I’m going into my senior year of high school and have been doing some research on both of these schools. I heard from a lot of teachers at my school that called SDSU a “party school” and UCSD a “nerd school”. Is this true? If so, then why don’t they have that big a difference between the acceptance rate. SDSU at 35% UCSD at 36%? I know that Google doesn’t really showcase the most recent stats so if someone could present to me the most recent stats for each school that would be greatly appreciated! Furthermore, since SDSU is a “party school” does that affect its prestige when compared to other cal states or UCs? What’s each school known for exactly? Which school is better for ‘Public Health’ major and someone who wants to get all the prereqs for PA (physician assistant school)? Which is more competitive to get into?
SDSU and UCSD do not have their 2019 Freshman stats available but here are the 2018 stats:
For SDSU::
Average CSU GPA: 3.93
Average SAT: 1264
Average ACT: 27
For UCSD:
GPA and test scores of middle 25%-75% students:
UC Capped weighted GPA: 4.02 - 4.28
ACT Composite Score: 28 - 34
ACT English Language Arts: 27 - 31
SAT Evidence Based Reading & Writing: 640 - 730
SAT Mathematics: 660 - 790
SAT Essay: 16 - 18
Regarding reputations or perceived reputations. SDSU use to have the “party school” reputation about 20 years ago but the label still persists. If you want to party, you can find a party at any school you attend.
Regarding UCSD, again the perceived perception for many students is that UCSD has more serious students (nerdy).
I would not let either impression of these schools influence you until you visit and form your own opinion. Neither reputation will hurt the so called “prestige” of the school. Both are popular schools when it comes to applications so they must both be doing something right???
UCSD received 118.372 applications for Fall 2019 and SDSU received 94,142 applications for Fall 2019.
UCSD would be the more difficult admit based on GPA/test scores. UCSD is highly regarded for their STEM majors. SDSU is highly regarded for the Business and Nursing programs but both schools have great programs for many areas of interest. My youngest son went to SDSU as a Computer Science major.
If you are interested in Public Health with PA school in the future, then you would want to attend a school where you have the best chance for a High GPA, access the Medically related EC’s and has good PA advising.
I suggest you look at the courses for PH at each campus and see which program would suit you best. Remember that you need to get accepted into these schools first before worrying about which school is better.