UCI - attended as a student.
The academic rigor is most definitely a step-up from CC. It felt good to actually be challenged in a class besides calculus. Also the students are more motivated; I didn’t see any of the typical HS dropouts at UCI.
On the flip side I felt the workload consisted of too much busy work. I wasn’t really learning the material that I wanted to learn or the stuff I thought would help me so much as completing HW and cramming for tests. I learned a good amount but I feel I could have learned much more. Students were for the most part boring. Out of my 15 or so person class only about 5 of us (including me) spoke on a regular basis. It doesn’t help that a large percentage of the school can’t speak English well. Area is really boring too.
Lastly I really hate the 9-5 university school week. Sure at CC we have dreaded 3-4 hour night class. And by hour 3 everyone wants to go home. But between hours 1-2 we get some really quality learning in. At UCI the class was only 90 min long so by the time we started really getting into the material it was time to leave. I disliked that conveyor belt feeling to education.
Overall I felt like UC was overpaying for education. It was 10x the cost of CC but arguably 2x the quality MAX.
UCLA - Sat in on an upper-division class.
Compared to UCI the area is a lot better. It’s a great area. Westwood is probably one of the best areas in America for a university. Students had much more personality than at UCI - most likely because of the higher focus on ECs during the admissions process.
Because I attended the class on the first day, the professor asked all the unfamiliar faces to introduce ourselves. So I said my major was accounting. Before me a girl introduced herself as an English major. The professor looked at her and said, “He’ll have an easier time finding a job.” I was thinking about applying to UCLA as humanity major but after that point I was like, ‘no.’
USC - Although not a UC I might as well talk a little bit about it.
Sat in on a Marshall course last spring. HATED THE EXPERIENCE SO MUCH. First of all the Marshall undergrad buildings are rundown. USC remodeled the entrances so it makes a nice first impression but inside it feels like a rat’s maze.
The class I sat in on had a dick professor. Student body wise it had 1 sorority chick with no personality and 1 frat douche. Everyone else was an overly competitive nerd. Prior to entering the class I had to the opportunity to chat up a fellow CC transfer and ask him about his take on USC. He said it was very competitive and was petty disappointed on the amount he was spending on tuition.
The most overly competitive and dedicated students from China & Korea who fail to make it into an Ivy go straight into USC Marshall. Could I hang with them? Yes. Would that be in my best interests in terms of maintaining a high GPA for internships? No.
On the way out I ran into an accounting professor. This prof was very classy. I could tell he was a legit personality. So I asked him his take on USC and he said that USC is the best for accounting. I was like, “what about Chapman and Fullerton?” and he admitted that both are good programs. I asked him what the advantage of USC was over them and he said name-brand recognition.
This is hearsay but I heard my friend say his friend who attends USC actually spoke with an Apple recruiter. The recruiter said they only wanted students fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. So even Marshall, as well-known as it is, can’t guarantee jobs because certain ones are looking for intrinsic qualities.
In short I thought it was insane to get a public school education for a private school cost. I withdrew my application and thought about reapplying this year but decided against it.
Overall my take on big public school education in general is as follows: I think it is great if someone gets an amazing scholarship. In terms of experience I feel they are really catered to the freshman that are trying to leave home for the first time. For people that want jobs certain majors are worth the competition such as Berkeley-Haas or College of Engineering. But overall, I think people are getting suckered in by the prestige/reputation and paying for the experience instead of the educational quality.
@Cayton
I told you UCLA was overrated last year. I’m reapplying to UCLA-Economics this year but even if I get in, I’ll attend CSUF-Accounting over UCLA. Big fish small pond > small fish big pond.
