What’s the difference between the 3 San Diego colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember when UCSD was considered the third best UC school (behind Berkeley and LA), but Irvine and Santa Barbara have really come up in the world. I think a big part of that is San Diego is really provincial (I say this as a person who lived there for years) and is a place where people come for the sun and weather. Most students live off campus in small group homes (more accurately hovels) in places like Ocean Beach since La Jolla is one of the most expensive and closed communities in the US, so there is not much school spirit or community. There are a lot of complaints about a lack of class space causing students to take 6 years to graduate, but some of this is due to students who want to hang out in San Diego.

As others mentioned, San Diego State is a party school and has a more defined school community.

USD is very different (obviously smaller and private). I found that people though well of it in San Diego because a lot of alumni work in the area. I would not go there as a minority student.

Another California person here.
I remember that too. I graduated high school in 1993, and around that time it seemed the order went:

Berkely
UCLA
UC San Diego
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Cruz
UC Riverside

UC Merced wasn't around then.

I was really shocked to see a few years ago that SB has surpassed Irvine, Davis, and San Diego.

[Anonymous]

Another West Coast native here. My brother and a good friend graduated from UCSD in STEM majors. Both went on to advanced degrees -- my friend got her PhD at Emory and is a professor, and my brother has a solid career in biotech. I'm surprised to learn it has slipped somewhat among UC schools. My impression then was that there wasn't a lot separating Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD in terms of rigor and academic experience. USD was a popular match/safety at my high school, along with the other west coast Jesuit schools like USF, SCU, Seattle, and Gonzaga.

[Anonymous]

I would not say that UC San Diego has slipped, but as California population has grown by a third (10 million) since 1990, UCLA and Berkeley cannot get bigger, a lot of resources have been pumped into Irvine, and Santa Barbara has become a pipeline to Silicon valley jobs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not say that UC San Diego has slipped, but as California population has grown by a third (10 million) since 1990, UCLA and Berkeley cannot get bigger, a lot of resources have been pumped into Irvine, and Santa Barbara has become a pipeline to Silicon valley jobs

agree

[Anonymous]

Santa Barbara also has the benefit of having a gorgeous campus and location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCSD, San Diego State, University of San Diego. Our DD is interested in studying journalism (at least for now) and is trying to discern between the 3. Any perspective on what each school is known for and what kind of students are happy where? PS: I should note our family is Jewish. Would USD be a bad choice if not Catholic?

I'm surprised you can't research this yourself.

USD is a great, welcoming school even if you aren't Catholic. It has a good law school too.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't USD one of the schools implicated on the Varsity Blues scandal?

[Anonymous]

UCSD is a better university than both UVA and UMD by most metrics, although UVA is probably better for undergraduate business.

SDSU is a solid school, somewhere between VT and VCU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't USD one of the schools implicated on the Varsity Blues scandal?

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Santa Barbara also has the benefit of having a gorgeous campus and location.

I agree, but La Jolla is pretty amazing as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another West Coast native here. My brother and a good friend graduated from UCSD in STEM majors. Both went on to advanced degrees -- my friend got her PhD at Emory and is a professor, and my brother has a solid career in biotech. I'm surprised to learn it has slipped somewhat among UC schools. My impression then was that there wasn't a lot separating Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD in terms of rigor and academic experience. USD was a popular match/safety at my high school, along with the other west coast Jesuit schools like USF, SCU, Seattle, and Gonzaga.

Back in the early 90s, my college choice came down to UCLA and UCSD. I picked UCSD and it was definitely seen as an equivalent school by people living in California.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another West Coast native here. My brother and a good friend graduated from UCSD in STEM majors. Both went on to advanced degrees -- my friend got her PhD at Emory and is a professor, and my brother has a solid career in biotech. I'm surprised to learn it has slipped somewhat among UC schools. My impression then was that there wasn't a lot separating Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD in terms of rigor and academic experience. USD was a popular match/safety at my high school, along with the other west coast Jesuit schools like USF, SCU, Seattle, and Gonzaga.

Back in the early 90s, my college choice came down to UCLA and UCSD. I picked UCSD and it was definitely seen as an equivalent school by people living in California.

Realistically speaking, I don’t think that has changed. Maybe one plays better USNews ranking games than the other.

[Anonymous]

^ UCLA simply has a much larger profile due to 1. Being in LA, 2. Sports, 3. Top medical school (although UCSD is up there as well now)


#1 means a huge number of wealthy (and not) students across the world apply there, such that UCLA gets more applications than Berkeley

[Anonymous]

And #2 means a large number of American public high school kids apply there as well

[Anonymous]

None of these are good schools for journalism. You want Northwestern, Missouri-Columbia, Indiana, Ohio University or Columbia.