from what i hear (i have two close cousins there...one in pharmacy program and business)...</p>

<p>student body - pretty much any college you go to, you'll find the similar set of students. sure, ucsd gets the rap for being nerdy, but that isn't to say usc does not have strong academically motivated students either. as for diversity, yes, ucsd does have a lot of asian (asians have the majority of acceptance at uc's) than usc...but this is where you guys have soooo many problems...earlier, you guys were arguing about average sat scores, gpa, act, etc....CMON you guys are smarter than that...what happens to any statistical data when the group size is a lot larger for one than the other? you get more representation, meaning that just cuz usc's scores are higher does not necessarily mean there are more "smarter" people there...for example, lets say 10% are national merit out of a group of 1000....vs....5% out of a group of 4000, do the math and tell me which has more smarter people (but this also means not as smart people level out the scores) but yes, i will agree that ucsd has waaaaay more people than usc, and that is a downside too, cuz its such a vast campus, rather than a closely knit one like usc...
bottomline: basically the same</p>

<p>academics - like i said earlier, both colleges excel in many different area (kinda makes you wonder, what kind of supercollege it would be if they combined...hahaha) but it is true, privates do give you the more personal feel, and in my opinion, i would prefer a private for the student:professor ration, even though i dont ever talk to professors (honestly, who does? who says, "hey prof, let's enjoy a cup of tea and go drinking cuz since we have such a low student:teacher ratio, we can spend time together!) but as for TA's leading discussions..yeah, it's not very good, but for the most part, if you're smarter than the average kid, you don't really need to go to discussion to learn, and if you do have questions, ask the teacher...so in my opinion, i could care less bout studnet:teacher ratio.<br>
bottomline: toss up, really depends on what major you want to be</p>

<p>campus life - ucsd life, as many will agree, is not as poppin as usc, with the greek row. the absence of a nearby greek row at sd does drag on the whole partying scene, as most will occur off campus and are closed off only to frat members. if you go to ucsd, you will notice how after 5pm, the campus is DEAD....sure people are partying in their rooms/suites..but definately not like the frat parties i've seen at usc...also, the driving issue is a drag at ucsd, considering that la jolla is such an upscale community that there aren't very many places you can walk to (there is the bus to utc and fashion valley, but meh) the same goes for usc...for those who don't know and for those who want to defend it so much, usc is in the ghetto...people are afraid to park in the streets for getting their cars vandalized, high fences are all around the school to prevent as much crime, and there are constant crime alerts all across campus (when visiting usc and going to the frat house, there was a crime alert about someone robbed two students at gunpoint at the end of frat row and there were helicopters with searchlights flying around....scary). usc does also have the driving issue, cuz, who wants to walk through the ghetto, esp at night? this said, ucsd has the better atmosphere (though not rai now...cloudy..grr). it is right next to the beach, so for people who like to surf like me, its awesome. as for campus activites, usc has faaar more school-sponsored events, which i personally liked and wish sd had more of (though we do have SUN GOD!!! aww yeah! this friday, ucsd will deplete all alcohol in la jolla)
bottomline: toss up again...</p>

<p>now here's one category i thought should always be a HUGE factor in choosing schools, or it was partially for me...
COSTS - there is no way you can deny the fact that if you're from cali, sd will be way cheaper. sure, sc gives out a lot of scholarships, but they can only give out so many. for me (i live in cali and have regents) with the help of a couple scholarships, i only paid around $7,000 for everything this year (including housing, food, tuition) my cousins, even with $20,000 scholarship (that is a CRAPLOAD) they still have to fork over an additional $20,000 a year. And me, being a somewhat stingy guy who values his money, would need a LOT of persuading to even consider usc...maybe a car? haha
bottomline: uc pricing for CA residents beats out private institution costs...</p>

<p>so, in my opinion...IN MY OPINION (i don't want an onslaught of posts screaming how i don't know my stuff) sd has the advantage in the areas that i was looking for: financial, academics (im bio), and location (beach). that said, i wish i could have sc's social life and the smaller student: teacher ratio (which equals less competition).</p>

<p>GO SD TRITONS! (keep in mind that our football team is better than usc! we're undefeated! ;D .... for those who are like....***....don't worry, we're also winless...hehe...but UNDEFEATED nonetheless)</p>

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<p>great post nathanmlee</p>

<p>i faced the same exact decision between UCSD vs. USC (it was more of a problem haha). i wanted to major in electrical engineering, but for SURE my school had to have some sort of music engineering/music recording minor. UCSD came close enough with ICAM Minor and the ability to choose classes that tailor to it, but USC hit it on the nose with its Music Recording Minor. it also didnt hurt that the faculty:student ratio was 1:10, and the largest freshman classes were less than a hundred, TAs taught no classes (even the school President teaches a class) and the average class size was 25-ish.</p>

<p>i realized that no matter where i went, UCSD or USC, i would get a great education. so what if US News ranks such and such school over another...as long as they've made ANY list at some point, the school has enough repute and a strong enough program to do me well. so it came down to the following considerations:</p>

<p>during high school, i was trapped in the "AP Bubble" of friends. that's not to say i didnt make friends outside of it, but compared to the people who were in regular college prep classes, it was minimal. it didnt help that my parents were more conservative when it came to letting me go out. so social life was a pretty big issue. UCSD i knew had a rep for being geeky, and on top of that La Jolla was well removed from all the happenings (including for me, a big thing...the great music scene) of San Diego proper, requiring a car. that and i also heard the campus draaains out on weekends, leaving little to do then. USC seemed to have lots of good on campus activities, and LA and Hollywood are really a short drive or bus ride away. also, USC fostered extracurricular studies, activities, and sports while UCSD merely made them available, which says something about the interests and attitudes of the students.</p>

<p>on that note...diversity was a huge issue as well. at almost all the UC's, UCSD included, asians were the majority or near majority...being asian myself (filipino, really) and not exactly excited to be around them, that had some bearing on it. at USC, only half the students are from California, 40% out of state, and 10% international. it seemed like a great opportunity to break down any kind of walls that i lived with in my years prior.</p>

<p>and probably the most important consideration and the deal breaker...financing. without financial aid, UCSD was a clear cut decision, although i felt it was a big compromise. USC's cost was by far HUGE compared to UCSD. UCSD even gave me the Regent's Scholarship, but even for the UCs, it was small. but USC gave me the quarter-tuition Deans' Scholarship, and then almost $20k in grants. that left only $5000 for tuition. at that point, i figured i could pay that for the benefits of a private school and for the benefit of going the school that had an upper-hand on almost everything else.</p>

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Interesting... :rolleyes:</p>