<p>I went through the Fall 2012 admit cycle and was offered admission to SD(TAG)/Berkeley/SB/Irvine. I basically lived on this forum when waiting to hear back from the schools and really enjoyed it when I saw these AMA admit threads. Feel free to ask anything.</p>
<p>A little background so you know what I’ll be more qualified to answer: I’m graduating from UCSD in June with a BA in Philosophy (Poli Sci/Psych Minors). I originally wanted to go to med school, but switched to pre-law. So, I’ve taken basically every type of class UCSD offers (physics, chem, bio, math, social sciences, humanites, music, etc). I’ll be taking the LSAT in Sept. and applying to law schools. I live at the on-campus transfer housing (The Village) and somehow lucked out by getting a super single for both years - although I don’t think they will be keeping super singles seeing the incoming transfer numbers and already having to triple people. I’m in a couple student orgs and work on-campus. I decided against bringing a car, which I’m very happy about when I watch my friends try and find parking during the week.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have questions about UCSD specifically or the transfer application process with the schools I applied at.</p>
<p>What made you decide on San Diego over Berkeley? Did you think that SD will prepare you more for law/med school? Also, it sounds like you’re in Revelle College if I’m not mistaken?
If so, how was that after transfer?</p>
<p>Awesome! Thanks OP! For what reasons did you pick UCSD? What LS’s are you applying to? Do you like the Village housing? Is it hard to make friends and whatnot in a single? Would you recommend bringing a bike?</p>
<p>I agree with Snorlaz. They’re a benefit to the CC community. Frankly, I don’t understand the justification mods on this forum use to lock these kinds of threads.</p>
<p>I definitely plan to make an AMA thread like this when I transfer, probably around 2015 or 2016 as I’m getting out of school.</p>
<p>Whoops, my bad these AMA where still allowed when I was here last. I guess others who attend SD or were admitted to these schools can input their perspectives as well before it gets locked. </p>
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<p>There was no “one thing” that made me pick SD over Cal. I thought either would be a great school to attend so I decided to visit both and see which was a better “fit”. I think everyone should do this if they get the chance. Overall, I found SD to have a bunch of little things that appealed to me and made me choose it. It’s hard to say picking either school would be a bad choice in my situation. </p>
<p>First, I looked at my major dept at both SD and Cal. SD had more courses that I was interested in taking and I even had some contact with the faculty before I started. I found them to be really helpful and I thought I would enjoy taking classes with them, which I do. I’m sure Berkeley has a great Phil department, maybe even a better one, but I get along with everyone at SD really well and felt the “fit” of the department was right for me.</p>
<p>Second, I had quite a few of my friends from high school who were attending SD. It was cool to be able to hang out with them again and be able to gain even more friends through them. I didn’t want to make the choice on just this alone however.</p>
<p>Third, I found the on campus student housing to be cheaper and nicer. For instance, I got a super single with beach view at SD for ~2k/year cheaper than a triple at Cal. I wanted to be on campus in dorms for the true “college experience”. This isn’t to say that I couldn’t get that at Cal. But, I really fell in love with SD’s transfer housing and I’ve made a lot of great friends here.</p>
<p>Fourth, the location. I love La Jolla. The weather is amazing pretty much all year, there is a bunch of great food (although you’ll need a car/friend with car/or use the free bus pass to get to it), and I like being close to SD. I also grew up a little north of LA so it is nice being far, yet not too far, away from home.</p>
<p>Fifth, I knew I was going to go to grad school. The people I talked to and the research I did all seemed to say that undergrad prestige doesn’t matter as much as your GPA and whatever standardized test your grad school wants. I felt like I could get a little bit higher GPA at SD compared to what I could get at Cal. Although, I was looking at mean GPA’s of undergrad schools the other day and I’m pretty sure Cal might have a higher mean GPA than SD does. So, that might have been an oversight on my part, but it is hard to say. I’m pretty happy with my UCSD GPA though. </p>
<p>I feel that any UC will prepare you more than enough for med/law school if you put in the required work. I didn’t feel that by not going to Berkeley I would be missing out on something, or getting a worse education. SD has challenged both me and my GPA plenty and I think a lot of my friends would agree with that. Like I said, when going to grad schools GPA/Testing reigns supreme. If I wasn’t going to grad school, but instead doing some type of engi or looking for a job straight out of undergrad, then I would go to Berkeley in a heartbeat. Employers, unlike myself, do really care about the prestige of your undergrad school.</p>
<p>Re: Revelle. I’m actually in Warren, which is quite nice because I had hardly any GE’s to finish up as I had IGETC when I transferred in. I just had to take 3 upper div’s outside my major, which I did in no time. I’m never actually in the physical Warren campus unless I need to go see an academic adviser. At the transfer level what college you are in isn’t really that big of a deal (you will live in transfer housing or off campus), unless you get Revelle. Then it’s just kind a pain in the butt with all the GE’s you have to finish even with IGETC. But, if your premed you’d have to do them all anyways.</p>
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<p>See above for reasons picking SD.</p>
<p>I’m planning on applying to Harvard, Chicago, UPenn, UVA, NYU, Cornell, Columbia, UT Austin. Maybe more if I get some fee waivers.</p>
<p>I love the village housing. It’s pretty new as far as university housing goes - a couple years old. The janitorial and maintenance crews do a great job of keeping the facilities and it really shows. I’m living in a 4 bedroom/3 bath apartment with 3 other people so there is plenty of space (keep in mind though some people are living in triples). There are granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, modern furniture, all kinds of goodies. I get along well with all the people in my apartment and practically all of my hall. There are a lot of events planned by the programming people at the Village which is nice. They’re always giving out free food and swag. It’s also nice being on campus which gives the true “college experience”. Plus you can still make it to class on time if you wake up late. It’s not really that hard to make friends here if you take the time to talk to people. Go to all the Village events they post on facebook if you still need help with that. Oh yeah, the wired internet is stupid fast, like 500 mbps sometimes it’s crazy.</p>
<p>I would say the biggest drawback of the Village is probably that is it on a college campus. You have to deal with college students. Parties during finals week, people being idiots, alarms that people don’t turn off for 30 mins, random yelling at 3am, name it and it happens. You also have to deal with university rules. You can’t have pets, parking is a nightmare, you can’t have parties (if you’re loud or stupid about advertising them), your mail takes a day longer to get through the university mail sorting, no smoking if you smoke, don’t feel like a full adult at times. Although, none of this is the fault of the Village, it’s what you get for living on campus. I would recommend the experience overall if you haven’t lived in a dorm. You make a lot of great friends and it’s just nice to be a part of the campus.</p>
<p>I like walking, so I didn’t bring a bike. If you don’t want to walk a couple miles a day, bring one. I would say most people have bikes. The Village is in the northern most corner of campus and far from where most of your classes will be. The thing to watch out for is bike theft, it happens a lot, even to the people with the “U” style locks. I would keep your bike in your apartment or the bike room on the east side of the village. The other option is to take the campus loop shuttle which will pick you up at the village and take you around the campus.</p>
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