<p>I have to disagree with paradoxical… I have heard from students who attended UCI for undergrad that too much emphasis is placed on the graduate program so the undergraduates tend to feel ignored. It was in part for this reason that my D chose UCLA over UCI (she was accepted to both.) However, she decided that UCI and UCSD are on the top of her list for graduate programs, where both excel and are in the top 10 in the country. </p>
<p>My D has had an opportunity to study with many of the instructors at UCSD all throughout her high school years as her high school has the UCSD instructors come over as teaching artists, and she went to the La Jolla Playhouse Conservatory. We have also seen productions by the undergraduate actors at UCSD. Its a great program, no doubt and we love the instructors. It wasn’t an option for my D because she didn’t want to stay at home. From what we have seen, though, the UCSD program is a very fine one indeed.</p>
<p>But UCSD and UCI are not audition programs, at least not to get into the schools. That being said, to get into UCSD and UCI, you have to have REALLY good academics and SAT scores on your own merits. On the other hand, for UCLA, you can get in on an audition, so if you are very talented, and don’t have quite the best SAT scores or grades, you may still get in even though for everone else, UCLA this year was the hardest UC to get into (even harder than Berkeley.) And UCI and UCSD are also very challenging to get into. This is something to think about…</p>