Notre Dame or UC San Diego?

Veritas24
Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:47:46 +0000

Overall, ND is certainly a better school, however, there could be a number of reasons for you to stay in SD. Cost of attendance would almost certainly be cheaper at UCSD (which in this economy certainly has to be a consideration-- who knows that jobs will be out there when you graduate and have to pay off $150k in student loans?). Weather is certainly better, and getting home for breaks and holidays would be a lot easier. College is a tough enough adjustment so perhaps not having to worrying about moving cross-country would be good for you. Also, while I don’t put much stock into USNWR, ND’s engineering is probably one of the least reputed academic programs they offer. You could end up switching and be fine, but if that’s what you know you want to do, it doesn’t sound like you’d be hurting yourself academically. Plus, even though ND’s nationally reputation far surpasses that of UCSD, if you want to stay local in SoCal for the foreseeable future, your job prospects should be just fine with a local degree. ND’s a great school, but I could certainly understand if you opted for UCSD.