UC San Diego Campus Visits: Share Your Tips & Recommendations

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
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Did you recently visit UC San Diego? Share your experience with the community! Post your review in the comments below.

Some ideas for what to share:

  • When did you visit?
  • Where did you stay? Would you recommend it?
  • Where did you eat? Did you try any local specialties?
  • How did you get there? What’s the best transportation mean to get to-from the campus?
  • What was the campus vibe?
  • What did you think of the dorms?
  • What are some must-see things in or around campus?
  • How were the school facilities?
  • Did you like it more or less than you thought you would? Why?
  • Did anything surprise you?

We’d love to hear any tips or recommendations you can share for people planning their UCSD visit!

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We visited UCSD for admissions presentation and 90 min campus tour on the Mon before Thanksgiving 2022. (UCSD’s office of admissions had been short staffed so tours were not scheduled as far out as other UC campuses. The UCSD visit was the 1st of 3 UC visits that week. We had previously visited Cal Poly SLO.)

We scheduled our visit while my kids had Thanksgiving break, but the college
was still in session. Unfortunately, it was during the TA strike. We had heard from an undergraduate that his seminar that Monday was cancelled.

We stayed at the Sheraton La Jolla hotel and there is a UCSD affiliated discount.

The night before, we ate dinner at a restaurant in La Jolla Village and the morning of the tour we at breakfast at The Shops at La Jolla Village. We walked to both from our hotel, not realizing there is ample parking.

The tour was lead by 1 tour guide. We did not go inside any buildings/dorms except the Triton Center, when we checked in for the tour and admissions presentation.

Not knowing any better, I thought we could walk from the hotel to UCSD and do the tour and walk back. Unfortunately, we got totally lost on our way back to the Sheraton and ended up near the Residence Inn. This extended the day, and I think this soured my kids on UCSD as they were saying it was just too big.

This was the surprise. I thought UCSD and its residential college system would be the best fit for my S24, but UCSD dropped below the other 2 UCs and Cal Poly SLO that we had visited.