<p>I'm trying to get a feel for how people around the country view the Universities in California.</p>
<p>Excluding UCLA and UC Berkeley How do people outside of California view schools like UC Irvine, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, and UC San Diego?</p>
<p>Well, I’m from California, and UC Davis, Irvine, etc are simply viewed as good schools that good students from high schools go to. Nothing bad, nothing impressive either. Actually, its not even impressive when you tell your peers that you’re at Berkeley or UCLA either for some reason. UC schools collectively are viewed normally and a popular alternative to those who want to stay instate and stay cheap.</p>
<p>Is extremely impressive. The general public compares it to Harvard, Yale, and even Stanford.</p>
<p>I think OP is looking for perceptions of people outside CA… at least I get that sense.</p>
<p>Most people on the East Coast would lump the lower UCs all into one big category. If it’s not Stanford, Berkeley, or LA then it’s just an acronym in California. UCSD might get more recognition than the others because it’s got a major city in its name.</p>
<p>I think most people outside of CA have never heard of UCs beyond the top 2. Davis and Irvine, much less Riverside and Merced, get a lot of blank stares.</p>
<p>2college –</p>
<p>That seems odd to me. Four other UCs are ranked by USNWR in the top 41:</p>
<p>UC San Diego #35
UC Santa Barbara #39
UC Davis #39
UC Irvine #41</p>
<p>I’m guessing you’re referring to people who don’t follow Rankings… just the general public, is that correct?</p>
<p>^ Dunnin, you said the OP was asking for opinions outside California…now you’re going to question the opinion after some was provided?! Good grief!</p>
<p>^ Dunnin - Yes, it just seems like many people outside of California (who don’t follow rankings) don’t realize the HUGE difference between a school like UC Irvine and Cal State San Marcos.</p>
<p>I think UCSB is one of the better known UCs outside of California. It has a pretty big rep as a party school. </p>
<p>
The OP explicitly stated he didn’t want the opinion of Berkeley. -.-</p>
<p>UCB – I wasn’t saying 2college’s post was odd, but that schools ranked in the top 40 would be not known – then figured 2college must be referring to people who don’t follow college rankins.</p>
<p>I’m a California native who spent many years on the E coast. As a young college grad one of my good friends was a Davis grad. No one had ever heard of Davis, drove him crazy. It was always…UC huh? We pretty much learned how Caliorniacentric we were.</p>
<p>@2college2college Haha yes, very Caliorniacentric!</p>
<p>As an OOS person, UCB, UCLA, gap UCSB, big gap others.</p>
<p>Everyone knows UCs are more selective than CSUs.</p>
<p>^I’m somewhat surprised that UC Davis isn’t known OOS for its Veterinary Medicine and Vitculture/Enology (winemaking) schools. Maybe these schools are too narrow in scope?</p>
<p>^ Vet schools are highly regional. I don’t find that surprising at all.</p>
<p>The average person outside of California has only heard of UCLA, Berkeley, and maybe UCSB because it’s a famous party school. However, they’ve probably heard of the “University of California”, so going they’d probably think of any UC school as better than an average state school.</p>
<p>what i’m surprised at is that although ucsb’s reputation is based on being a party school, it should have negative connotations and consequently negative reputation; however, it seems to work opposite and manages to put ucsb on oos radars.</p>
<p>funny how it really isn’t always academics that make schools known.</p>
<p>but i guess one can’t expect much national recognition from davis’ first-class departmental specializations compared to ucsb’s generalities such as student atmosphere.</p>
<p>Vet schools are highly regional. I don’t find that surprising at all.</p>
<p>There’s nothing “regional” about being ranked 2nd in the nation in Veterinary Medicine (USNWR).</p>
<p>Vet school rankings don’t get much attention at all. Only a very small and concentrated part of the population would even care about them. The “elite” vet schools are considered to be at Penn and Cornell and that’s probably largely due to the fact that they’re in the Ivy League. </p>
<p>Dental schools are also very regional. Medical schools are less regional because it’s so competitive to get into one.</p>