I am a high school junior and plan to apply to UCSD. What are the pros and cons of attending UCSD? (pros and cons in whatever aspects you can think of)
Why don’t apply and get in before listing pros and cons?
Intended major? UC GPA? SAT/ACT scores? EC’s and awards?
What do you like about UCSD and why do you want to apply?
Pro: San Diego is awesome, the UCSD campus is pretty, it’s close to the beach.
I think you are wise to get more information to narrow you selection of schools, rather than applying first and researching the school later!
My daughter is in her second year at UCSD. Like other top schools, the academics can be grueling (especially in engineering and science), and it can be a shock to top-performing high schoolers…who may find themselves struggling for the first time. D has had a mix of great professors and not-so-great ones. There seem to be pretty good campus resources for academic support and advising.
UCSD definitely does not have the school spirit of Cal and UCLA, and the social scene is not vibrant. But that hasn’t really been an issue for my daughter; she is in Greek life and absolutely loves it! She’s also in a pre-health campus org.
One pro of UCSD is the amazing location and surrounding areas. D can see the ocean from the doorstep of her campus apartment and from her internship; she can walk to the beach in ten minutes. San Diego is gorgeous, and there is so much to do there. There is not a college town feel like there is at Davis of Cal Poly SLO, but the kids go to La Jolla Cove and Pacific Beach.
If you are science major and/or pre-med, there seem to be tons of opportunities for research internships (my daughter has one and may friends do) on campus and with nearby organizations.
I know this is second-hand “knowledge”, but I hope it helps a little.
Just wanted to know the pros and cons before applying.
My SAT score is 1400: 750 in math and 650 in English.
It wasn’t really my best performance in English and my school English grades are pretty good.
I don’t really know my GPA because I attend high school in India and we don’t have the GPA system out here. I got a 94% in my 10th board exam. I think my class 11 percentage will suffer a great drop but I think my GPA won’t drop because it’s the same for my peers as our course is kind of rigorous. (GPA is a comparative score right?)
Extracurricular activities and awards-
I volunteer at an NGO where I tutor underprivileged children. I also volunteer at an organisation that works towards curbing noise pollution. I am planning to start a sort of “movement” to collect books and other materials to facilitate education for underprivileged kids.
I was in the student council for two years.
I might get the opportunity to shadow a doctor at her clinic.
I have taken part in a few MUNs.
I have written for the school magazine.
I have won awards for Olympiads, poetry writing, essay writing, etc. I think I can even get a couple of good letters of recommendation.
I wanted to apply to UCSD because it is considered to be a really good college for biology research and also has a good pre-med program.
Are you a US citizen? UCSD is an excellent school for biology but also very competitive if you plan to pursue Medical school. California schools are not a good option for “Pre-Med” aspirations just due to the sheer number of applicants and the low number of Medical school spots. You might want to broaden your focus and look at some schools outside the state.
Aesthetics:
The UCSD campus does not look like your typical college campus.
It is a combination of buildings (built in late 60’s/early 70’s, and currently glass structures) that look like an office park. The campus has lots of eucalyptus trees. The campus is flat in some areas and hilly in others, so it’s not that bikeable (like Davis or Santa Barbara) unless you like biking up hills.
You can get to the beach, going west, down the hill, but it is not “on the beach” like UCSB.
San Diego is nice. The La Jolla area, being so near the coast gets a lot of coastal fog that may take a while to burn off.
Finances re:
Non-resident students pay full fees ($58K per year) to attend the UC’s since there is no financial aid for non-resident students.
As an aside, there is some really fun mountain biking on campus in the eucalyptus grove where the parcourse is.
Yes I am a US citizen and I am counting on financial aid. I am not fixed on applying to medical schools only in California after pre-med. Also, I had read that non-residents might not get grants but they would get loans and work study. I guess I’ll have to look somewhere else. Thank you 
@SFBayMama What does your daughter major in?
Being a US citizen gets you the opportunity to see if the federal government will provide a Pell Grant, work study, and/or loans through the FAFSA application, (which at this point is $5800 per year). Only US citizens and permanent residents can apply for federal aid. So you will qualify to fill out the FAFSA, but that’s 1/10th of what you need to pay for a UC.
UC’s and CSU’s are public universities, funded by the residents of California. The majority of university funding, for students, comes directly from the schools. If you are not a resident of California, you will not qualify for any state-funded aid. Being a US citizen gives you the opportunity to fill out the FAFSA, but since the significant money comes from each university, it you are not a resident, you wont qualify for in-state funding.
Sorry @NitikS - I just saw this. She started as Human Bio, has switched to Gen Bio and then Neuroscience & Physiology (if I have the name right), and is back to Human Bio.