<p>I apologize if a similar thread has already been posted. I haven't seen one, but I have noticed that a few people are trying to decide which campus to attend now that they've been accepted to both. Because the SIR deadline for UCSD is October 21, I thought now would be a good time for the undecided to weigh the pros and cons of each school and compare a few notes. I guess I'll start off with my own thoughts. I might be completely misinformed, so please jump in if you agree or disagree. I should mention I've only been to UCSD--I'll be visiting UCSC next week.</p>
<p>UCSD Pros:
--Excellent academic reputation, especially for science majors
--In a beautiful city, right on the beach
--15-20 minutes from downtown San Diego
--Students are focused and ambitious, classes are challenging
--Higher ranked than UCSC (prestige still matters when it comes to grad school, future employment)</p>
<p>UCSD Cons:
--Reputation for being antisocial, feeling sterile
--Commuter school atmosphere, lack of pride
--La Jolla is pretty, but expensive. not very lively/exciting either.</p>
<p>UCSC Pros:
--Gorgeous campus, great for hikers/outdoorsy people
--Warmer social atmosphere than UCSD
--Famously tolerant. Students/faculty tend to be open-minded and socially conscious.
--Probably not a million miles away from UCSD academically--unfair bad rap?</p>
<p>UCSC Cons:
--Santa Cruz is small. Like 56,000 people. Nearest big city is San Jose (~50 min away).
--Sometimes dismissed as a third-tier UC
--Stoner reputation... 420</a> at UCSC "Gets Bigger Every Year" : Indybay</p>
<p>As a guy who’s lived in San Diego, and repeatedly visited Santa Cruz many times over the years, I should probably tell you that Santa Cruz is magnitudes more beautiful than San Diego. In fact, I definitely think you should move that point, word for word, from “UCSD Pros” to “UCSC Pros”. Also, it’s a little bit further from downtown San Diego than you think. Not that it matters really though. I found downtown San Diego, and SD in general, to be pretty mild and not very exciting. Although, it IS much more of a traditional downtown than Santa Cruz’s “downtown”. To top it off, San Francisco is just about an hour and a half away from SC, which is, in my opinion, much more fun than SD will ever be. </p>
<p>All in all, it depends on what type of atmosphere you would feel comfortable in. The UC system is one of the best public university systems in the nation, and the difference between the lowest tier and the highest tier UC is nothing compared to how much you can make of your experience at even a lower UC. I guess what I’m trying to say is that getting a 4.0 at UCR is better than getting a 3.0 at Cal, at least as far as grad schools are concerned. For what it’s worth, and in the interest of fair disclosure, I was accepted to both UCSD and UCSC for winter, and choosing UCSC was a foregone conclusion for me. Anyway, have fun visiting SC! Let us know how it goes!</p>
<p>I personally think that SD will only be antisocial if you want it to be. You have to have some problems if you can’t meet people (not saying you, but people in general). I find it hard to believe that people are that unwilling to meet you. Yes there are the cliquish, introverted people who tend to keep to themselves, but if you are extroverted and outgoing, you can meet anyone. Don’t be close minded and talk to everyone!</p>
<p>I personally could care less about partying etc, I mean we are going to be junior status. Our first 2 years should have incorporated all that stuff anyway. I think the transition to the quarter system/harder classes is a challenge on its own and I know personally I will be in the library more than anything. If you want to party, go greek… that is the general consensus. If you are in a major that ucsd is known for, it will be worth more than say a ucr, ucm, ucsc degree in the eyes of an employer (to a certain extent).</p>
<p>I think sd is more lively than sc, i’ve been to both and sc seemed like a ghost town. How much time are you willing to waste driving up to sf and surrounding cities to have a good time lol sd’s downtown area has everything you could ever want or need.</p>
<p>Ultimately, I would go with the rankings/prestige. I’ve been at a community college for far too long to go to a school that is ranked 71 when I was accepted to one that is ranked twice as high at an impressive 35. I could have gone to ucsc, ucr, ucm out of high school so I am a bit biased against them. anyway take whatever I said with a grain of salt, you are going to be there for the next 2-3 years, so choose whatever makes you happy :)</p>
