UCM Vs Riverside City College

College Search & Lists
1

I have two schools that I was accepted to, originally I had my mind set on RCC, but I’m starting to have second thoughts and I wanted some advice

Me: 3.6 GPA, Waterpolo Team Captain and A CS major.

RCC:

Pros
Closer to home
Cheaper
Good internship possibilities for CS

Cons:
Not a 4 year
Worse education
No dorms
Lack of a college experience

UCM

Pros:
4 year University
Brand new campus
Dorms
Good internships/ education

Cons:
Costs
Location
Transportation( I’ve read it’s bad)
Hard to transfer if I wanted to go to a dif school

2

Have you looked into the water polo club at Merced? Water Polo | Recreation & Athletics

RCC does have the ADT in CS, so that’s good in terms of giving you a clear transfer pathway. I’d look at the program maps for both schools:

https://www.rcc.edu/pathways/business-and-information-systems/computer-science-adt.html
How does the course sequence in the first two years compare? Look up the course descriptions and see whether the ground covered is essentially the same, or if there are meaningful differences.

One thing to consider is that there’s no commitment or deposit you need to make to keep the RCC option open. The SIR deposit for Merced is only $250. It might be worth that much to keep the option open. You can always pull the plug and decide later to go to RCC instead. But if you let the commitment date go by, then the Merced option will be gone. Maybe if you deposit, you’ll be able to get out there for a visit before you make a final decision. If you did contact the water polo club, maybe someone from the team would be willing to show you around and talk about what it’s like there.

1 Like