University of California-San Diego Top Questions

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It was either UCSD or UC Berkeley. UCSD got ranked number one on surfers top surf colleges in America and my mind was set.

UCSD is an excellent school, academically (especially for Aerospace, my major, for which there are many companies nearby), has plenty to do outside of the classroom, has a thriving automotive club (Formula SAE) that I participate in, and my older brother is studying for his MBA here and my sister in law is finishing her undergraduate studies as well.

I loved the people and the history of San Diego. It's such an old place and there's still a lot of old Spanish architecture if you know where to look. Everyone was incredibly friendly and the environment was comfortable and laid back - people had dreams here - which is a huge difference compared to my home town.

I honestly chose to go to UCSD based on the high ranking of the Political Science department. It is one of the top public schools at the undergraduate level, and even still top 10 when one includes private schools. Thus, it was honestly the inner nerd in me the drove me to come to UCSD over UCSB, which was the other school I was seriously contemplating going to,

I chose between UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, and UCI when deciding where to go to school. I chose UCSD because I liked the spread out feel of the campus. UCLA felt cramped, and I didn't like the competitive vibe of UC Berkeley or the feel of the Berkeley area. I also liked the atmosphere of the school, its great weather, the proximity to the beach, and the great opportunities for science majors (which I was intending to be). In particular, there were a lot of research opportunities on campus and also at Salk Institute and Scripps. There was also a lot of study abroad opportunities, and I liked the idea of the different colleges.

I chose between UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, and UCI when deciding where to go to school. I chose UCSD because I liked the spread out feel of the campus. UCLA felt cramped, and I didn't like the competitive vibe of UC Berkeley or the feel of the Berkeley area. I also liked the atmosphere of the school, its great weather, the proximity to the beach, and the great opportunities for science majors (which I was intending to be). In particular, there were a lot of research opportunities on campus and also at Salk Institute and Scripps. There was also a lot of study abroad opportunities, and I liked the idea of the different colleges.

I decided to go to UCSD because I really liked the campus and it is close to home. I also really liked how it was divided into 6 colleges. I am currently in Eleanor Roosevelt College (my first-choice small college) and I love how we emphasize knowledge of the world. UCSD is nonetheless one of the best UC schools, it is generally ranked as the 3rd best one (Cal #1 and UCLA #2) but if you are interested in science, then UCSD is the #1 place to go. I was afraid of coming here because it was a very large institution but I made it a priority to find organizations to be involved in (InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Active Minds, OASIS, etc).

A student describes their decision to come to UCSD

A student talks about her decision to come UCSD.