<p>I agree with what everyone else said. You should make your own decision because that’s the only way that you’ll be happy. One thing about prestige though, is it matters but not more than your performance, I know a girl that went to UCSD and graduated with barely a 2.6 or so… personally if I was an employer, I would pick someone out of UCSC or even a Cal State with a 3.5 or so over her at all times. Also what school you graduated from doesn’t really matter past your first job, after that all they care about is experience. So as long as you go to the campus/city that you like best and you do very well your choice should be good (there’s no wrong answer here). And don’t get caught up with the PROS and CONS! those differ from one person to another, some people believe it or not prefer colder weather and prefer to have a more mellow not-so-social campus and like samsizzle said some people will come out of college with a thousand new friends if they’re social themselves whether the school is social or not, everyone will give you a different answer. So visit both schools and go where your heart desires! Good Luck!</p>
<p>P.S: I’m going to UCSD because 8 years ago (before I moved to the States) I was in LA for vacation and a family friend took me sailing down in SD, and I remember thinking that this is one of the most beautiful cities ever and since then I was determined to go to school or live here at some point… and now I’m living the dream ;)</p>
<p>well as of now i am going to ucsd,as long as they receive my transcripts on time, but i may visit santa cruz next week and if it is amazing then santa cruz but if i do not get a chance to visit the campus i am going to ucsd</p>
<p>^^no they dont put your gpa on a diploma, but maybe other distinctions like magma cum laude etc.</p>
<p>The decisions is ultimately up to you. I’ll take prestige over campus anyday. Anything is a change from community college/living at home and IMO San Diego is an amazing city. I waited far too long to go to a lower ranked school, and I would want a diploma from a top 50 school…</p>
<p>those are mostly my main reason to go to SD. You shouldn’t have any doubt in your decision to whatever school you choose. Make a list of your personal reasons, stick to them, go wholeheartedly, and never look back :)</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but deciding on what school to go to based solely on prestige is a bad idea. I know plenty of people who considered prestige first and foremost. They weren’t very happy with their college experiences. As for me, I could have gone to Columbia University, but I’m going to UCSC instead. Columbia is just too far from my family and NYC is too expensive to live in for me. And it’s not that I wouldn’t be able to pay for Columbia (through a mixture of loans, grants, and scholarships), it’s just that UCSC will still get me into Boalt @ Cal, and I won’t be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in loans in the process. It’s just not worth it to me. Meanwhile, a majority of the faculty descriptions show me that they are great academically, holding PhDs and doctorates from ivy league universities (if that can be considered as a measure of quality). But I digress. Save the prestige decision-making for grad/law/med school. There’s not as much of a difference in quality between the UCs as many people here have been led to believe. Most of the high/mid tier UCs have earned their reputation based on the caliber of their graduate programs. Meanwhile, UCSC is known for, and focuses on, it’s undergrad program (which I’ve heard from many different credible sources to be one of the best undergrad programs in the UC system, believe it or not. And this is based on quality, not just some intangible known as “prestige”). Their undergrad program stands alone, as they are the only UC campus to focus on undergrad programs and not grad programs, like the other UCs.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m saying is, get all your transcripts and what not to UCSD before the deadline, but don’t discount UCSC before actually going there. I’ve lived in SD before, and it kinda sucked, in my opinion. I’ve been to SC many many times, and it’s always way more difficult to leave SC than it ever was to leave SD. It seems that the cost of living is higher in SD than SC also, for what it’s worth. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself, and what you’re looking for in a college/town?</p>
<p>Just to be clear, I’m not saying disregard prestige when choosing a school, just don’t make it the reason to attend a university. I wanted to add that, from what I’ve heard, you can expect to be taught by and deal with TAs, as opposed to professors, more often at UCSD, while at UCSC you’ll be learning from and dealing with your professors a majority of the time. Depends on what you want there, but I’d rather be taught by professors than some TA who’s my age (I’m 26) with no real-world experience in their field. Just one more thing for you to consider.</p>
