Why the UCR hate

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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<p>^^^ I agree. You have to look at your degree as an investment. You can’t be too short sighted with regards to finances. It may be more of a struggle for 2 years, and maybe more debt if you go to UCLA or UCSD, but in the long run your degree may be more profitable. </p>

<p>I don’t necessarily believe that you will get a significantly lesser education at UCR, but the alumni network and networking in general will be greater at the top tier UCs. Those connections can be money in the bank if used properly. </p>

<p>My mom always says don’t be penny-wise and pound foolish. Meaning don’t focus so much on saving a little money today, that you end spending or losing way more tomorrow. Ex: You can save $50 by flying out of a smaller airport further away. Sounds good until you realize that the additional gas barely pays the difference. The cost ends up being the same, but you’ve spent more time driving, for basically no reason. </p>

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<p>@‌ True, UC Davis was founded earlier as a University Farm School for Berkeley but it wasn’t established as an actual UC until after a few years that UCR was. </p>

<p>@ninjex‌ </p>

<p>Compared to the other UC’s, UC Riverside is not that strong of an engineering school and it’s only slightly above UC Santa Cruz. Regardless, it’s still a good school if you just want an engineering degree but your resources could be much better if you go to an engineering school like Berkeley or UC San Diego. </p>

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<p>@ocnative‌ </p>

<p>That’s partially because UCR has a smaller engineering department compared to other UC’s. It’s also because UCR Engineering is still relatively young compared to other Engineering departments. For it’s age, it’s doing fairly well. Although I never said UCR was the best program. But for its smaller size, its in the top 5, and even compared to larger departments it’s doesn’t do too bad. However, we have both agreed that UCR is a good engineering school, so its not a disadvantage to go. On a side note, how did you make the comparison of Chem E to UCSC? If my memory serves correct, UCSC doesn’t have a ChemE program.</p>

<p>As far as networking goes, its true, many contacts could be from the inland empire; however, engineering isn’t so narrow, where you graduate from is where you’ll get jobs, similarly to how living in LA doesn’t necessarily predict you will be working there. Probabilities are higher, of course. Still, UCR isn’t that isolated you couldn’t make contacts in LA or SD, or Irvine. Likely you would have less, being farther, but it’s all about quality contacts, not quantity contacts. </p>

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<p>@ninjex‌ </p>

<p>I wasn’t making a comparison of Chemical Engineering with UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz because such a discipline does not exist at the latter school. I was making a comparison with the overall college of engineering that each college has, specifically the resources and rankings. </p>

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<p>This is a perspective from an older engineer who graduated from a lowly ranked school.</p>

<ol>
<li>Prestige does matter. Many claim it doesn’t, but right after graduation, it will. Comparing two applicants with similar gpa, interests, age, and experience, the one with a more prestigious school has a higher chance of getting the nod and more likely to get paid a higher initial salary.</li>
</ol>

<p>You can work this to your favor. Requesting less money can make you the budget hire and get you the job. In my first job, I got the job over another applicant for this reason. I was okay making 10k less than my peers. My salary was still twice what my parents made .</p>

<ol>
<li>Prestige doesn’t matter in the long run. After a few years in the industry, employers can care less about your alma mater. And its seldom talked about between coworkers. The engineer who still brags about cornell is likely to be the alienated one. No one cares anymore. Its about what you learned in the long run, not where you learned it from. This applies to grad school too if your employers pays for you. </li>
</ol>

<p>Fyi salary will equalize too, when you proved you know your stuff.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Ucr is a good engineering school. @ocnative‌ is correct, it is a weaker school compared to the other ucs and @ninjex aptly cited why that was the case, but don’t forget its a uc. The competition are public ivies. Putting in another way, UCB is 90% the speed of light, LA 87%, UCR is about 75%. It obviously isn’t the fastest but its faster that most things. With uc debates I find myself vexxed . Many assume its a vacuum. No. In jobs you’re competing agaisnt everyone. Ivy students, cal poly kids, and more. School is only one factor, and in many cases not the deciding one.</p></li>
<li><p>What you did in school is more important than where you went.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I see this a lot in interviews. Ivy kid thinks a high gpa and name will nail them a job. One kid, no experience or extra cirriculars told me “I graduated from stanford. Isn’t that enough?” Short answer no. If you get relevant experience you will look so much better regardless of school. Even a retail job helps. It shows you can communicate with people, a lost art amongst engineers.
P.S. if you are good with people and engineering, you will be a coveted asset.</p>

