<p>I made a thread in the general forum. But maybe I would get more response here...</p>
<p>Well I am considering Davis, UCSB, and Purdue. But I am at crossroads at all three colleges. Each having there own weaknesses and strengths. Also, I plan on appealing to UCSD and I would choose that over the three. But, I wouldn't mind going to these three if it does not pass.</p>
<p>I plan on majoring in Electrical, Chemical, or Bio Engineering. I got into Purdue for Undecided within Engineering, Davis and SB for Undeclared Physical Sciences/ College of Letters and science. I applied for undeclared to not risk rejection, I have seen that major change can be done with the right classes and a maintained GPA, so I am not too worried about that.</p>
<p>Davis seems to be a nice college, right now I am favoring it, but still am not completely sure... Purdue has the Engineering prestige (#9 in the country), but I hear its very difficult and weeds people out. SB seems to be a nice engineering school as well. The thing about SB is that the party school nature of it actually makes me shaky because I want to stay concentrated in college. I want to have fun, but I do not want to go over the top.</p>
<p>Price is kind of an issue. My parents will pay for Purdue if I want to go, but I think it will be 10k more. I want to know if its that much better then the other two that I have to leave CA and go there.</p>
<p>I plan on going to Grad school, so essentially I want to pick the best school for Grad school.</p>
<p>I lived in/by Purdue when I was a child so I know the surroundings, I plan on visiting the other two in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Have you visited UCSB? The only recommendation I can give you is to visit. Meeting the professors, talking to some students in the Eng. major and other majors, looking at the environment and the feel of things should be your guide to your choice. I personally think the whole party school reputation is overblown, there are plenty of students who go to UCSB and not get engaged in the partying; no one is going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do. </p>
<p>In regards to the Eng. department, it is top notch of all the universities in the country so you won’t make a mistake with that. </p>
<p>Congrats on getting into 3 fabulous schools.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I actually am going to the open house on the 10th. Everyone has told me to choose Davis or Purdue, but I have yet to block SB out. I want to give SB a chance and then make a final decision. </p>
<p>Well I am very interested in Bio Medical and Electrical. SB seems to have the former. I hope to learn about it more on my visit. But it does seem like an amazing school.</p>
<p>I graduated from UCSB in 2008, and it was an incredible experience. The party reputation is overblown to an extent. It’s there if you want it, but you can easily shut it out if you don’t. I had my fun, but I definitely did my own thing by my 3rd and 4th years. UCSB has an amazing social fabric, and the student dynamics are awesome. Gauchos are very passionate about their interests, and you’ll find many smart, motivated fellow engineers who share your interests.</p>
<p>However, don’t be fooled - classes are not “easier” at UCSB. The College of Engineering is very reputable and attracts some top-notch students. I had many friends in various engineering majors, and all of them got great jobs right out of college, ranging from pharmaceuticals, to Google and Microsoft for computer engineering, to defense contractors like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.</p>
<p>I agree with the post above though - you should definitely go visit the campus. It’s absolutely gorgeous - especially this time of year, and it is such a great atmosphere.</p>
<p>^Hey, it’s nice to see a fellow '08 Political Science grad! (I saw your post on the grad forum, haha). I wonder if we had any classes together. I definitely miss the school a lot too!</p>
<p>Personally I would choose Santa Barbara because I love the campus and can see myself there so it all depends on waht you like better…as othes mentioned, you can skip the party scene if you dont want to be involved and it’s there if you do…its really all up to u (if u can resist it and if you know how to budget ur time)</p>
<p>SB is better than Davis for engineering idk about Purdue you said it is 9th I’ve heard SB is around 11 or 12 so since you said you’d have to pay 10k more at Purdue I’d say the difference between the two is so small that it won’t even matter in the long run so why should you pay 10k more unless you REALLY want to go there. I think the people above covered the party situation pretty well =D. Just because there are a lot of parties going on and stuff doesn’t mean you can’t separate school and fun. Personally I prefer SB over Davis but they both have different atmospheres and a different feel to them, so you should go visit both and decide.</p>
<p>What are some tourist attractions around SB? I am going to the open house on the 10th and I want to see other things around the City/Area for driving down there.</p>