<p>^^ahh you tripped the filter, cant see the link. You are right about schools being ranked for graduate degrees, very true. You make some solid points Everyone has their personal preferences, and yes we should go where ever we feel more comfortable and overall happy. For me it’s sd, for you it’s sc. Nothing more to it. I hope everyone chooses whats best for them. We all got in, now just keep doing well where ever you decide to go and the opportunities will come your way. Good luck with the next 2-3 years everyone!</p>
<p>I couldn’t agree more, samsizzle. It really depends on what kind of environment/atmosphere you would feel comfortable in, because if you’re comfortable and enjoy where you’re living, you’ll undoubtedly get more from your college experience, in my opinion. For example, I’ve lived in LA for 20 years (with the exception of ~1 year in SD), and I’m so done with this city. Time to ■■■■! And having lived in SD, I can say it’s just as spread out and huge as LA, but less densely populated. Meanwhile, SC is almost the epitome of “little college town” or “little beach town”, and in my experience, is one of the most unique places I’ve been to in California, as far as town identity, and the awesome weirdness that resides there. This line of reasoning works for me, but may not for you. People can be bored anywhere, that’s why it depends on your style, personality, and identity. I always planned on going to UCSC, even when I was considering Columbia when they started courting me, because I knew I’d fit in well at SC (and already knowing people who live there helps kickstart your social life a little bit). As you said, you’d like to live in SC, but you’d like to go to school in SD. If you’ll allow me, my personal opinion is that you’ll do better in your coursework if you enjoy where you live and the people who surround you there. Dovetailing with that, is the belief that a 4.0 at UCSC will get you a lot further in employment and graduate school shopping than a 3.0 at UCSD will get you. Again, that’s just my reasoning, and I don’t expect it to necessarily be true for everyone else. I also wanted to add, that in your list of UCSC cons, you put down “low rankings”. While this is true of some majors, keep in mind that UCSC is still one of the top 75 schools in the nation, which is still pretty good, considering the number of universities in this country. </p>
<p>By the way, I changed the link to a “■■■■■■■”. It leads to the “Students Review” site. Ugly, and non-user-friendly site, but a great resource nonetheless. For a lot of schools and majors, there’s not a good enough sample size, but for most UCs, they have at least few hundred surveys from current/past students. But at least they give a uniform criteria for evaluating schools, so that can be pretty helpful, changing the equation from comparing apples to oranges, to comparing apples to apples.</p>
<p>I have had all transcripts mailed to ucsd and a second order to myself just in case ucsd doe not recieve them in time i can hand carry them.
I will be visiting ucsc this week to check it out and see if location of ucsc is mreo important to me then prestige of ucsd</p>
<p>my biggest concern is post-grad opportunities and no website really gives very accurate info about that.
Payscale .com has some salary information but it cannot be accurate as to the student body major choice varies between the two colleges.
ucsc-arts
ucsd-med/science/eng</p>
<p>From what i have been researching prestige of school only matters in graduate school. I have also been reading that the undergrad programs at ucsc are very undergrad student oriented.</p>
<p>I haven’t had a chance to read this thread in its entirety, but I’m in the same situation. I recently received my acceptance to UCSD majoring in Molecular Biology and I’m really excited about it. I’m still waiting for a reply from UCSC. If I get accepted into both I’m going to have a very tough decision hovering over my head until the 21st (UCSD’s SIR deadline). I might be forced to accept UCSD out of necessity since I may not hear from Santa Cruz until AFTER the 21st. Is it worth the risk? I like both colleges equally, so right now I’ll just have to wait and hope that UCSC replies this week. I want UCSC to say no just so that my decision will be that much easier.</p>
Everyone has their personal preferences, and yes we should go where ever we feel more comfortable and overall happy. For me it’s sd, for you it’s sc. Nothing more to it. I hope everyone chooses whats best for them. We all got in, now just keep doing well where ever you decide to go and the opportunities will come your way. Good luck with the next 2-3 years everyone!</p>