<ol>
<li>Performance matters
Say you got a 3.5 at a decent school. Employers will assume your good gpa is a result of your good habits, not the school so some will make the jump you would have done well at a better school.</li>
</ol>

<p>Sub 3.0, however, employers will think that school was too much for you and a more rigourous school would have destroyed you. </p>

<p>If you get a low gpa make sure you go to the most rigourous school available. It will give a soft power. The same way a c in an advanced class is better than a c in a regular class.</p>

<p>And now I am becoming long winded so I will finish with this.</p>

<p>Ucr is not a large detriment. It won’t have some amenities of other schools, so making yourself marketable may be a tad more difficult, but by no means impossible. You simply have to apply yourself. I hope this information was helpful. Good luck</p>

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<p>@xinzin, lots of helpful advice thanks</p>

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<p>Sorry to bring it back, but </p>

<p>People keep telling me that prestige in undergrad doesn’t matter. Is that true? Lastly, on UC transfer, I noticed there are a lot of people trying to transfer out UCR. Is it really that bad? Or is the prestige not big enough for future employers?</p>

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<p>Ummm…read up 2 comments?</p>

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<p>@bjt223, you will hear different things from different people. In my experience, I always heard that the prestige in undergrad does not matter if you are applying for grad school, because the prestige of the grad school matters. However, I think that if you’re going to stop all education after undergrad, then the name matters. Employers like the name. It’s also a little bit trickier than that though. Those who went to prestigious schools are smart, driven, creative, etc. and that comes as a result of hard work and personal attributes not the school itself. I hope I’m not being confusing…</p>

<p>what im trying to say that it matters to an EXTENT. Most UCR students aren’t highly ambitious, which correlates to less prestigious job positions. However, if you are a UCR student who IS AMBITIOUS, you will get the job offer. </p>

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<p>I never understood the prestige thing unless you are gunning for a top Investment Bank, in which case you probably aren’t going to go to a UC anyways if you want to maximize your chances, or you want an overrated job at a Big 4 tech company, in which case you should’ve gotten into Berkeley or you probably weren’t cut out for it in the first place. If you are just wanting to be an engineer, accountant, whatever, it is really no different. Heck, if I was hell bent on going to medical school out of HS, I would’ve rather went to a place like UCR.</p>

<p>UCR is fine. Sure, people are more impressed when you say “I went to UCLA/Berkeley”, but if you have a good GPA at UCR, you get access to pretty much the same jobs.</p>

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<p>It’s a UC. To be honest, even though I graduated from Berkeley many moons ago and my daughter just applied last year to the UCs, I had no idea what the rating was for UCR. All I knew was it was beneath UCSB and UCD but as far as I knew it was almost neck and neck. I didn’t even know the position of UCI. </p>

<p>And the name Riverside had such a nice connotation… :)</p>

<p>The point is I live here, I went to a UC and I still didn’t know much of anything about UCR. I think most ppl, even in CA, don’t know much beyond, wow, it’s a UC - and most employers away from CA won’t know much either. They will just be impressed with the brand. </p>

<p>And it’s nationally ranked! I look at all these ppl flooding to Chapman and the like, that have no nat’l ranking. I think the reason a lot want to leave UCR is because they won’t give it a chance. I hear the same about UCI. So many students took both as their fallback and can’t get passed that feeling of, well I won’t say bitterness, let’s say severe annoyance. It isn’t a reflection of the school as much as it is the students. </p>